Savior of the Nations Come

Martin Luther’s theme in the hymn, “Savior of the Nations Come" is salvation through Jesus Christ who humbled himself to come to Earth, then triumphed over the devil, and will return one day to take all believers with Him to paradise. One language tool Luther uses in the hymn is description. This method is very effective in supporting his theme. The entire hymn focuses on Jesus, yet the actual name is not mentioned. Instead Luther describes Him as Savior, Virgin’s Son, Word of God, the Father’s only Son, God the Son, and our King. The adjectives pure and fresh are also used to describe Jesus. One could summarize the first three verses simply as Jesus was born of a virgin and not conceived by people, but by the Holy Spirit. However, Luther goes into much greater detail and adds that though the whole world disowned Him, He will still be enthroned in heaven. It is very important that Luther does not stop with Jesus being born of a virgin, but finishes the story by explaining how he overcame death and won the victory so we can spend eternity with Him in heaven if we have faith, through the Holy Spirit.