What Child Is This
What child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary's lap is sleeping
What Child Is This is a hymn text by William Chatterton Dix (1865) in 8.7.8.7 with refrain meter. Found in CW21 344, CW93 67, ELH 145, elw 296. Sung to GREENSLEEVES.
A carol structured as a series of rhetorical questions answered by the identity of Christ. The three stanzas address the identity of the sleeping child, the response of wonder and offering, and finally the call to bring him laud. The text's genius is the way it holds together the humility and majesty of the incarnation.
History & Background
Written by William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898) in 1865 during a severe illness, as part of a longer poem called The Manger Throne. Set to the English traditional melody GREENSLEEVES. The contrast between the humble manger and the royal identity of the child is the dramatic center of the text.
Hymnal Appearances
- Christian Worship: Hymnal — 344
- Christian Worship — 67
- Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary — 145
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship — 296
- Gather 4th Edition — 508
- Lutheran Book of Worship — 40
- Lutheran Service Book — 370
- The Lutheran Hymnal — 80
Bulletin Note
What Child Is This — William Chatterton Dix, 1865
Preaching Connection
The mystery of the incarnation — the contrast between the humble manger and the King of kings.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Incarnational mystery (Stanza 1) → Soteriological purpose (Stanza 2) → Eschatological response (Stanza 3)
In the Church Year
Suggested in the one-year series
- Epiphany 1 (2×)
- Christmas 1 (1×)
- Christmas 2 (1×)
- Christmas Midnight (1×)
Suggested in the three-year series
- Christmas Midnight (2×)
- Christmas Day (1×)
- Christmas Eve (1×)
- Epiphany (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
A carol built as question and answer. Who is the baby on Mary's lap? Christ the King. Why does he lie among animals? Because the silent Word is there pleading for sinners, on his way to nails and spear. What then should we do? Bring him worship and enthrone him. LSB prints Dix's full stanzas rather than repeating the first refrain three times, and that restores the carol's centre: the second stanza's second half takes the singer from the manger to the cross in one sentence. Few popular carols say so plainly that the Child was born to die 'for me, for you'.
Central theme: The infant on Mary's lap is the King and the Word made flesh, born to be pierced for sinners
Structure
Three stanzas of 87 87 68 67, each with its own closing quatrain ending on 'the babe, the son of Mary'. St. 1: identity (question and answer); st. 2: humiliation and its purpose; st. 3: the response of worship.
Law & Gospel Shape
Law in one phrase: 'Good Christian, fear', and in the nails and spear, which show what sin costs. Gospel: 'for sinners here the silent Word is pleading'; 'the cross be borne for me, for you'; 'the King of kings salvation brings'.
Confessional Connections
A compact Second Article. 'The Word made flesh' and 'the son of Mary' in the same breath confess the one person in two natures (AC III; FC SD VIII), and the refrain's insistence on Mary's son guards the true humanity. Stanza 2 teaches the humiliation: the Word is 'silent', laid in 'mean estate', and already pleading, that is, interceding as priest. 'For me, for you' is the pro nobis that the Small Catechism presses in the Second Article and the Sacrament. In stanza 3 'let loving hearts enthrone Him' is the language of faith's response and must not be heard as our making him King; he brings salvation before any heart receives him (AC IV; SC, Third Article).
Liturgical Use (Study Notes)
Christmas Eve and Christmas season; Epiphany (st. 3, the gifts of the Magi); Christmas 1 with the Passion foreshadowing of Simeon's prophecy.
Historical Notes
Dix, a Bristol-born insurance manager in Glasgow, wrote the poem 'The Manger Throne' around 1865 after a serious illness; these stanzas were drawn from it and set to GREENSLEEVES in Stainer and Bramley's Christmas Carols New and Old (1871). Many hymnals use only the first closing quatrain as a refrain; LSB restores all three.
About the Tune
GREENSLEEVES, an English ballad tune of the 16th century.
Scripture References
Luke 2:7-20 Matt 2:1-11 John 1:1, 14 Isa 53:5-7 John 19:34 Phil 2:6-8 Heb 7:25 Rev 19:16 Isa 1:3
Stanza by Stanza
Who is this child asleep on Mary's lap, whom angels greet with sweet anthems while shepherds keep watch? This is Christ the King, guarded by shepherds and sung by angels. Hurry to praise him, the baby, Mary's son.
The carol opens with the question every Gospel puts: who is this? The scene is as ordinary as possible, an infant asleep on his mother's knees, and the evidence that he is more comes from outside, angels greeting and shepherds watching. Then the answer is given, not reasoned out: 'This, this is Christ the King'. The repeated 'this' points at the baby himself. No distinction is allowed between the helpless child and the King; they are the same subject. 'The babe, the son of Mary' closes every stanza as a kind of signature for the true humanity. The summons 'haste to bring Him laud' is the shepherds' own response in Luke 2:15-16.
- Scripture
- Luke 2:8-16, Matt 2:2, Luke 1:31-33, Mark 4:41
- Imagery & language
- A sleeping child on a lap; angels' anthems; shepherds on guard.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: the child is identified as Christ the King.
- Connection to previous
- Opening question and its answer.
Why does he lie in such poverty, where ox and donkey feed? Christian, stand in awe: here the silent Word is pleading for sinners. Nails and spear will pierce him; he will bear the cross for me and for you. Hail the Word made flesh, Mary's son.
The second question is about the manner of his coming, and the answer is the theological heart of the carol. The poverty is not an accident of travel; it is the beginning of the humiliation that ends at Calvary. 'The silent Word' is a deliberate paradox. The eternal Word by whom all things were made cannot yet speak, and Isaiah's servant 'opened not his mouth'. Yet he is 'pleading': his very presence in our flesh is intercession for sinners. Then the stanza names the instruments of the Passion beside the crib, nails and spear, and applies them with the two pronouns that make doctrine into Gospel, 'for me, for you'. 'Good Christian, fear' is the right awe before such a cost. The ox and ass, from Isaiah 1:3, know their master's crib when his people do not.
- Scripture
- Luke 2:7, John 1:14, Isa 53:5-7, John 19:34, Phil 2:7-8, Heb 7:25, Isa 1:3, 2 Cor 8:9
- Imagery & language
- Feeding-trough among animals; the silent Word; nails, spear and cross set beside the manger.
- Law / Gospel
- Law: 'fear', and the cost of sin shown in nails and spear. Gospel: he pleads and bears the cross for me, for you.
- Connection to previous
- From who he is to why he lies so low: the manger already points to the cross.
So bring him incense, gold and myrrh. Come, peasant and king alike, to claim him as your own. The King of kings brings salvation; let loving hearts enthrone him. Raise the song on high while the virgin sings her lullaby: joy, for Christ is born, Mary's son.
'So' marks the response to what has been confessed. The gifts are the Magi's, and 'peasant, king' joins Luke's shepherds to Matthew's wise men: all ranks come on the same footing. Tradition reads the gifts as gold for a king, incense for God and myrrh for burial, which fits a carol that has just spoken of his death. The order of the middle lines matters. First 'the King of kings salvation brings', and only then 'let loving hearts enthrone Him'. He is King before anyone crowns him, and the love that welcomes him is produced by the salvation he brings. The stanza ends in two songs at once, the Church's raised 'on high' and a mother's lullaby, greatness and smallness together to the last line.
- Scripture
- Matt 2:11, Rev 19:16, Luke 2:10-11, Ps 72:10-11, Luke 1:46-47, Titus 2:11
- Imagery & language
- Royal gifts; peasant and king side by side; anthem and lullaby.
- Law / Gospel
- Gospel: the King brings salvation. Response of faith: worship and love.
- Connection to previous
- Having learned who he is and what he will do, the singer is told how to answer.
Themes
Christmas Incarnation Wonder Worship