Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart
Lord, Thee I love with all my heart
Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart is a hymn text by Martin Behm (1610) in 8.7.8.7.8.8.7 meter. Translated by Catherine Winkworth. Found in elw 744, lbw 325, lsb 708, lw 413.
This hymn exemplifies Lutheran piety by emphasizing justification through faith and the believer's loving response to God's grace, particularly through Christ's sacrifice. The text demonstrates the dialectical relationship between Law (conviction of sin) and Gospel (assurance of forgiveness), central to Lutheran teaching on Christian living.
History & Background
Martin Behm composed this hymn in early 17th-century Germany as a personal expression of devotion and was first published in 1610. Catherine Winkworth's English translation appeared in 1858 and became the standard version in Lutheran hymnals, preserving the emotional depth and theological substance of the original German text.
Hymnal Appearances
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 744
- Lutheran Book of Worship — 325
- Lutheran Service Book — 708
- Lutheran Worship — 413
- Trinity Hymnal — 729
- The Lutheran Hymnal — 429
Translation
Bulletin Note
Written in 1610 by German pastor Martin Behm, this Reformation-era hymn pairs passionate devotion with assurance of grace—a distinctly Lutheran balance of the Law's high calling and the Gospel's liberating promise.
Preaching Connection
This hymn embodies the Law-Gospel dialectic: it demands total love for God while simultaneously assuring us that Christ's sacrifice and the Spirit's power make this love not a burden but a gift.
Overview
Martin Schalling, a Lutheran pastor who suffered for refusing to sign a Calvinizing confession, wrote this as a prayer based on Psalms 18 and 73. Its three long stanzas correspond to the three articles of the Creed: love for Christ above heaven and earth, bought by his blood (st. 1); gratitude for body and soul, with prayer to serve the neighbor and bear the cross (st. 2); and a prayer for a blessed death, peaceful rest, and resurrection (st. 3). Bach used st. 3 as the closing chorale of the St. John Passion.
Central theme: Wholehearted love and trust in Christ through life, vocation, death, and resurrection
Structure
Three long stanzas: love and redemption (1); creation, vocation, cross (2); death, sleep, resurrection (3). Each ends with 'Lord Jesus Christ' and a short petition.
Law & Gospel Shape
Gospel throughout; sorrow, false doctrine, Satan, and death are named and met by Christ.
Confessional Connections
Christ's blood as the price of redemption (Second Article); creation and vocation (First Article; 'serve and help my neighbor'); death as sleep and the resurrection of the body (AC XVII). Concern for pure doctrine reflects Schalling's own confessional struggle.
Liturgical Use (Study Notes)
Funerals (especially st. 3); Trinity season; confirmation; vocations Sunday; personal devotion.
Historical Notes
Schalling (1532-1608), pastor in Amberg and later Nuremberg, was deposed for refusing a Calvinist confession and later for hesitating over the Formula of Concord. The hymn was published in 1571.
About the Tune
HERZLICH LIEB (Bernhard Schmid's Orgeltabulatur-Buch, 1577) — long, expansive melody.
Scripture References
Ps 18:1-2 Ps 73:25-26 1 Pet 1:18-19 Gal 5:13 Matt 16:24 Luke 16:22 1 Thess 4:13-14 Job 19:25-27 1 Cor 15:51-52
Stanza by Stanza
Lord, I love you with my whole heart; never leave me, but cheer me with your mercies; earth has nothing I want, and heaven would be empty without you; if my heart breaks with sorrow, no one can shake my trust; you are my portion, your blood bought my soul; Lord Jesus Christ, do not forsake me — I trust your Word.
Ps 18:1 ('I love you, O LORD, my strength') and Ps 73:25-26 ('Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you… God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever'). The striking line 'heaven itself were void and bare / If Thou, Lord, wert not near me' says that heaven is heaven because of Christ, not merely because of its pleasures. 'Thy precious blood my soul has bought' (1 Pet 1:18-19) grounds the love: it answers being bought. The closing 'I trust Thy Word' — the believer's confidence in sorrow rests on the external promise.
- Scripture
- Ps 18:1-2, Ps 73:25-26, 1 Pet 1:18-19, 1 John 4:19, Ps 16:5
- Imagery & language
- Portion; heart breaking; blood as price.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel — love answering redemption.
- Connection to previous
- Love and redemption (Second Article).
Lord, your generosity gave me body, soul, and everything in this life of work; may I glorify your grace everywhere and serve and help my neighbor; keep false doctrine and Satan from my soul; give strength and patience to bear my cross and follow you; Lord Jesus Christ, comfort me in death.
A First Article stanza almost in the words of Luther's Small Catechism ('God has given me my body and soul… all that I need'). The response to gifts is twofold: glorify God's grace and 'serve and help my neighbor' — Luther's teaching that good works are directed to the neighbor in one's vocation (Gal 5:13). 'Let no false doctrine me beguile' reflects Schalling's experience (2 Tim 4:3-4). Cross-bearing (Matt 16:24) is not chosen but given and borne with strength and patience from God. The stanza ends already looking toward death.
- Scripture
- Acts 17:25, Jas 1:17, Gal 5:13, 1 Pet 4:10, 2 Tim 4:3-4, Matt 16:24, Col 1:11
- Imagery & language
- Bounty; labor; cross.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel (gifts) and new obedience (service, cross-bearing).
- Connection to previous
- Gifts and vocation (First Article).
Lord, at the end send your angels to carry me to Abraham's bosom so I may die without fear; keep my body safe in the grave in peaceful sleep until your return; then wake me from death so my own eyes may see with joy your glorious face, Son of God, my Savior and fountain of grace; Lord Jesus Christ, hear my prayer, and I will praise you forever.
The great deathbed stanza, set by Bach as the final chorale of the St. John Passion. 'Thine angels… To Abram's bosom bear me home' — Luke 16:22, Lazarus carried by angels. 'Narrow chamber' — the grave as a bedroom where the body 'sleeps' (1 Thess 4:13-14; Isa 26:19-20). 'Until Thy reappearing… from death awaken me' — bodily resurrection on the Last Day (1 Cor 15:51-52). 'These mine eyes… may see' quotes Job 19:26-27 ('in my flesh I shall see God… my eyes shall behold'). Lutheran eschatology in miniature: the soul with Christ, the body resting, both reunited at the resurrection.
- Scripture
- Luke 16:22, 1 Thess 4:13-14, Isa 26:19-20, 1 Cor 15:51-52, Job 19:25-27, 1 John 3:2
- Imagery & language
- Angels; Abraham's bosom; narrow chamber; awakening; seeing the face.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel — blessed death and resurrection.
- Connection to previous
- Death and resurrection (Third Article).
Themes
Love of God Personal devotion Repentance and faith Joy in salvation