Scripture Verse

If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Introduction

portrait
Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676)

Words: Paul Ger­hardt, in Prax­is Pie­ta­tis Me­li­ca, by Jo­hann Crü­ger (Frank­furt am Main, Ger­ma­ny: 1656) (Ist Gott für mich, so tre­te). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ri­chard Mass­ie in the Church Psal­ter and Hymn Book (Ox­ford, Eng­land: 1856), by Will­iam Mer­cer.

Music: Mis­sion­ary Hymn Lo­well Ma­son, 1823 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

If God Him­self be for me,
I may a host de­fy,
For when I pray, be­fore me
My foes con­found­ed fly.
If Christ, the Head, be­friend me,
If God be my sup­port,
The mis­chief they in­tend me
Shall quick­ly come to naught.

I build on this foun­da­tion,
That Je­sus and His blood
Alone are my sal­va­tion,
The true eter­nal good;
Without Him, all that pleas­es
Is val­ue­less on earth:
The gifts I owe to Je­sus
Alone my love are worth.

His Ho­ly Spir­it dwell­eth
Within my will­ing heart,
Tames it when it re­bel­leth,
And soothes the keen­est smart.
He crowns His work with bless­ing,
And help­eth me to cry
My Fa­ther! with­out ceas­ing
To Him who reigns on high.

To mine His Spir­it speak­eth
Sweet words of sooth­ing pow­er,
How God to Him that seek­eth
For rest, hath rest in store;
How God Him­self pre­par­eth
My he­rit­age and lot,
And though my bo­dy wear­eth,
My Heav’n shall fail me not.

Another trans­la­tion, based on Mas­sie, from The Lu­ther­an Hym­nal (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: Con­cor­dia Pub­lish­ing House, 1941), num­ber 528:

If God Him­self be for me,
I may a host de­fy;
For when I pray, be­fore me,
My foes, con­found­ed, fly.
If Christ, my head and mas­ter,
Befriend me from above,
What foe or what dis­as­ter
Can drive me from His love?

This I be­lieve, yea, ra­ther,
Of this I make my boast,
That God is my dear Fa­ther,
The Friend who loves me most,
And that, what­e’er be­tide me,
My Sav­ior is at hand
Thro’ stor­my seas to guide me
And bring me safe to land.

I build on this foun­da­tion,
That Je­sus and His blood
Alone are my sal­va­tion,
The true, eter­nal good.
Without Him all that pleas­es
Is val­ue­less on earth;
The gifts I owe to Je­sus
Alone my love are worth.

So Je­sus is my splen­dor,
My sun, my light alone;
Were He not my de­fend­er
Before God’s awe-full throne,
I ne­ver should find fa­vor
And mer­cy in His sight,
But be des­troyed for­ev­er
As dark­ness by the light.

He can­celed my of­fens­es,
Delivered me from death;
He is the Lord who cleans­es
My soul from sin through faith.
In Him I can be cheer­ful,
Bold, and un­daunt­ed aye;
In Him I am not fear­ful
Of God’s great judg­ment day.

Naught, naught can now con­demn me
Nor set my hope aside;
Now hell no more can claim me
Its fu­ry I de­ride.
No sen­tence e’er re­proves me,
No ill de­stroys my peace;
For Christ, my Sav­ior, loves me
And shields me with His grace.

His Spir­it in me dwell­eth,
And o’er my mind He reigns.
All sor­row He dis­pel­leth
And soothes aw­ay all pains.
He crowns His work with bless­ing
And help­eth me to cry,
My Fa­ther! with­out ceas­ing,
To Him who dwells on high.

And when my soul is ly­ing
Weak, trem­bling, and op­pressed,
He pleads with groans and sigh­ing
That can­not be ex­pressed;
But God’s quick eye dis­cerns them,
Although they give no sound,
And in­to lang­uage turns them
E’en in the heart’s deep ground.

To mine His Spir­it speak­eth
Sweet words of ho­ly cheer,
How God to him that seek­eth
For rest is al­ways near
And how He hath erect­ed
A ci­ty fair and new,
Where all that faith ex­pect­ed
We ev­er­more shall view.

In yon­der home doth flour­ish
My he­rit­age, my lot;
Though here I die and per­ish,
My hea­ven shall fail me not.
Though care my life oft sad­dens
And caus­eth tears to flow,
The light of Je­sus glad­dens
And sweet­ens ev­ery woe.

Who clings with re­so­lu­tion
To Him whom Sa­tan hates
Must look for per­se­cu­tion;
For him the bur­den waits
Of mock­ery, shame, and loss­es,
Heaped on his blame­less head;
A thou­sand plagues and cross­es
Will be his dai­ly bread.

From me this is not hid­den,
Yet I am not afraid;
I leave my cares, as bid­den,
To whom my vows were paid.
Though life and limb it cost me
And ev­ery­thing I own,
Unshaken shall I trust Thee
And cleave to Thee alone.

Thou earth be rent asun­der,
Thou’rt mine eter­nal­ly;
Not fire nor sword nor thun­der
Shall se­ver me from Thee;
Not hun­ger, thirst, nor dan­ger,
Not pain nor po­ver­ty
Nor migh­ty princ­es’ an­ger
Shall ev­er hin­der me.

No an­gel and no glad­ness,
No throne, no pomp, no show,
No love, no hate, no sad­ness,
No pain, no depth of woe,
No scheme of man’s con­triv­ance,
However small or great,
Shall draw me from Thy guid­ance
Nor from Thee se­pa­rate.

My heart for joy is spring­ing
And can no more be sad,
’Tis full of mirth and sing­ing,
Sees naught but sun­shine glad.
The Sun that cheers my spir­it
Is Je­sus Christ, my king;
The Heav’n I shall in­her­it
Makes me re­joice and sing.