A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
68

Text: Martin Luther (1483–1546); adapted
Music: Attributed to Martin Luther
Tune name: EIN FESTE BURG

This beloved and historic hymn arose out of the struggle of the Protestant Reformation. Today, in Wittenberg, Germany, travelers may read on the tomb of Martin Luther the words “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”: “A mighty fortress is our God.”

The hymn, dating from 1529, is an extended figure of speech comparing our God to an unshakeable fortress that will protect us forever from the attacks of Satan. It takes its inspiration from Psalm 46, which begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” It has been translated innumerable times into English as well as dozens of other languages, and its popularity extends throughout the Christian world.

Martin Luther had an abiding conviction of the importance of musical worship, and he sought to establish congregational singing throughout the Protestant churches. He spoke of this conviction many times. Once he stated, “The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God.” Another time he said: “If any man despises music, as all fanatics do, for him I have no liking; for music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices” (quoted in Kenneth W. Osbeck, 101 Hymn Stories [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications, 1982], 14).

Many writers throughout past centuries have paid tribute to Martin Luther’s skill as a hymn- writer and to this great hymn in particular. Samuel Taylor Coleridge said that Luther “did as much for the Reformation by his hymns as he did by his translation of the Bible.” The German poet Heinrich Heine called “A Mighty Fortress” the “Marseillaise of the Reformation” (quoted in Charles S. Nutter and Wilbur F. Tillett, The Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church [New York: Methodist Book Concern, 1911], 57).

Most other hymnals include four verses. In a translation by Frederick H. Hedge (1805–1890), used in The Methodist Hymnal, the three additional verses read as follows:

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
From age to age the same,
And he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through him who with us sideth:

Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever.