HYMNS OF ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS  

O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL 

“O Come All Ye Faithful,” another Christmas hymn almost always included in a Christmas service was originally written in Latin somewhere in the mid 1700’s. Its Latin title is one you may recognize, “Adeste Fideles.”   

This traditional Christmas carol invites Christmas worshippers to join the angels in celebrating Christ’s birth as it tells the story of the baby Jesus. In Lutheran Service Book there are four verses. Actually there are at least seven verses that have been translated into English. Lutheran Service Book credits John F. Wade with the text and musical setting. It credits Frederick Oakeley with translating it into English.   

Wade’s text is drawn from the account of Christ’s birth recorded in Luke chapter 2. Verse 1 invites you the singer to go into Bethlehem and see with your own eyes the miracle that occurred in the stable of the Inn. You join with the Angels and the shepherds and all of God’s people beholding the infant Jesus sent by God the Father as the Savior of the world.     

Note that the second verse is credal in nature referring to Jesus as “holy,” “Light of light eternal” and born of a virgin as Isaiah prophesied. Jesus, Wade wrote, is “Son of the Father” and also a “true human being. (“In the flesh appearing.”)  Verse 3 tells of the heavenly choirs of angels “singing in exaltation.” These choirs gave glory to God, the text says, “In the highest.” And verse 4 invites you and all your fellow Christians to raise your voices in jubilant praise of the newborn Savior: “Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning; Jesus, to Thee be glory giv’n!  

O come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant!   
O come ye, O come— ye to Bethlehem;  
Come and behold Him Born the king of angels; 

Refrain: O come, let us adore Him,   
O come, let us adore Him,   
O come, let us adore Him,    
Christ the Lord! 

Highest, most holy, Light of Light eternal,  
Born of a virgin, a mortal He comes;  
Son of the Father Now in flesh appearing! Refrain: 

Sing, choirs of angels, Sing in exultation,  
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!  
Glory to God— In the highest: Refrain: 

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, Born this happy morning;  
Jesus, to Thee— be— glory giv’n!  
Word of the Father Now in flesh appearing! Refrain: 

O Come, All Ye Faithful // LSB 379