Christ is Risen
Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
But fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to Him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely You’ve bled for usChrist is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, Come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, Come awake
Come and rise up from the graveBeneath the weight of all our sin
You bowed to none but heaven’s wil
No Scheme of hell, no scoffer’s crown
No burden great can hold you down
In strength you reign
Forever let your church proclaimO death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
The glory of God has defeated the nightO death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
O church, come stand in the light
Our God is not dead
He’s alive! He’s alive!
REFLECTIONS
What a great song! I had never head of it until we sung it at the Fellowship Baptist Church this past Sunday, and I was immediately struck by a certain portion of the lyrics.
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, Come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
That is a unique phraseology that is familiar to me, as I remember reading about it in a commentary on John Chrystosom’s famous Pashal homily of the early 5th century. It is taken from a line from the Pashal troparion [ie, an ancient Easter hymn that very short and typically chanted] which is well known in most Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox Church traditions, the sum of which is
“Christ is risen from the dead,
Trampling down death by death,
And upon those in the tombs
Bestowing life!”
Not just that, but I thought I heard that phrase a bit earlier than the 5th century in some obscure setting. I checked my library, and I found it. There was a man in the late 2nd century named Theodotus the Shoemaker, who was an early Christian writer from Byzantium. Though denounced as a heretic by one of the early Popes, [with good reason, I would argue] he too used the phrase “death by death” in referring to baptism in some of his gnostic/Valentinian writings.
So while I love that lyric, I’m also somewhat aware that it is not so much the act of death that conquered death, as it was Jesus rising from the death. Seeing as how that statement is linked in the first line, its fair to make the latter statement without being theologically imprecise. All in all though a very good song, and one I heartily enjoy and recommend. Oh, and the last part is clearly a riff on 1 Corinthians 15.
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 54-57.
