Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 06:1 (Spring 1993)
Article: A Hymn Of Grace
Author: Frances A. Mosher

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JOTGES 6:1 (Spring 93) p. 95

A Hymn Of Grace

Frances A. Mosher

Pianist, Christ Congregation
Dallas, Texas

Jesus Lives And So Shall I
Christian F. Gellert
Translated by Philip Schaff

Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me with the just:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives and reigns supreme;
And His Kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with Him,
Ever living, every reigning.
God has promised: be it must;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well,
Naught from Him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell,
Joy nor grief, henceforth forever.
None of all His saints is lost;
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just;
Jesus is the Christian’s trust.

“Jesus Lives and So Shall I” is worthy to be called a hymn of grace because of its unconditional expression of the absolute assurance of the

JOTGES 6:1 (Spring 93) p. 96

believer’s salvation. The hymn proclaims that this assurance is based solely upon Christ’s death for us (stanza 1), and God’s promise to us (stanza 2), and that the Lord’s resurrection is our positive proof that His sacrifice on our behalf secured everlasting life for those who believe. The final phrase of each stanza emphasizes that the Lord Jesus, rather than one’s own merits, is the true basis of the believer’s hope and trust. Perhaps the author had been meditating on 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (NKJV).

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (whose middle name means “God-fearing”) was a German poet who lived from 1715 to 1769. He wrote many hymns which became popular with both Lutherans and Roman Catholics.1 Philip Schaff (1819–1893) translated the lyrics into English. Schaff was born in Switzerland and educated in Germany. After coming to the United States he became a professor at the German Reformed Seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1844. In 1870, he became a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He edited a great deal of theological literature, including an American adaptation of Herzog�...

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