Hymn 245 - God Loved the World So that He Gave

This weekend we celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity. This festival serves as the central point in the church year as we study the nature of the true God, and worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our hymn study this weekend is on TLH hymn 245 which is based primarily on John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." This passage is sometimes called "The Gospel in a nutshell" because it so concisely summaries what the Gospel is and what it does. This hymn could be given a similar moniker. It to simply summarizes the Gospel, God's love for the sinner, and the comfort and strength that we receive from God's precious Means of Grace.

This hymn describes several important doctrines in a simple, but clear way. It speaks of both universal and personal justification in the opening verse. God "loved the world" and "the lost to save" describes universal justification. But the benefits are personally received by faith: "whoever would in Him believe" (v.1).

It also points to Christ as the Savior and details both His incarnation "was made flesh" and His death as the means by which salvation was accomplished (v.2).

The third verse rejects any idea of double predestination because God "would not have the sinner die," and the importance of the work of the Means of Grace "in the word" and also declaring that God "grants the highest good" in Baptism (v.4).

Verse five speaks of the comfort that is received from God's grace through Word and Sacrament that enables us to face sickness, oppression and even death with confidence because of Jesus' work for us. God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works" Paul writes to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:9).

Finally, we find all three persons of the Godhead described in these verses, from God the Father, to Jesus (God the Son), to the Holy Spirit. These three persons are praised in the final verse, which is known as a "doxology." How fitting that we give our Triune God praise for electing us to salvation, redeeming us through Christ's blood, and for bringing us to faith by the Holy Spirit. 

Join us in our worship this weekend as we acknowledge the one true God, and as we praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the work of our salvation!