When we think of Martin Luther the hymn writer, we of course think of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (“Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”), by far the best known of the 36 hymns he wrote. But it was actually “Christ lag in Todesbanden” that was his favorite. This powerful Easter Resurrection chorale is translated into English as “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands.” While it is not well-known outside of Lutheran circles today (and not even as well-known there as it ought to be!) our Easter worship would be greatly enriched were we to add this to our hymn repertoire. It is present in many hymnals, and deserves a fresh, revitalized usage today, when so many of our songs lack the textual depth and theology of classic compositions like this. And since every Lord’s Day is historically and liturgically a celebration of the resurrection, this chorale works well not only on Easter Sunday, but in the weeks following, and even throughout the year!
This 16th century hymn is part of the heritage of Lutheran chorales that formed the early foundation for Protestant congregational singing. After heretical doctrines from the Arians, who rejected the eternal deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, were spreading through their popular 4th century hymns, the church overreacted. The Council of Laodicea in 363-364 banned all congregational singing, leaving vocal music to clergy and monks alone. So there followed an entire millennium without congregational singing until the Protestant Reformation. When that came about, one of the clearest indications to the minds and hearts of most people that renewed gospel truth was dawning was not only in the preaching and Scripture in the language of the people, but especially in the fact that they were not only now allowed, but actually encouraged to sing. Try to imagine what that must have been like on the first Sunday Luther taught them a hymn!
It was Martin Luther whose 95 Theses in 1517 lit the fuse for Reformation fire. And it was his composing hymns that gave people the resource to begin singing in worship, something they had never experienced in their entire lifetimes! It’s hard for us today to imagine worship in which there was only the chanted plainsong of priests, and in which people in the congregation were completely passive as spectators of the rituals performed before them, in a language (Latin) which they could not understand, and often in rooms with reverberant acoustics that blurred the spoken words. Their only participation in the medieval mass was to go forward to receive a wafer. They were even barred from receiving the cup, lest a drop of the newly consecrated blood of Christ be accidentally spilled on the floor. Remember that Rome’s doctrine of transubstantiation was well-established by then, teaching that the priests’ act of sacramental consecration actually changed the substance of the elements of bread to Christ’s flesh and the elements of wine to Christ’s blood.
Luther wrote the lyrics to “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands” in 1524 as he was developing his German mass to replace the Roman rite. During this time, his house guest was court composer Johann Walther, who is credited with the hymn’s tune, which as is typical for Lutheran chorales is named by the German first line, “CHRIST LAG IN TODESBANDEN.” Both lyrics and music were written within a three-week period while Walther was with Luther, so it is most likely that they worked on it together. It would have been more easily sung by people of their day than ours, because the melody was based upon a familiar Latin plainchant, “Victimae Paschali Laudes” (“Praise to the Paschal Victim”), an 11th century Easter Sunday Sequence usually attributed to the chaplain to the Holy Roman Emperor, Conrad II, Wipo of Burgundy (ca. 995-1048).
The familiarity of this tune to people of Luther’s day would be comparable to our hearing the opening notes of “Silent Night” or “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.” “Victimae Paschali Laudes” is one of only four medieval sequences (choral responses) that were preserved after the Council of Trent in the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation (1545-1563) shortly after Luther’s death. These four were published in 1570 in the Roman Missal of the Tridentine Mass. The three others were “Veni Sancte Spiritus” for Pentecost, “Lauda Sion” for Corpus Christi, and “Dies Irae” for the Requiem Mass. In 1727, Pope Benedict XIII added a fifth, “Stabat Mater,” for the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Victimae Paschali Laudes” is one of the few to remain in liturgical use today, not only in Luther’s hymn, but also in musical settings for choir and/or organ by many composers.
Johann Walther (1496-1570) was perhaps the pre-eminent of first-generation Lutheran church musicians, about two centuries before Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), who knew Walther’s work and used it in his chorale compositions. Bach’s first Easter cantata was based on this seven-stanza chorale. Walther was born in Kahla, in present-day Thuringia. He began his career as a composer and bass cantor in the chapel of Frederick the Wise at the age of 21. He held that position until Frederick’s death in 1525. This was the same Frederick who had been so proud and protective of his star Wittenberg University professor, Martin Luther.
By the time of Frederick’s death, Walther had become director of the chapel and an outspoken musical champion for the Lutherans. He edited the first Protestant hymnal for choir, “Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn,” in Wittenberg in 1524, with a forward by Luther himself. He also edited the first German-language mass produced in 1527. When he left Frederick’s chapel, Walther became cantor for the Torgau town choir in 1525, a post he would hold until 1548, when he was named court composer for Moritz, Duke of Saxony in Dresden. While there, he composed his St. Matthew Passion, which was performed in Finland’s Turku Cathedral in 1517, to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Walther did not remain in Dresden long, and by 1554 had accepted a pension from the duke and returned to Torgau, where he remained until his death on March 25, 1570.
The text not only tells the story of how Christ’s death is the fulfilment of the Exodus Passover. It is written with wonderfully rich theological depth, as we would expect from Luther, the theologian and preacher. And the chorale account moves through the dimensions in which Christ’s victory over death is a source of great joy for believers. The music is written in the key of d minor. Many people wrongly associate music in a minor key with sadness. But to musicians, minor keys communicate power and strength, as is certainly true in this one. Joy and celebration pervade the entire hymn, especially in the concluding Alleluia, which is usually suddenly concluded with a powerful D Major chord! And in almost every stanza, we find sets of dramatic contrasts.
Stanza 1 introduces the first of those contrasts, the central theme of Christ’s death that has brought us life from heaven. In addition to that, there is the contrast between Jesus being restrained by death’s strong bands and His now standing at God’s right hand. What hope that gives us as, in some sense, we are still restrained by the sin that remains in our hearts and that dominates our world. But we are assured, by the one who has gone before us, that we too will be able to stand at God’s right hand along with our Savior. And that leads to the joy that concludes each stanza as we sing thankfully our “loud songs of alleluia!”
Christ Jesus lay in death’s strong bands, For our offenses given;
But now at God’s right hand He stands And brings us life from heaven.
Therefore let us joyful be And sing to God right thankfully
Loud songs of alleluia! Alleluia!
Stanza 2 sets before us the darkness of our plight, a dilemma from which no mere human – “no son of man” – could ever have delivered us. To conquer death and reverse the ruin sin had wrought in us would have required someone who was innocent, who was not under the sentence of death for their own sin, and who had the power to break the bonds of Death. We were all held captive by the curse of Death, a bondage that resulted from of old with Adam, and which had grown stronger and bolder during the centuries. How powerful is the imagery of Death capitalized as if a personal being, not just a force. But again, we have been set free by the one who was stronger than Death; so, “Alleluia!” again.
No son of man could conquer Death, Such ruin sin had wrought us.
No innocence was found on earth, And therefore Death had brought us
Into bondage from of old And ever grew more strong and bold
And held us as his captive. Alleluia!
Stanza 3 exalts the one who is the answer to our dilemma, the one who is more than a son of man, the innocent Son of God who descended to our low state to undo the terrible power of sin. Here is another of the contrasts. Death’s might has ended death’s power, which has been stripped away, so that Death no more reigns. All that is left of Death is an empty form, a hollow shell, impotent and unable to hold us, having lost its sting. Here are echoes of the great resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians 15. And so for the third time, we sing “Alleluia!”
But Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, To our low state descended;
The pow’r of sin He hath undone, The might of Death is ended:
Stripped of pow’r, no more he reigns; An empty form alone remains;
His sting is lost forever. Alleluia!
Stanza 4 vividly pictures a fierce battle, “a strange and dreadful strife,” with enormous lasting consequences for the result of the conflict. Once again, capital letters are used to point beyond mere supernatural forces to the personifications represented here. Death certainly points ultimately to the Lion of Hell (1 Peter 5:8) and Life just as certainly points ultimately to the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5). And Christ’s victory means that “Death is swallowed up by Death.” That reminds us of that famous title from 17th century Puritan John Owen, “The death of death in the death of Christ.” We sing our song of victory by making derision of Death in our Alleluia!
It was a strange and dreadful strife When Life and Death contended;
The victory remained with Life, The reign of Death was ended.
Holy Scripture plainly saith That Death is swallowed up by Death,
Made henceforth a derision. Alleluia!
Stanza 5 adds the wonderful connection with Passover. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 5:7 that Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. And Hebrews 7:27 assures us that He has been offered up once for all, with no repeated sacrifice than His ever to be needed to redeem us. He is our Paschal Lamb, freely given by God for us (John 3:16), having died on the tree, cursed by God (Numbers 21:22-23), all out of His strong love for us (Isaiah 43:4). And here we sing of the Passover fulfillment. It’s no longer an annual smearing of a lamb’s blood to mark our door, but the covering of the blood of the Lamb of God on our hearts that assures us that the Angel of Death, the Murderer, will pass over us, leaving us unharmed! And so again, Alleluia!
Here our true Paschal Lamb we see, Whom God so freely gave us;
He died on the accursèd tree— So strong His love!—to save us.
See, His blood doth mark our door; Faith points to it, Death passes o’er,
The Murd’rer cannot harm us. Alleluia!
Stanza 6 begins to draw to a spiritual conclusion that reminds us how we should respond. All of this is certainly reason for a festival of the grandest proportions. It is a worship festival to which the Lord Himself invites us. Here are more contrasts … joy vs. sadness, light vs. darkness, sunshine vs. night. He is the Joy at the center of our celebration, the Sun that warms and lights us. Once again, notice the capital letters in the spelling, to draw attention to the Lord of Glory. What a beautiful description especially in that last phrase: “the night of sin is ended.” Indeed, Alleluia!
So let us keep the festival Whereto the Lord invites us;
Christ is Himself the Joy of all, The Sun that warms and lights us.
By His grace doth He impart Eternal sunshine to the heart;
The night of sin is ended. Alleluia!
Stanza 7 focuses particularly then on our gathering in worship for a triumphant feast on Easter Day. Instead of the Old Testament Passover Meal, we come on this day to the Lord’s Table, where
“He is our meat and drink indeed.” Here we feed on Him by faith, the one who said He was “the Bread of Heaven.” As Jesus drove home the warning to remove the leaven from the bread (a symbol of the removal of every speck of sin from our lives), He is the one who will do that for us as “the Word of Grace” purges away “the old and evil leaven,” filling us and satisfying our souls with the righteousness of God.
Then let us feast this Easter Day On Christ, the Bread of heaven;
The Word of Grace hath purged away The old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed, He is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other. Alleluia!
Here is a festive concertato arrangement of the chorale with choir, organ, and brass, fitting for Easter Day.