The Word That Renders Evil Powerless: The Mighty Fortress Who Is

At our church we observed Reformation Sunday in late October. Along with probably most Protestant churches which follow the liturgical church year, we sang the majestic “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” written by reformer Martin Luther. It’s a favorite of mine anyway, partly because my born-and-bred Lutheran husband always enjoys and sings it with great gusto. He would be the first to tell you he is not the greatest singer in the world but, like my father always did, booms out with heartfelt enthusiasm on a familiar song.

I don’t think the words ever spoke to me as powerfully as that Sunday. So old fashioned with its eths and doths and images of trembling before a prince of darkness grim. Here are the words to all but the second verse:

A mighty fortress is our God
A bulwark never failing
Our helper he amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! His doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth.
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill,
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Our interim pastor, Sally Robinson, used the story of Job in the Old Testament to address the oft debated topic of “where is God with so much suffering in the world” but with a twist. It is human nature to lament and rage against the heavens when bad, horrible things happen, as they did again this week, and indeed happen every week somewhere in the world. But that’s another topic and my heart goes out to all affected personally.

The Court of the Patriarchs, Zion National Park, Utah.

The question Sally asked was “why don’t we also question God when good things happen?” Sally has many years of ministry and life experience, including the good, the bad, and the boring.Looking at Job (as I did in three posts on this blog, a condensed version which later appeared in The Mennonite) we wonder how one human could bear so much grief as he loses all his riches and his family. But when his blessings are restored many times over, we don’t wonder any more. We don’t question God when blessings flow.

Pastor Sally pointed out that part of living means accepting and acknowledging our blessings—in humility—and accepting the risks. For instance, when we fall in love (or grow into it) and marry, we accept the risk that one day we will lose our beloved—or they will lose us (and perhaps some pass on together—a blessing for them but a double grief for their families). To love and be loved in this life—we agree to pain and suffering. The alternative—to hibernate or withdraw from friends, loved ones and society is to lead an incredibly lonely life—a grief and loss of another kind.

In that context, “A Mighty Fortress” takes on an even richer significance. Essentially if we take it to heart, it frees us to look the risks—even the rage of the evil one— straight in the eye and say as Jesus said to the tempter in the wilderness, “You have no power over me.” (I can think of more profane ways to say that but I won’t here.) With Luther we can rest in the stronghold God provides and belt out, “God’s truth abideth still.”

Abide—even without the eth on the end—is a wonderful, out of date word, in common usage only as a negative thing, as in: “I cannot abide that!” In the Bible abide is far richer, evoking comforting, big arms enveloping us—but also a responsibility to stay put and not stray from God’s side.

Those words offer out-of-this-world comfort, and a place to draw the strength to carry on.

One final thought. Four lines in this great hymn left me greatly perplexed for awhile, where the thought carries over from one verse to the next (the parentheses inserted below are mine):

For lo! His doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
(No thanks to them), abideth.

Luther is almost satirically saying the earthly powers have nothing, NOTHING, when it comes to the might of the Fortress (God). One commentator says that word is love.

Even when the way seems dark and full of sorrow and fear, love trumps the evil powers of this world.

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How does this hymn speak to you? Or not? How do you interpret those perplexing lines I called out above?

Here are some conservative Mennonites with an a cappella arrangement of A Mighty Fortress is Our God.

https://youtu.be/wIqwW8mSiyI

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For some additional, but different thoughts on Reformation Sunday, here’s theologian Stanley Hauerwas.

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We need a Lutheran Hymnal in our collection, don’t you think??

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All photos mine.