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HETHER therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:33 Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:31-33)
This hymn stands in sharp contrast to all of the thousands of other hymns Fanny Crosby wrote. Most of her hymns extol the wonder and beauty of the saint’s experience in the surety of God’s salvation. This hymn, however, extols the glory of God alone to the exclusion of any human experiences. I add the following quote:
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. Hymnary.org.
Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), blind from infancy, wrote this hymn in 1870 to the tune by the same name composed by William Howard Doane.
To God be the Glory
To God be the glory, great things he has done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate that all may go in.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son
and give him the glory, great things he has done!
Great things he has taught us, great things he has done,
and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son,
but purer and higher and greater will be
our joy and our wonder, when Jesus we see.
Refrain
1 To God be the glory, great things he has done! So loved he the world that he gave us his Son, who yielded his life an atonement for sin, and opened the life-gate that all may go in. There is no glory apart of that belonging to our God who is our Maker, Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Lord, and Friend. The only Begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was obedient to His Father unto death in the redemption of the elect of God. Just as the Door of the Ark of Noah was the only gateway to salvation for the pre-deluvian masses of whom only eight souls gained entry. That Door was closed by God since man does not have the volition to close the door of salvation on mankind. 16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. (Genesis 7:16) Christ is not only the door of the Sheepfold, but the Door to Heaven and Salvation itself. Only He can open that Door
2 Great things he has taught us, great things he has done, and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son, but purer and higher and greater will be our joy and our wonder, when Jesus we see. The Immutable Word of God is the greatest gift we can possess for it is the very image of the only Begotten Son of God in written form: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4) Our Lord’s coming was the crux of all time and society. It divided eternity past from eternity future. But for Him, there is no past or future, for He is the Eternal Presence – the Great I AM! It is remarkable that most of the hymns of the blind Fanny Crosby convey a sense of seeing the Lord. Perhaps in her physical blindness her spiritual vision was far keener than our physical vision.
Refrain:
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give him the glory, great things he has done! Even the inanimate world responds to the commands of God and His natural law. Mankind is not so responsive to the Commandments of God as these natural elements of the earth. But the day looms large when at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. (Psalm 150:6)
There is only one approach to the Father and that is through His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
