What Wondrous Love Is This?
What Wondrous Love Is This?
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul?
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of life
To lay aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
To lay aside His crown for my soul?
THIS HYMN has always been associated with the Appalachian area. Like most spirituals, it has been passed down through the generations and exists in several different versions. The melody, based on a six-tone scale, sounds minor to modern ears and has a haunting effect. The text adds to the effect. This is the question of the ages, and after all the glorious celebration of the Easter season, the question remains. What made Him do it? What made Him do it for me?
Every so often you’ll read about a disaster where someone makes a heroic but fatal effort to save others. A man jumps into icy water to save someone. He puts the lifeline in the person’s hand, but drowns. We marvel at the selflessness of such a person. What made him do it? Christ “bore the dreadful curse” for our soul, and we can ponder that for the rest of our lives. We can also resolve to devote our lives to Him, to please Him, and praise Him through all eternity.
Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Galatians 3:13
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