Lyrics
Jesus lives, and so shall I.
Death! Thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die,
Lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and reigns supreme,
And, His kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with Him,
Ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and God extends
Grace to each returning sinner;
Rebels He receives as friends
And exalts to highest honor.
God is True as He is Just:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and by His grace,
Vict'ry o'er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways,
Ever to His glory living.
Me He raises from the dust:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives! I know full well
Nought from Him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor pow'rs of hell,
Joy nor grief, henceforth forever.
None of all His saints is lost:
Jesus is my Hope and Trust.
Jesus lives, and death is now
But my entrance into glory.
Courage, then, my soul, for thou
Hast a crown of life before thee;
Thou shalt find thy hopes were just:
Jesus is the Christian's Trust.
Public domain hymn text (1757; English translation 1826). Words by Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, translated by John Dunmore Lang.
The Story Behind the Hymn
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, a German poet and professor at the University of Leipzig, wrote 'Jesus Lives, and So Shall I' in 1757, part of a collection of sacred odes he produced alongside his better-known secular literary work.
The hymn's central argument follows a tight logical structure, moving directly from Christ's resurrection to the singer's own certain future resurrection, treating the second claim as a direct consequence of the first.
It was translated into English in 1826 by John Dunmore Lang, a Scottish-born Presbyterian minister who emigrated to Australia and became a significant early public figure there, publishing the translation in his collection Aurora Australis in Sydney.
Its middle verses extend the hymn's logic further, tying Christ's resurrection not only to the singer's future but to present transformation, asking for 'vict'ry o'er my passions' as evidence of the same living power.
Its penultimate verse draws on Romans 8's confidence that nothing, 'life nor death nor pow'rs of hell,' can separate the believer from Christ's love, restating Paul's own argument in the hymn's repeated declarative style.
The hymn remained a standard Easter and general resurrection text across German Lutheran and English-language hymnals alike, valued for the clarity of its central, tightly reasoned claim about the singer's own certain future.
