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1 MAN of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
2 Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood,
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
3 Guilty, vile, and helpless, we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He:
Full atonement --- can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
4 Lifted up was He to die,
"It is finished" was His cry;
Now in heaven, exalted high:
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
5 When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew this song we'll sing ---
Hallelujah! What a Saviour!
Hymnals:
Hymns of Worship and Remembrance, #96
Hymns of Truth and Praise, #111
Author: P.P. Biss (1838-1876)
Composer: P.P. Bliss (1838-1876)
Tune: Listen to the tune specifically made for this song : Hallelujah! What a Savior
Biblical doctrines found in "Man of Sorrows"
In his song, “Man of Sorrows”, Philip Bliss has captured various doctrinal themes from the Scriptures. The main highlight of the song is the fact that the Son of God is our Savior, but he is not like just any human saviors. He is such an extraordinary Savior that the extent of the salvation He procures for the ransomed sinner, cannot be adequately expressed in words, and one has to resort to an expression ending with an exclamation: Hallelujah! What a Savior! This is the refrain of the worshippers who find themselves saved by His precious blood.
From a Systematic Theology standpoint, the following broad topics are covered in this hymn: Christology (the doctrines pertaining to Christ), Hamartiology (the doctrines regarding Sin), Anthropology (the doctrines regarding Man), Soteriology (the doctrines pertaining to Salvation) and Eschatology (the doctrines regarding the Future).
Each stanza of this hymn presents the Son of God, either directly or by implication, in His various offices at various times. Consider the following:
Stanza 1: “Man of Sorrows”
Stanza 2: Penal Substitute
Stanza 3: Spotless Lamb
Stanza 4: Accursed Scapegoat and Exalted Lord
Stanza 5: Glorious King
One purpose, among several, for the Savior’s work and offices is to reclaim and ransom ruined sinners.
- “Man of Sorrows”: The prophet Isaiah is the one who originally uses the phrase “man of sorrows”, referring to the suffering servant. Isaiah pens these words: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” [KJV]. Read in ESV: Isaiah 53: 3. Bliss has appropriately interpreted the passage of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, as referring to Christ, the Son of God. While this interpretation may not be appreciated by many Jewish scholars to whom the only Scriptures are the books of the Old Testament, those who believe in the plenary inspiration of the entire Bible, including the New Testament, find support for the Isaiah 53 passage in the words of Luke in Acts 8: 31-35. This passage records the interaction between Philip, a disciple of Jesus, and an Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch was reading from a scroll when Philip, directed by the Holy Spirit, met the eunuch riding on his chariot. Philip asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading, to which the eunuch replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me.” Luke then records the following: “And he (the eunuch) desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. The eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” [KJV]. This passage is taken by Luke from Isaiah 53: 7-8, which is the passage on the suffering servant. Clearly Luke identifies the suffering servant as Jesus. Luke is not alone in identifying the suffering servant as Jesus. Other NT writers quote portions of Isaiah 53 in reference to Jesus: The apostles John (John 12: 37-38), Matthew (Matthew 8: 16, 17), Paul (Romans 10: 16), Peter (1 Peter 2: 24-25) etcetera. Spurgeon’s observation regarding this title given to the suffering Servant is apropos: “Is not the title, “Man of Sorrows,” given to our Lord by way of eminence? He was not only sorrowful, but pre-eminent among the sorrowful! All men have a burden to bear, but His was heaviest of all!... Ordinary mourners may be content to tear their garments, but He, Himself, is torn in His affliction—they sip at Sorrow’s bowl, but He drains it dry. He who was the most obedient Son smarted most under the rod when He was stricken of God and afflicted! No other of the smitten ones have sweat great drops of blood, or in the same bitterness of anguish, cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The reasons for this superior sorrow may be found in the fact that with His sorrow there was no mixture of sin. Sin deserves sorrow, but it also blunts the edge of grief by rendering the soul untender and unsympathetic. We do not start at sin as Jesus did. We do not tremble at the sinner’s doom as Jesus would. His was a perfect Nature which, because it knew no sin, was not in its element amid sorrow, but was like a land bird driven out to sea by the gale.”[1] Indeed the Son of God came to earth, leaving His heavenly abode to become the “Man of Sorrows” to reclaim ruined sinners.
- Penal Substitute: The second stanza of this hymn correctly states that the Son of God as Man of Sorrows became the substitute for those who have received full atonement: “Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood”. There are many theories on the atonement but not all are Biblical. The Bible consistently teaches that Christ stood as the sinner’s substitute, bearing the sinner’s condemnation and paying the sinner’s penalty. This is known as "penal substitution". The word "substitute" means, "a putting in place of another". Thus Christ took the place of sinners as the divine Substitute. In so doing, He became the sinner's vicar, standing in the sinner's place as the sinner's representative. The penalty ("wages") for sin is death (Romans 6: 23). We refer to the death of Christ as "vicarious" because He took the penalty of our sins on Himself and died as our Substitute. The passage that we considered before on the Suffering Servant, which scripture identifies as Christ, has this to say: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Read in the ESV: Isaiah 53: 4, 5). Other passages to consider include: 1 Peter 2: 24; Romans 3: 25; Romans 4: 25; 1 Corinthians 5: 21; 1 John 2: 2; 1 John 4: 10 etc.
- Spotless Lamb: Bliss contrasts the vileness of the sinner to the spotlessness of the Lamb. The Lamb referred to is the Son of God. The idea of the lamb is drawn from the Old Testament and finds its fulfillment in Christ in the New Testament. In the Old Testament we find animals sacrificed as substitute for the sinner, as an offering to appease God, thus satisfying his wrath against the sinner and his/her sins, and for the sinner's pardon and release from the penalty of sin, which is death. The justice and the righteousness of God requires a payment for sins committed, because God is Holy. The need for sacrifice of an animal as substitute is presented throughout the Old Testament. In the book of Genesis, after Adam and Eve's sin, proceeded by God's indictment and sentencing, God provides garments/coats of skins and clothes the first couple (Genesis 3: 21). This provision was necessary because Adam's self-created apron from fig leaves (Genesis 3: 7) was deemed insufficient as a proper covering. By implication, God sacrificed an animal (or animals) to clothe the first couple. Theologians have realized for centuries that the animal sacrifice was necessary to atone for Adam's sin and to save him from immediate death. An animal was sacrificed instead of Adam, thus the sacrificed animal took the place of Adam as his substitute. Moreover, the clothing for Adam had to be the skin of the animal. This symbolized the fact that Adam's own work in covering himself with fig leaves was insufficient and he needed the covering of the skin of the sacrificed animal. The theological ramifications of this idea are numerous and are explored in the New Testament. In the New Testament, we discover that our own works are insufficient to meet the covering we need from God's righteousness and justice, so Christ as Lamb is sacrificed and the believing sinner is clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
Human beings are presented in their Biblical limelight of being in fundamentally two states of existence since the Fall:
- RUIN: The song initially finds human beings as ruined sinners, guilty due to their culpability, vile in the extent of their perversions and helpless to extricate themselves from their predicament
- RESTORATION: The song culminates with human beings reclaimed, ransomed and brought home with the song of deliverance as their constant refrain.
Bliss has accurately captured the notion that between the states of ruin and recovery, guilt and glory, helplessness and hope, humanity has done nothing for its own salvation. The work is accomplished by the Savior alone to transport the sinner from ruin to restoration.
[1] C.H Spurgeon, sermon entitled ‘The Man Of Sorrows And Acquainted With Grief’ , Sermon no. 1099; A sermon delivered on March 12, 1873 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle , Newington.
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