Hymn Desk
Hymn Texts /

True God and Yet a Man

True God and yet a Man

This hymn celebrates the central Lutheran insight of the Incarnation: God becoming human in Jesus Christ without confusion or separation of natures. It affirms the classical Christological formula that Christ is simultaneously true God and true Man, essential to Lutheran soteriology.

History & Background

Martin Behm's hymn "Wahrer Gott und wahrer Mensch" was published in the early 17th century as a meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation. Catherine Winkworth's English translation appeared in her Lyra Germanica (1863), making this German devotional hymn accessible to English-speaking Lutherans.

Hymnal Appearances

  • The Lutheran Hymnal — 97

Translation

Catherine Winkworth

Bulletin Note

Martin Behm (1610) wrote this hymn in the generation after Luther, expressing the classical Lutheran Christology: God in Christ assumes human nature completely, yet without confusion of the divine and human—the foundation of our salvation.

Preaching Connection

This hymn's affirmation of Christ as true God and true Man without separation anchors the Law-Gospel dialectic: our need (the Law reveals our fallen humanity) meets God's radical answer (the Gospel of God's incarnate presence and redemptive union with us).

Catechism & Confessional Connections

Stanza Arc

The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Law to Gospel: from the demand to love God completely (St. 1) through confession of sin and need for Christ's redemption (St. 2), to the Holy Spirit's sustaining comfort (St. 3), culminating in trinitarian confidence and eschatological hope (St. 4)

Themes

Incarnation Christology Divine mystery Jesus Christ true God and Man

Look Further