Seeking God’s Glory Alone With Johann Sebastian Bach
The great composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, is often celebrated as a prolific composer of the Baroque period. Many of his pieces are still played and enjoyed today. But did you know that he was also a Christian, and his faith also influenced his compositions. As we prepare for the upcoming Reformation Concert, Elder Caleb shares with us about Bach’s life and faith, and how we too, can be encouraged to live for God’s glory alone.
Jesu, Juva
It would not have been uncommon for the great Johann Sebastian Bach to mark the top of scores with the composer’s handwritten abbreviated marking “JJ”. We can imagine Bach calling out to God in creative dependence using the Latin phrase “Jesu, Juva” which translated means “Jesus, help”.
In this small way, we see the living faith of a fellow believer who understood how to cry out to Jesus the merciful, the One who hears our prayers and knows every struggle. To Jesus, all believers can call out - regardless of time of day, location, circumstance or season - for help.
Because Jesus Christ died on the Cross in the place of sinners, bearing the full wrath of God, we have peace with God and access to Him through our Savior. Jesus is the One whose mercy is wider than the sea and his offer is open and free: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 28:19-20).
We can always call to Jesus for help.
Soli Deo Gloria
But the same believer who cries out for help knows that he casts himself upon a great God. He abandons his own self-interest and pursues nothing less than the glory of God. His life is a empty canvas for God to do His wonderful work.
Because Bach believed this, he wrote at the tail of all his works, the famous concluding acronym “SDG”, or “Soli Deo Gloria”, which means “glory to God alone”. Every piece of music Bach wrote would be to the praise and glory of His God.
Where did Bach learn this from?
Born March 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach’s faith was shaped by the great reformer Martin Luther who predated him by around two centuries. Bach lived in Eisenach, Germany, which is located just beneath the great Wartburg Castle where Luther was tried at the Diet of Worms. As a child, Bach attended the very same school Luther did.
And he would have learnt from one of Luther’s most famous writings, “The Bondage of the Will”, in which he asserted that “God has surely promised His grace to the humbled: that is to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel pleasure and work of Another – God alone.”
Bach seems to have known by faith that he was a humbled sinner saved by grace. Found among his possessions after he passed were around 80 volumes of theology, including Calov’s Bible, the complete works of Luther, Luther’s sermons and commentaries.
A cantor and organist from a family heritage of talented musicians, Bach’s prolific career as a composer of church music produced more than 1,000 works of music. Of this, three quarters were written for worship in the church. Bach is known for some of the most enduring and celebrated music in all the world, including pieces like Air on the G, Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, or major works like St Matthew Passion or The Brandenburg Concertos.
Perhaps more than any other composer save Handel, Bach is known for communicating his Christian faith through his music. This has led some to call Bach “the fifth evangelist”.
Writing in a personal letter in 1870, even the great philosopher and critic of Christianity Friedrich Nietzsche would note that “This week I heard the St Matthew Passion three times and each time I had the same feeling of immeasurable admiration. One who has completely forgotten Christianity truly hears it here as gospel.”
Music for God’s glory; refreshing the soul
Bach believed that his worship music was itself, the means for his worship of God. In one marked-up Bible, it was found scribbled in 1 Chronicles 25 next to the list of David’s musicians: "this chapter is the true foundation of all God-pleasing music." At 2 Chronicles 5:13 where the musicians of the temple adored God, he had written, "at a reverent performance of music, God is always at hand with his gracious presence."
Bach famously left us his vision for the purpose of music. He wrote that “the aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul”. Church musicians for generations after have clung to this conviction, that the music of worship, in beauty and design, should do nothing less than comfort, delight and stir our innermost beings, but all to the praise and majesty of God.
Through our fifth and final Reformation Concert, we hope to walk in Bach’s footsteps as a saint of old who shows us the way, living for the glory of God. Join us on 26 October as our choir and orchestra shares, among other songs of worship, Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”.
Our prayer for Reformation Weekend, even as we prepare now is twofold: “Jesus, help” and “may all glory be to God alone”.
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Join us for the Reformation Concert on 26 October, Saturday, at 8pm. More details here.
If you are unable to make it, we are also opening up our dress rehearsal to the church. This Reformation Concert Preview will be on 20 October, Sunday, at 2pm.
In the month of October, we will also be teaching the congregation some of the songs that will be sung during the concert. Learn the songs or meditate on the lyrics using this Spotify playlist: