Savior of the Nations Come

     Luther uses a combination of pathos, logos, and very detailed description throughout the entire hymn.  The phrase “not by human flesh and blood, by the spirit of our God was the Word of God made flesh” contains emotion proclaiming; God made Jesus into flesh not by flesh but by divine power.  “Though by all the world disowned still to be in heaven enthroned” is an example of logos or logic that Luther uses.  He uses the truth that when Jesus came to earth he was an outcast, and he was crucified and died for us.  “Still to be in heaven enthroned” also states the truth that Jesus rose from the dead and lives and reigns in heaven.  Some description is shown in “Brightly doth the manger shine glorious is its light divine…ever be our faith thus bright”.  The way that he describes how Jesus’ manger shines in glorious light describes to us how our faith should shine. Luther ends the hymn, simply, by praising God for the entire last verse.  He praises God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for “ever and eternally”.  What a great hymn, not only for Christmas, but for Christ’s second coming.

Sermon Diagnostic

1)  Jesus' name was mentioned 17 times

2)  The verbs were: Made holy, slain, took, slain, died, rose, came, rose, came, and is.

3)  The theme of Borghardt’s sermon differed greatly from Edwards’ sermon.  Although only a segment of Edwards’ sermon, which totaled six hours, I find it hard to believe that he mentioned Christ as much as Borghardt did in fifteen minutes.  Borghardt preached God’s grace because of Jesus.  Edwards was all about God’s fury and the pains of hell.  Edwards’ sermon offered one way out of these pains, that being Jesus, but he rarely mentions it.  It seems he would much rather rave about how bad hell will be than how you can get out of that eternity.  Borghardt preached Christ saves.