To God Be the Glory
To God be the glory, great things he hath done
The hymn's first stanza compresses the Gospel into a couplet — 'so loved he the world that he gave us his Son' (John 3:16) — and then opens with the consequence: 'the lifegate that all may go in.' For Lutheran use, the second stanza's 'to every believer the promise of God' and 'that moment from Jesus a pardon receives' maps onto Lutheran theology of justification by faith, though the revivalist language of 'the vilest offender who truly believes' requires contextual framing that situates faith itself as a gift rather than a human achievement. The doxological refrain keeps the hymn from becoming merely a doctrinal statement: 'to God be the glory' is the point, not the theology that undergirds it.
History & Background
Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915) was an American hymnographer who, despite being blind from infancy, became the most prolific hymn writer in American history, composing over 8,000 hymns. 'To God Be the Glory' was written in 1875 and set to music by William Howard Doane (1832-1915), her frequent musical collaborator. The hymn was relatively little known in America until Billy Graham's 1954 London Crusade, where it became a great favorite with British audiences and was subsequently promoted in American evangelical circles through Graham's subsequent crusades. The text's combination of doxological refrain with clear atonement theology ('yielded his life an atonement for sin,' 'the purchase of blood') and personal application ('the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives') is characteristic of Crosby's gospel song style: accessible, personal, theologically grounded, and rhythmically memorable. The third stanza's eschatological dimension — 'purer and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see' — gives the hymn a depth beyond its revivalist origins.
Prodigious writer of hymn texts, FannyJ. Crosby (b. Putnam Scripture References County, NY, 1820; d. Bridgeport, CT, 1915) wrote this hymn, st. 1 = Ps. 126:2-3 which was first published with Doane’s tune in Songs ofDevotion John 3:16 (1870). This text and “Blessed Assurance” (490) are among the 1 John 2:2 best-known and most-loved hymn texts of the thousands Crosby Matt. 7:13-14 produced. Initially ignored in the United States, the hymn was ref. = John 14:6 sung in British churches after its inclusion in Ira D. Sankey’s Sacred Songs and Solos (1903). Because of its use in the Billy Graham Crusades beginning in 1954, the hymn gained great popularity in Britain and Australia as well as in the United States. In contrast to many gospel hymns (including the majority of Crosby’s texts), “To God Be the Glory” directs our attention away from personal experience to the glory of God. God so loved the world that he gave us his Son to make atonement for sin (st. 1); all who believe in Christ will receive pardon (st. 2) and will rejoice now and through all eternity because of the “great things he has done” (st. 3). The refrain borrows its praise in part from the Old Testament psalms. The phrase “when Jesus we see” (st. 3) must have meant something special to Crosby, who was blinded when she was seven weeks old. Fanny (Francis) Jane Crosby attended the New York City School for the Blind, where she later became a teacher. She began writing poetry when she was eight and published several volumes, such as A Blind Girl, and Other Poems (1844). Married to musician Alexander Van Alstyne, who was also blind, Crosby began writing hymn texts when she was in her forties. She published at least eight thousand hymns (some under various pseudonyms; see PHH 427); at times she was under contract to her publisher to write three hymns a week and often wrote six or seven a day. Crosby’s texts were set to music by prominent gospel song composers such as William B. Bradbury , William H. Doane, Robert S. Lowry , Ira D. Sankey , and William J. Kirkpatrick . Her hymns were distributed widely and popularized at evange listic services in both America and Great Britain. Crosby was one of the most respected women of her era and the friend of many prominent persons, including presidents of the United States.
In 1971 African American gospel composer and performer Andrae Crouch composed a choral work entitled My Tribute in which this song is the refrain. The text’s opening lines are derived from Fanny J. Crosby’s famous hymn text “To God Be the Glory, Great Things He Has Done” (473). The closing lines refer to two of the most important “things he has done”—providing salvation through Christ’s atoning blood and granting new life to all believers in Christ’s resurrection. Thus two essential doctrines of the Christian faith are forcefully and beautifully confessed in this simple song.
Hymnal Appearances
- Glory to God — 634
- Psalter Hymnal — 473
- United Methodist Hymnal — 98
Liturgical Use
Suitable for many worship services as a superb hymn of praise for God’s mighty acts of redemption in Christ; baptism; profession of faith; assurance of pardon.
Liturgical Use
As a sung profession of faith in many different times and places of worship; during the Easter season; Lord’s Supper.
Bulletin Note
Text by Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), 1875. Tune by William Howard Doane (1832-1915). Popularized in Britain through Billy Graham's 1954 London Crusade.
Preaching Connection
'Great things he hath done' — this hymn begins and ends with the same claim, framing everything in between (redemption, pardon, teaching) as evidence for the doxological conclusion.
Catechism & Confessional Connections
- Of Justification Augsburg Confession
Themes
praise doxology atonement pardon gospel song Fanny Crosby justification eschatological hope