How Wide the Love of Christ
How wide the love of Christ
This hymn embodies Lutheran emphasis on the sufficiency of Christ's redemptive love and its transformative work in believers, reflecting the Pauline theology central to Lutheran understanding of justification and sanctification. The text celebrates the objective vastness of Christ's love while inviting subjective personal appropriation, consistent with Lutheran law-gospel proclamation.
History & Background
Written by Thomas H. Pesenti in 2006, this modern hymn was first published in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006) as a contemporary treatment of Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3. The text directly engages with the epistle's meditation on the vastness of Christ's love and its transformative power in believers' lives.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 728
- Lutheran Service Book — 535
Bulletin Note
Composed in 2006 by Thomas H. Pesenti, this hymn retrieves the classical long-meter tune Sursum Corda while developing deeply Pauline theology central to Lutheran witness: the sufficiency of Christ's love for all human longing and redemption.
Preaching Connection
This hymn anchors the Gospel proclamation of justification by grace through faith, transforming abstract doctrine into lived experience of Christ's measureless love that both judges our self-sufficiency and liberates us for new life.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Christ's Lenten self-denial models our repentance; His victory over Satan empowers our spiritual triumph; His presence sustains us through suffering toward Easter joy and eternal paradise.
Themes
Love of Christ Redemption Grace Spiritual growth Paul's prayer for believers