“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”

"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" (United Methodist Hymnal, no. 384) is one of the most frequently sung Wesley hymns, and it is often identified as a favorite hymn of United Methodists. In fact, "Love Divine" may suffer from over-familiarity on the part of United Methodists. We sing it often enough and are so acquainted with its lyrics and tune that we fail to fully appreciate its depth and full meaning. The hymn suggests that sin can be completely overcome and cleansed from us in this life, a concept that many have found controversial, including John Wesley. Let's look at this text to come to a renewed appreciation of its message and importance to us as United Methodists.

Stanza One: As we sing "Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heav'n, to earth come down!" what are we saying? Are we singing about love? romantic love? Christian love? God's love? No, we are singing a greeting to the one to whom we will address the remaining lyrics: Jesus. Jesus is "love divine" and "joy of heaven," God incarnated in the human form of Jesus. There follow a number of petitions: take up residence in our hearts and lives; grant us divine grace and mercy. Again, we address Jesus as pure, compassionate, unbounded love, and two final petitions: come to us bringing salvation, entering our trembling, fearful hearts.

Stanza Two: More petitions: breathe your Spirit into us; let us find and inherit "second rest"; remove our sinful nature; be the beginning and end of all things for us so that our faith always makes us free. It should be noted that Wesley's phrase, "bent to sinning", is not without controversy today. Do we sin because of our God-created human nature, or is it a matter of choice? Is it nature or nurture? Calvinist Augustus Toplady, author of the hymn "Rock of Ages," wrote a pointed article arguing against Wesley's phrase. It remains a point of contention today, with the the ELCA Lutherans' Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal opting for "Take away the love of sinning." The same "love of sinning" language appeared in the 1935 Methodist Hymnal, but reverted to Wesley's "bent to sinning" in our 1966 and 1989 hymnals. The difference is not unimportant: We sin because it is our unavoidable human nature to do so or because we make a conscious, avoidable choice to sin.

We must also take note of Wesley's phrase "second rest" in stanza two. If there is a "second rest," what is it? And is there also a "first rest"? Wesley is here making the distinction between the two kinds of grace exhibited -- God's grace demonstrated through the atoning work of Jesus (salvation) is the "first grace" and the continuing work of grace of the Holy Spirit in the life of the saved Christian is the "second rest" (sanctification). Some hymnals, including Evangelical Lutheran Worship, change "second rest" to "promised rest," presumably a change made to distance themselves from what they perceive as the excesses of the "second blessing" of Pentecostals and other Holiness and Charismatic churches.

Stanza Three: Stanza three moves to direct address of God: Come to us and deliver us; give us life; return to us suddenly and never depart; we will always bless and serve God; in eternal prayer and praise we will glory in God's love. The 1935 Methodist Hymnal altered Wesley's "let us all thy life receive" to "let us all thy grace receive."

Stanza Four: As recreated creatures of God's salvation, finish us to perfection; change us from earthly to heavenly creatures; as we "cast our crowns" before God, we give up all earthly wealth, possessions, and things, making them an offering to God; and in one of the most memorable lines in all of hymnody, may we be "lost in wonder, love, and praise!"

Tune: Our hymnals have traditionally set this text to BEECHER, the tune United Methodists are accustomed to singing. Other hymnals, however, have used other tunes, including the familiar tune HYFRYDOL, used in our hymnal with another Wesley text, "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" (196). The Upper Room Worshipbook also uses HYFRYDOL with this text, and this alternate setting is available on the Discipleship Ministries worship website.

We hear much about the primary task of the United Methodist Church being to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The text of Wesley's "Love Divine" is closely related to this primary task. It is a worthy subject for a multiweek adult study or for a sermon series, perhaps taking a different stanza each week.