Christ our Lord, came to the Jordan (print of 1577) tune ? / i
Christ, our Lord, came to the Jordan is a hymn by Martin Luther . He wrote it as one of his latest hymns in 1541. In 1543 it was included in the new edition of Klug's hymn book and completed the series of catechism songs with the theme of baptism , in which Luther presented the main pieces of the Reformation doctrine in song form for singing and memorization.
In the age of Lutheran Orthodoxy , Christ our Lord belonged to the Jordan came to the core songs. Liturgically, it was assigned to St. John's Day. It is contained in the Evangelical Hymnbook (EG 202).
The first four stanzas refer to the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John the Baptist . This event is described as the foundation of baptism and interpreted in terms of trinitarianism and sacrament theology: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are at work together; and to the water as “substance” of the sacrament comes the word from heaven, which transmits the spirit and brings about faith.
Only verses 5 and 6 refer to the baptismal command of Jesus, which is reported at the end of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and which in the Mark version also expressly mentions damnation as a result of unbelief. Luther interprets this unbelief as trust in one's own holiness - irretrievably lost through original sin - instead of in Christ.
The last stanza describes once again the visible-invisible dual nature of the sacrament.
melody
The Doric melody is older than the text. It already appears in Johann Walter's Geistliches Gesangbüchlein from 1524, there for the text Let God be gracious to us . It is not certain whether the melody was created by Luther or Walter. In any case, it has the swing of many early Reformation songs, especially in the second part with its eighth notes, fourth jumps and syncopation .
Musical arrangements
Luther's baptismal hymn and Johanneslied were often arranged for organ, choir and other ensembles for about two hundred years. The most famous arrangements are by Johann Sebastian Bach (organ chorals BWV 684 and 685; cantata BWV 7 ).
text
Luther 1541
Evangelical hymn book 1993
Christ our Lord came to Jordan
according to his father's sake,
From S. Johans the baptism nam,
his werck and ampt to fill.
Since he wanted to give us a bath,
To wash us from sins,
Sigh even the bitter death
Through his own blood and wounds,
It was a new life.
So all listen and remember
what God himself calls baptism,
And what a Christian should believe
to be heaped on my heretic.
God speaks and will the water be,
But not only bad water,
His holy word is also there
With a rich spirit on
the masses , He is alhie the Baptist.
So he clearly proved us
with pictures and words.
Apparently the father's father was heard
on the Jordan.
He said, This is my dear son,
whom I liked,
THAT I want you to command,
The jr IN hears everyone
and follows his learning.
God's Son himself also stands
in his tender humanity.
The holy spirit reanimates dressed
in a dove image.
That we should not doubt it,
When we are baptized,
All three people have been baptized,
Since to
dwell with us on earth surrender.
His disciple is called the Lord Christ,
go to all the world to learn,
That it is lost in sins, should
repent.
Whoever believes and reads himself devil,
Sol be saved by it,
A newborn man he is called,
Who can no longer die.
The heavenly kingdom is to inherit.
Those who do not believe in this great grace
remain in their sins
and are condemned to eternal death
Deep in the light ground.
His own holiness does not help,
All his doing is lost,
Original sin makes it null and void,
In it he was born,
Can't help him himself.
The eye alone sees the water,
How people pour water,
Faith in the spirit that strengthens understands the
blood of Jhesu Christ.
And there is a red flood for him, the
blood of Christ, which heals
all harm,
inherited from Adam,
also committed by us ourselves.
Christ, our Lord, came to the Jordan
according to his father's will, was
baptized by Saint John,
to fulfill his work and office.
He wanted to give us a bath,
to wash us from sins,
drown bitter death
through his own blood and wounds,
it was a new life.
So everyone hears and feels well
what God himself calls baptism
and what a Christian
who professes him should believe.
God speaks and wants that water should be,
but not just plain water,
his holy word is also here
with a rich spirit without measure: he
is the Baptist here.
He showed us such things clearly
with pictures and with words.
The father's voice was evidently
heard there by the Jordan;
he said: “This is my dear son,
in whom I am pleased;
I will command you
that all of you will hear him
and follow his teaching. ”
God's Son himself stands here
in his tender humanity,
the Holy Spirit descends
disguised in the image of a dove, so
that we should not doubt it:
if we are baptized,
all three persons' baptized,
thereby going
to live with us on earth .
The name of his disciple is the Lord Christ:
“Go to teach all the world
that it is lost in sins, that
it should turn to repentance;
whoever believes and is baptized will
thereby be saved;
he is called a newborn man
who can no longer die,
the kingdom of heaven is to inherit. ”
Whoever does not believe this great grace
remains in his sins
and is condemned to eternal death
deep in the bottom of hell.
Nothing helps his own holiness,
all his doing is lost,
original sin makes it nothing,
in it he was born,
cannot help himself.
The eye alone sees the water
as people pour water;
faith in the spirit understands the power of
the blood of Jesus Christ;
and before him there is a red flood,
colored by Christ's blood,
which heals all harm,
inherited from Adam,
also committed by ourselves.
literature
Kurt Aland (Ed.): Luther Deutsch , Volume 6, Stuttgart / Göttingen 2. 1966, pp. 352f.
↑ That year it appeared as a single print (Aland, p. 352).
↑ The Ten Commandments, Creed, Our Father, Baptism, Communion
↑ Friedrich Wilhelm Franke: Theory and Practice of the Harmonic Composition. Georg Olms Verlag, ISBN 978-3-487-41490-4 , p. 159 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
