In the Cross of Christ I Glory

In the Cross of Christ I Glory is a hymn text by Sir John Bowring (1825) in 8.8.8.8 meter. Found in CW21 529, CW93 345, ELH 523, bh08 554. Sung to RATHBUN.

This hymn expresses the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith, emphasizing that all Christian confidence and boasting must be in Christ's redemptive work rather than human accomplishment. The cross becomes the central symbol of God's grace and the believer's hope, reflecting the Reformation emphasis on Christ as the sole source of salvation.

History & Background

Written by Sir John Bowring in 1825, this hymn was published in his 1827 collection Hymns. The text became widely adopted in English-speaking Protestant churches throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

John Bowring’s text was inspired by Galatians 6:14: “May I never Scripture References boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Originally in st. 1- Gal. 6:14 five stanzas (st. 5 was a repeat of st. 1), it was initially entitled ‘The 1 Cor. 2:2 Cross of Christ” but later came to be known as “Glorying in the st. 2 -1 Cor. 1:18 Cross.” (The often-told story that Bowring wrote this hymn text after seeing a cross on top of a ruined cathedral on the island of Macao near Hong Kong is not true; Bowring went to Hong Kong twenty-four years after writing the text.) The first stanza affirms that the cross of Christ stands at the center of history; it is the key to the meaning of the history of events or civilizations that are the “wrecks of time.” Stanzas 2 and 3 confess the comfort, peace, andjoy that Christ’s cross brings to our troubled personal lives. Stanza 4 concludes that “bane and blessing, pain and pleasure” become a profound experience of unending peace and joy when “sanctified by the cross.” John Bowring (b. Exeter, England, 1792; d. Exeter, 1872) was a businessman who spent much of his life in public service. From 1828 to 1835 he worked for the British government as a political economist in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. A member of Parliament, he worked for the British government in China in 1849 and completed his government career as governor of Hong Kong. Bowring’s literary output was phenomenal: he published thirty-six volumes on topics ranging from economics to biography, science, religion, and poetry. In practice a devout Christian, he belonged to 641 THE PSALMS, BIBLE SONGS, AND HYMNS the Unitarian Church. Bowring studied two hundred languages and claimed to speak one hundred. Included in his writings are two collections of hymns, Matins and Vespers with Occasional Devotional Pieces (1823) and Hymns as a Sequel to Matins (1825), which included “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.”

Hymnal Appearances

• Christian Worship: Hymnal — 529
• Christian Worship — 345
• Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary — 523
• Baptist Hymnal — 554
• Chalice Hymnal — 207
• Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 519
• Glory to God — 213
• The Hymnal 1982 — 441
• Lutheran Book of Worship — 104
• Lutheran Service Book — 427
• Lutheran Worship — 101
• New Century Hymnal — 193
• Psalter Hymnal — 474
• Trinity Hymnal — 251
• The Lutheran Hymnal — 354
• United Methodist Hymnal — 295

Liturgical Use

Lent and Holy Week; other services that focus on the meaning of Christ’s cross for us.

Bulletin Note

Written by Sir John Bowring in 1825, this hymn became a Reformation classic for its clear confession that Christian confidence belongs entirely to Christ's cross, not to human merit or accomplishment.

Preaching Connection

This hymn crystallizes the Reformation's central claim: the cross is God's answer to human sinfulness, making it a powerful response to any sermon proclaiming justification by faith rather than by works.

Catechism & Confessional Connections

• Of Justification Augsburg Confession

Stanza Arc

The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Law to Gospel: human weakness and worldly ruin (stanzas 1-2) give way to Christ's cross as sole source of redemption, peace, and Christian boasting (stanzas 3-4)

In the Church Year

Suggested in the one-year series

• Holy Monday (1×)
• Lent 3 (1×)

Suggested in the three-year series

• Proper 17 (2×)
• Proper 18 (2×)
• Epiphany 4 (1×)
• Lent 5 (1×)
• Palm Sunday (1×)

From LCMS Worship's published hymn suggestions, 2014–2026. The count is how many of those yearly lists suggested this hymn for that day.

Overview

Based on Gal 6:14, the hymn presents the cross as standing above the ruins of history (st. 1), a source of peace in sorrow (st. 2), an added brightness in joy (st. 3), and the sanctifier of all experience (st. 4). Its author was a Unitarian statesman, and the text speaks of the cross mostly as a symbol rather than naming the atonement; Lutheran preaching supplies what the cross accomplished. Read in the light of Gal 6:14, it confesses the cross as the center of history and life.

Central theme: The cross as the abiding center that gives meaning to sorrow and joy

Structure

The cross over history (1); in sorrow (2); in joy (3); sanctifying all (4).

Law & Gospel Shape

Gospel implicit; the atonement is assumed rather than stated.

Confessional Connections

Theology of the cross. Because Bowring was a Unitarian, the hymn does not confess Christ's deity or the atonement explicitly; Lutheran usage interprets 'the Cross of Christ' as the saving death of the Son of God (1 Cor 1:18).

Liturgical Use (Study Notes)

Holy Cross Day (Sept 14); Lent; Good Friday; Sundays with Gal 6.

Historical Notes

Bowring (1792-1872), polyglot, member of Parliament, and Governor of Hong Kong. A tradition (probably legendary) links the hymn to a ruined church in Macau whose cross still stood.

About the Tune

RATHBUN (Ithamar Conkey, 1849).

Scripture References

Gal 6:14 1 Cor 1:18-24 1 Cor 2:2 Rom 8:28 Col 1:20 Phil 4:7

Stanza by Stanza

Themes

Redemption through the cross Boasting in Christ alone Triumph of the cross Christian confidence

Look Further

• Search Hymnary.org for "In the Cross of Christ I Glory" ↗
• Search IMSLP for public-domain scores of "RATHBUN" ↗