God`s love to Thomas O. Chisholm as seen in his Hymn Tittled `Great is Thy Faithfulness`.

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ABSTRACT
Christyawan, Yanuari. (2014). God’s Love to Thomas O. Chisholm as Seen in
His Hymn Titled Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Yogyakarta: English Language Study
Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
This study aims to explain the message and theme of love contained in the
hymn entitled Great is Thy Faithfulness written by Thomas O. Chisholm. This
hymn is an expression of Thomas’ poem on love that he felt from God. The love
was felt when he got weak physical condition and got sick easily. The hymn was
booked along with other hymns and grouped in the theme of love. This paper
intends to discuss two problems: 1) How are God’s love and mercy reflected in
Great is Thy faithfulness hymn lyrics? And 2) what influenced Thomas O.
Chisholm in writing the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness?
For the discussion, the writer used the biographical approach because
Great is Thy Faithfulness was written based on the life and the spiritual

experience of the author. This study is used to discuss the topic study. The main
theory that grounds this study is the theory of love. Another supporting study of
this research is the Biblical study because Great is Thy Faithfulness was
composed from the Biblical inspiration.
The theme of God's love can be seen from the use of the word love and
other words related to the manifestation of love such as pardon of sins,
faithfulness, mercy and etcetera. Each stanza contains the manifestation of God's
love given to Thomas just like loyalty, forgiveness, inclusion and others. In Great
is Thy Faithfulness, Agape love is reflected. Agape is the love of God, which is
unconditional and does not expect anything in return. God gave His blessings and
forgiveness of sins to Thomas O. Chisholm. Thomas made a poem and composed
it into a hymn as a form of devotion and gratitude. The influence of Thomas O.
Chisholm to write poems and hymns came from his spiritual experience. The
Church revival also revived his spirituality; he realized that God really loves his
life. Thomasalso used the hymneffectivelyto give testimony and to preach.
Thomas O. Chisholm’s hymn is not just a song of praise, but also contains values
that can be taken as a moral lesson.
Keywords: hymn, poem, love, God

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ABSTRAK
Christyawan, Yanuari. (2014). God’s Love to Thomas O. Chisholm as Seen in
His Hymn Titled Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Yogyakarta: Program Pendidikan
Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pesan dan tema Cinta yang
terkandung dalam himne yang berjudul Great is Thy Faithfulness karangan
Thomas O. Chisholm. Himne ini merupakan puisi ekspresi dari Thomas terhadap
rasa cinta yang ia rasakan dari Tuhan. Rasa cinta itu dirasakan saat ia
mengalami kondisi fisik yang lemah dan mudah sakit. Himne ini kemudian
dibukukan bersama dengan himne-himne lain dan di kelompokan dalam tema
kasih. Adapun rumusan masalah yang dibahas adalah 1.Bagaimana kasih Tuhan
nampak pada himne Great is Thy Faithfulness karangan Thomas O. Chisholm? 2.
Apa yang mempengaruhi Thomas. O Chisholm membuat himne Great is Thy
Faithfulness?

Diskusi ini menerapkan pendekatan biografi karena himne Great is Thy
Faihfulness dibuat berdasarkan puisi pengalaman spiritual penulis. Teori yang
dipakai dalam penelitian ini adalah teori Kasih. Dalam bahasa Alkitab asli
Alkitab yaitu bahasa Yunani, kasih dapat diterjemahkan sebagai Agape, Storge,
Filia dan Eros. Masing-masing terjemahan kasih tersebut memliki karakter dan
ciri yang berbeda-beda. Kemudian kajian yang lain yang digunakan untuk
mendukung penelitian ini adalah kajian Kitab Suci atau kajian Alkitab. Kajian
tersebut dipakai karena puisi dalam lirik himne tersebut banyak mengambil
inspirasi dari ayat-ayat kitab suci.
Tema mengenai Kasih Tuhan terlihat dari penggunaan kata kasih dan
kata yang berhubungan dengan manifestasi kasih tersebut. Dalam setiap stanza
terkandung perwujudan kasih yang diberikan Tuhan kepada Thomas seperti
kesetiaan, pengampunan, penyertaandan lain-lain. Dalam himne Great is Thy
Faithfulness, kasih yang nampak adalah kasih Agape yaitu kasih Tuhan yang total
dan tak bersyarat. Tuhan memberikan segala berkat dan pengampunan dosa
kepada Thomas O. Chisholm tanpa meminta balasan. Thomas membuat puisi dan
mengubahnya menjadi himne sebagai wujud bakti dan ungkapan syukur.
Sedangkan hal yang mempengaruhi Thomas O. Chisholm untuk menulis puisi dan
himne muncul dari pengalaman spiritual yang dialaminya. Thomas juga
menggunakan himne tersebut secara efektif untuk berkothbah dan berbagi

kesaksian. Himnedari Thomas O. Chisholm bukan hanya sekedar nyanyian pujian
semata, namun juga ada nilai-nilai yang dapat diambil sebagai pelajaran hidup.
Kata kunci: hymn, poem, love, God

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GOD’S LOVE TO THOMAS O. CHISHOLM AS SEEN IN HIS HYMN
ENTITLED GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN FINAL PAPER
Presented as Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education

By
YanuariChristyawan

Student Number: 101214012

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2015

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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work
of parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the

references, as a scientific paper should.

Yogyakarta, 5 February 2015
The Writer

Yanuari Christyawan
101214012

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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma :
Nama
Nomormahasiswa

: YanuariChristyawan
: 101214012

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
“GOD’S LOVE TO THOMAS O. CHISHOLM AS SEEN IN HIS HYMN
ENTITLED GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS”.
Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk
menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelola dalam bentuk
pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas dan mempublikasikannya di
Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari
saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama
saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta, pada tanggal: 23 Januari 2015
Yang menyatakan

Yanuari Christyawan

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ABSTRACT
Christyawan, Yanuari. (2014). God’s Love to Thomas O. Chisholm as Seen in
His Hymn Titled Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Yogyakarta: English Language Study
Programme, Sanata Dharma University.
This study aims to explain the message and theme of love contained in the
hymn entitled Great is Thy Faithfulness written by Thomas O. Chisholm. This
hymn is an expression of Thomas’ poem on love that he felt from God. The love
was felt when he got weak physical condition and got sick easily. The hymn was

booked along with other hymns and grouped in the theme of love. This paper
intends to discuss two problems: 1) How are God’s love and mercy reflected in
Great is Thy faithfulness hymn lyrics? And 2) what influenced Thomas O.
Chisholm in writing the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness?
For the discussion, the writer used the biographical approach because
Great is Thy Faithfulness was written based on the life and the spiritual
experience of the author. This study is used to discuss the topic study. The main
theory that grounds this study is the theory of love. Another supporting study of
this research is the Biblical study because Great is Thy Faithfulness was
composed from the Biblical inspiration.
The theme of God's love can be seen from the use of the word love and
other words related to the manifestation of love such as pardon of sins,
faithfulness, mercy and etcetera. Each stanza contains the manifestation of God's
love given to Thomas just like loyalty, forgiveness, inclusion and others. In Great
is Thy Faithfulness, Agape love is reflected. Agape is the love of God, which is
unconditional and does not expect anything in return. God gave His blessings and
forgiveness of sins to Thomas O. Chisholm. Thomas made a poem and composed
it into a hymn as a form of devotion and gratitude. The influence of Thomas O.
Chisholm to write poems and hymns came from his spiritual experience. The
Church revival also revived his spirituality; he realized that God really loves his

life. Thomasalso used the hymneffectivelyto give testimony and to preach.
Thomas O. Chisholm’s hymn is not just a song of praise, but also contains values
that can be taken as a moral lesson.
Keywords: hymn, poem, love, God

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ABSTRAK
Christyawan, Yanuari. (2014). God’s Love to Thomas O. Chisholm as Seen in
His Hymn Titled Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Yogyakarta: Program Pendidikan
Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pesan dan tema Cinta yang
terkandung dalam himne yang berjudul Great is Thy Faithfulness karangan
Thomas O. Chisholm. Himne ini merupakan puisi ekspresi dari Thomas terhadap
rasa cinta yang ia rasakan dari Tuhan. Rasa cinta itu dirasakan saat ia
mengalami kondisi fisik yang lemah dan mudah sakit. Himne ini kemudian
dibukukan bersama dengan himne-himne lain dan di kelompokan dalam tema
kasih. Adapun rumusan masalah yang dibahas adalah 1.Bagaimana kasih Tuhan
nampak pada himne Great is Thy Faithfulness karangan Thomas O. Chisholm? 2.
Apa yang mempengaruhi Thomas. O Chisholm membuat himne Great is Thy
Faithfulness?
Diskusi ini menerapkan pendekatan biografi karena himne Great is Thy
Faihfulness dibuat berdasarkan puisi pengalaman spiritual penulis. Teori yang
dipakai dalam penelitian ini adalah teori Kasih. Dalam bahasa Alkitab asli
Alkitab yaitu bahasa Yunani, kasih dapat diterjemahkan sebagai Agape, Storge,
Filia dan Eros. Masing-masing terjemahan kasih tersebut memliki karakter dan
ciri yang berbeda-beda. Kemudian kajian yang lain yang digunakan untuk
mendukung penelitian ini adalah kajian Kitab Suci atau kajian Alkitab. Kajian
tersebut dipakai karena puisi dalam lirik himne tersebut banyak mengambil
inspirasi dari ayat-ayat kitab suci.
Tema mengenai Kasih Tuhan terlihat dari penggunaan kata kasih dan
kata yang berhubungan dengan manifestasi kasih tersebut. Dalam setiap stanza
terkandung perwujudan kasih yang diberikan Tuhan kepada Thomas seperti
kesetiaan, pengampunan, penyertaandan lain-lain. Dalam himne Great is Thy
Faithfulness, kasih yang nampak adalah kasih Agape yaitu kasih Tuhan yang total
dan tak bersyarat. Tuhan memberikan segala berkat dan pengampunan dosa
kepada Thomas O. Chisholm tanpa meminta balasan. Thomas membuat puisi dan
mengubahnya menjadi himne sebagai wujud bakti dan ungkapan syukur.
Sedangkan hal yang mempengaruhi Thomas O. Chisholm untuk menulis puisi dan
himne muncul dari pengalaman spiritual yang dialaminya. Thomas juga
menggunakan himne tersebut secara efektif untuk berkothbah dan berbagi
kesaksian. Himnedari Thomas O. Chisholm bukan hanya sekedar nyanyian pujian
semata, namun juga ada nilai-nilai yang dapat diambil sebagai pelajaran hidup.
Kata kunci: hymn, poem, love, God
.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to address my gratitude to my God, The Mighty
Jesus Christ, who has sent me the inspirations and all good things so that I can
finish this final paper.
My gratitude goes to my mom, Th. Ruri Woro Sutanti, for the prayer and
the guidance so that I can finish this paper. Although she knows nothing about
how to write a final paper, but her prayers help me so much.
I present my big gratitude to Ibu Veronica Tri prihatmini, S.Pd., M.
Hum., M.A.,for the guidance and advice so I can finish this paper well. My
gratitude also goes to Ibu Henny Herawati, S.Pd., M.Hum. and Ibu Ni Luh
Putu Rossiandi, S.S., M. Hum., thanksfor thee-books about literature studies as
additional contributions to finish this paper.
Next, I address my gratitude to my KEJORA friends Ign. Martino
Sanditya, L. ArnikaDitaafrian, Alb. EkoNugroho and the new sisters Nanda
and Dee to share everything for our happiness. I would like to say thanks to
MasCerry Surya Pradana and SetyastamaAtok for the books and inspirations
about arts and anthropology. Also, I would like to say thanks to Mas Peter, Mas
Steven, MasDidit, Cik Alice and Priska for the books about music and the access
to enter the ISI library. My big gratitude goes to Josh, who has helped me to
check my grammar. Hopefully I can visit him again in Singapore as soon as
possible, my greetings for Pastor Krisna.
My big gratitude goes to my spiritual family of Ngadinegaran Baptist
Church. Pdt. Marthinus Sumendi, M.Th., friends of PKMB. I would like to

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say thanks also to Rm. Lazarus Bambang from St. Dionisious Zakinthos
Orthodox Church for the short course of Greek language about love. It helps me
so much. My next gratitude goes to Ps. KrisnaWahyu Surya, S.Th., from
International Baptist Church Singapore for the encouragements and the blessing
prayer.
I would like to say thanks to my dance masters, my friends, my spiritual
families, friends in J.co donnuts and Via Via cafe and everyone who have sent me
the prayer for my success who I cannot mention one by one. The encouragement
words were a great prayer for me.

Yanuari Christyawan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ..........................................................................................

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APPROVAL PAGES ...............................................................................

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STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .........................................

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PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ..........................................

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ABSTRACT ............................................................................................

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ABSTRAK ................................................................................................

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................

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TABLE OF CONTENTS .........................................................................

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CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................

1
1

A. Background of the Study ..........................................................
B. Approach of the study ..............................................................

CHAPTER II.DISCUSSION....................................................................
A.
B.
C.
D.

The Biography of Thomas O. Chisholm .................................
The Theory of Love ................................................................
How God’s Love is Reflected in Great is Thy Faithfulness ...
What Influenced Thomas to Write the Hymn .........................

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8

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CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................

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REFERENCES ........................................................................................

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APPENDICES .........................................................................................

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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This paper investigates God’s love to Thomas O. Chisholm as seen in his
hymn entitled Great is Thy Faithfulness. This chapter presents the background of
the study, research problems, the significance of the study, the objectives of the
study, and the approach used to conduct this study.
A. Background
Poem is a literary work that often has functions in expressing feelings and
aspirations in beautifully arranged words. It is a literary work that has
composition of arranged words in certain rhymes, sounds and number of lines. In
contrast to narrative literature that has clear explained meanings or described
meanings, the characteristics of poem allow the readers to enjoy the beauty of the
arranged words. Readers may also analyze the content of the poem according to
the words that have certain symbols and meanings. For example, the poem of
Chairil Anwar entitled Aku symbolizes the egoism inside somebody’s life in a
capital city. Another poem taken from the Bible is The Song of Solomon which is
an analogy of a bride and a groom who admire each other, but actually it is more
about the relation between God and human (Menemukan Makna Puisi Alkitab
(Finding the Meaning of Biblical Poem), 2009, p 220).
A poem can be recomposed and synchronized to the musical sense, due to
the poem can be improvised as a hymn. Since ancient Greek era, people have
known about a hymn called hymnos. Hymn is a kind of a spiritual song to give

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praise to the deities, heroes, emperors or other persons with great merit for his/her
home land (A Glossary of Literary Terms, 1999, p. 119).
For years, hymns were created by musicians, poets, even an ordinary
person without any literature background of study. The hymns are the expressions
of deep gratitude to a person and even used to worship and praise God with all
their heart. In the beginning, the hymns are unrecognized. Most of them are
written as personal expressions of devotion to God and the public only needs to
listen to them. Later, when the authors did a mission trip to tell their testimony
about their wonderful spiritual experience, they would sing their hymns and
people started to like it and also wanted to learn about hymn too. After the hymns
became popular in society, there was an effort to collect the hymns and then book
them like what has been done by the Baptist Church through their Literature
Committee. The Baptist Literature Committee published “Baptist Hymnal”, a
collection of hymns for the Baptist Church services.
From the Baptist Hymnal, the writer wants toanalyze a hymn entitled
Great is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas O. Chisholm. This hymn is a reflection of
love that has been experienced by Chisholmand the love was given by God for his
life. This hymn is so popular in Baptist Church and often sung as the expression
of gratitude to God. However,the writer finds that there are limited studies that
discuss and have in-depth analysis for this hymn deeply even for the literature
circumstance.
This paper analyzes deeper about how the theme can be found in the hymn
and what influenced Chisholm in writing it. The questions that will be discussed

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are: 1) How is God’s love reflected in Great is Thy Faithfulness hymn lyrics?; and
2)What influenced Thomas O. Chisholm in writing the hymn Great is Thy
Faithfulness?
This study is conducted to analyze the theme about God’s Love to Thomas
O. Chisholm as seen in his Hymn titled Great is Thy Faithfulness. It is limited to
analyze the theme inside the scope of Chisholm’s spiritual experience and the
physical condition that are mentioned in his biography.
The results of the discussion are beneficial to broaden the insights of
literary work analysis. It gives more knowledge about literature and how to
analyze or discuss a literary work. Readers and other researcherscan utilize the
approach of new knowledge related to the literary work from this study analysis.
The discussion about God’s love to Thomas O. Chisholm as seen in his hymn
entitled Great is Thy Faithfulness includes the analysis of a poem in the form of
hymn lyrics which is enables the readers to get other knowledge such as history,
musical experiences and spiritual journey. This study is not only conducted for
literature majors, but also can be related to other studies and circumstances.
Related to the language study, we can learn that words have certain
meanings to express something and it is possible for somebody to acquire the
meaning. People can acquire a language by reading and getting the meaning of the
words. On the other hand, it will help to express a certain feeling by using some
words in a sentence. Meanwhile, the moral value in this hymn can be a good
teaching for life. The aim of sentence analysis in this study is to find the theme,
but when readers read it, they also can get the sense and the moral value that are

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presented directly or indirectly. Readers may also use it to teach children and old
generations to be a good person from the value of this study.
This study would be useful and valuable for everyone who reads it. The
result of this study is beneficial not only for everyone who works on literary study
but also for everyone who works for religious circumstance. There are three
benefits of this study; the first one is for English Language Education Study
Program students. Firstly, this study can support the introduction to a literature
subject and a poetry subject. The discussion about themes is suitable to the
material of those subjects so that it can add more sources to the study. The
students may also acquire new vocabulary items and new knowledge about
literary works.
The second benefit is for priests, pastors, worship ministers, religiosity
teachers and all who work on the Christianity activities. This study discusses a
Christian hymn which has spiritual experience background and it is completed
with the Holy Bible verses, so it is possible to compose a speech or a sermon
according to the hymn’s background. The good spiritual model that is seen in the
theme of the hymn is a teaching material about the moral value.
The third benefit is for the readers. Anyone may read this paper and get
the knowledge about the hymn, the history behind it and the literature aspects of
it. The writer has not found any studies or sources that discuss about the same
study further, so hopefully it can be an alternative source to know more about the
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B. Approach of the Study
The approach used in this study isa biographical approach and it is
supported by a Biblical study.The discussion of “Great is Thy Faithfulness” by
Thomas O. Chisholm uses a biographical approach to support the research of the
hymn and interpret the hymn lyrics. According to Rohberger and Woods (1971), a
biographical approach is an approach to interpret a poem according to the
biography of the author. It is related to the personality of the author and all things
that influence the life of the author. From the biography of the author, it is easy to
find the background of his life and the influence in writing the poem. So it is good
to use it because the writer can analyze the personality of Thomas O. Chisholm
and his relation to his hymn. The biography of Thomas O. Chisholm becomes the
main consideration for the discussion.
Great is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas O. Chisholm is a Christian hymn.
This hymn contains Biblical verses for the source. A suitable study is needed
related to Christianity to avoid the digress perceptions. Taken from her book
entitled Reading bible as literature, Crain (2010) stated that reading a bible can
provide some sources related to what will be explored. God’s words can explain
all worlds’ phenomena. The main thing is the understanding of God’s words in the
Bible; sometimes it is difficult to understand the meaning of the words in the
Bible or the perspective of the words. It is a good way to do the biblical study
along with the help from pastors, teachers or another spiritual person to avoid the
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The first step to conduct this study is reading and understanding the hymn
for several times. Great is Thy Faithfulness can be found in some hymns
collection books. The hymn is taken from Baptist Hymnal book which is used in
Baptist Church. Below the text and the music score there is the identity of the
hymn including the author, the music composer, year of publication, country of
publication and the Bible verses that are related to the hymn or the inspiration for
the hymn. Those contribute the information related to the origin of the hymn.
The second step is collecting the information about the hymn and the
author. The Biography of Thomas O. Chisholm is printed in the book 101 Hymn
Stories by Kenneth Osbeck. The book is not available in Indonesia, thus writer
decided to look up for the online version the book from Google book site. To add
more information, the biography of Thomas O. Chisholmis also taken from
certain websites with supporting references to avoid the wrong perceptions and
information. The secondary sources are taken from various books related to
Christianity and its history.Because the analysis also related to the history of
Christianity at that time.
The third step is finding the suitable theories, approach and studies to
conduct the study. The theories employed for this study are the theory of love and
love in the Bible. For the approach, the writer uses a Biographical approach to
analyze the relation between the hymns and the author’s life. Another study to
support this research is the Biblical study, because this hymn contains spiritual
messages and it is used for the praise and worship activity.

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Biographical approach, theory of love and biblical study should be
related to each other to conduct the discussion of Great is Thy Faithfulness.
Starting from the biographical approach, the information about the life of Thomas
O. Chisholm reveals all things about the background of him, things happened to
him, the society during his life, the condition of Chisholm’s environment, and
etcetera. From the biography, it is revealed that Thomas O. Chisholm was a weak
person. He got the impact of thechurch and spiritual revival in his life so he could
feel the love from God in his fragile physical condition. From there, the theory of
love reveals what love that Thomas had felt. After he could feel the love from
God, he wanted to share it through a poem and hymn that inspired from the Bible
verse, Number 6:22-23. Due to the bible verse which is expressed in the hymn;
the biblical study is a suitable study to analyze the hymn. Bible verse can provide
more explanations in order to analyzing some sentences that express about what
God has done and the way to love Him. Those steps are the ways to conduct the
analysis of Great is Thy Faithfulnessso the discussion can be done through the
use of biographical approach, theory of love and Bible study.

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CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

This chapter discusses the problem formulations that are mentioned in
chapter I. It deals with the discussion about a hymn entitled Great is Thy
Faithfulness, the analysis of the hymn, and the relation between the hymn, the
author and the condition of the author’s era. This part will also present the review
of related literature to support the analysis.
A. The Biography of Thomas O. Chisholm
According to Osbeck (1985) from his book entitled 101 Hymn Stories,
Thomas O. Chisholm was born in Kentucky, July 29, 1866 in a simple small log
cabin.

His

parents, James

Washington

Chisholm

a nd

Lucy

Jane Meguiar Chisholm, were so poor. The poverty made him and his family
never had any formal education.Chisholm couldnot afford to study in a school
near his home because of the poverty. In that cabin house, Chisholm educated
himself; he learned to read, wrote and calculate from his family. Thomas’
childhood was spent in that area untilhe got his first job as a teacher. When
Thomas was 16 years old, he started to implement his knowledge as a teacher in a
school. It is kind of unusual, because he did not have any formal education
background but he worked as a teacher. He did that because he needed money and
being a teacher could give him more knowledge from another teacher. That way
Thomas could have money and also new knowledge for his future. Actually, little

8

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Thomas was a fast learner, he could acquire new knowledge quickly and it was
going to be useful for his life in the future.
After he quitted from his job as a teacher, he went outside of his area and
he worked as an editor in Franklin Favourite, a local daily newspaper in
Kentucky. There was a moment when young Chisholm’s skill was doubted due to
his lack of formal education yet, Chisholm could show his ability in editing well
and satisfied his boss. That moment, Thomas O. Chisholmwas only 21 years old
and the problem started. He realized that his physical condition was not as strong
as others. The fragile condition was the cause why he couldget sick easily. That
was the hardest time for Chisholm and he had to spend some money to cure his
sickness. Chisholm worked harder and harder to earn his own income, but it
influenced his condition and it got worse. Sometimes he could not wake up from
his bed, he felt the sickness like a fever or sometimes it was like no power in his
body. Instead of being more succesful, his hard work only influenced his health
that made his condition worse. After all, Thomas had not felt the God’s plan for
his life.
From this moment God started to give him motivation to work. Thomas
could work although his sickness still affected his body. Logically, a person who
was sick will lose his/her desire to work. Yet for Chisholm, although he got fever
he could survive and worked as usual. God provided power to Thomas to work
and prepared the right income for him. For another person who kept working
when he/she was sick, there was a possibility that he/she could die, but it did not
happen to Thomas. Hejust wanted to earn money to cure his sickness, he never

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asked for mercy to get money. He never borrowed some money to his friends or
wanted to be treated as a special person because of his sickness. Chisholm just
wanted to be like the other healthy people.
At that moment, Christianity in The United States was in the era of Church
revival. Spiritual movements happened and the effect could reach every region.
Started in 1975, two spiritual figures named James McGready and Barton W.
Stone conducted Fellowship Camp in the border of Kentucky and Tennessee. In
that fellowship camp, people prayed, listened to the sermons, and conducted
Baptist ceremonies and worship services. The effect was so great; the movement
was developed and spread out to other areas in TheUnited States. Even in New
York in 1830, the number of criminals was decreasing because of the power of
prayers and faith. In Kentucky,some churches also conducted the prayer and
fellowships services. At Cane Ridge, Kentucky, the prayer camp was held after
the harvest time when people had enough plenty time to gather with families and
relatives. People came to the camp together with their families and spent their
time to learn more about the words of God, to pray and be grateful for the harvest.
One of the Churches that conducted the camp was the Methodist Church.
Chisholm started to learn about Jesus Christ and all about Christianity in
Methodist Church. It is never mentioned in the biography whether Chisholm also
came to the camp or not. The sourcesonly mentioned that he knew about life in
Christ when he came to revival worship service that could be conducted in that
camp or just in the Church. At this moment, Chisholm had not found any desire to
join the Church ministry. He was still in his struggle to stay alive in his fragile

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condition, but the ministries, sermons and encouragements were always close to
him and to motivate his life.
Many Americans got the spiritual revival effects, including Thomas O
Chisholm. At the age of 27, he dedicated himself and made a commitment to
follow Jesus and was baptized. That was in 1893, Thomas officially became a
Christian through the ministry of Henry Clay Morrison, the founder of Asbury
College and Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.That moment changed his life and
after his spiritual side grew higher, he found a statement from the Holy Scripture
that made him confident. The verse was taken from the book of Lamentation:
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His
compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy
faithfulness” (Holy Bible, Lamentation 3:22-23)
Thomas realized that God is merciful; He never leaves His people because
of His faithfulness. Although Thomas’ condition was so weak, he felt that his life
was a grace from God and His love nourished Thomas’ life. Since Thomas read
and meditated that Bible verse, he was inspired to write a poem according to the
scripture; actually, he just wrote a poem as an expression of his testimony about
his spiritual experience. He wrote a four stanzas poem and poured out what he has
felt. He wrote about what God had done for His people, the form of devotion to
God and his praise to God. Thomas wrote the poem along with his desire to joined
with the church ministry and became a witness of God’s love. Thomas started to
perform before the public and shared his testimony and his poem.
Since Thomas O. Chisholm became a real Christian in 1893, he left his job
as an editor in Franklin Favorite and started a new work environment in

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Pantecostal Herald in Louisville. It was the suggestion from Henry Clay
Morrison for Thomas to move from Kentucky to Louisville, because Chisholm
wanted to dedicate his life for the ministry and Church service. After he wrote
Great is Thy Faithfulness, Chisholm continued to compose more poems along
with his career in ministry.
While Chisholm did his mission trips to share his testimony, he asked his
friend named William Runyan to compose a hymn based on his poem. Finally, a
hymn titled Great is Thy Faithfulness was written by William Runyan. According
to Prier (1993) in early 19th century, it was the periodof romantic music. It means
that composers like to show the expression of feelings in their music rather than
show difficult and complicated musical notes. Runyan knew that the poem Great
is Thy Faithfulness is an expression of what Chisholm had felt, so he could keep
the message of the poem by arranging the suitable notes and chords until it
became a good hymn. In the beginning, the hymn was just a private hymn while
he did the mission trips. No one recognized or sang the hymn after a professor
from Moody Bible Institute included it in the chapel service. The hymn, Great is
Thy Faithfulness, became more famous in 1945 after George Beverly sang this
hymn in public.
In 1916, Chisholm health became worse and he was relocated to Wiona
Lake, Indiana and then Vineland, New Jersey. Although his condition was so
weak, Thomas still composed other poems and later recomposed by W. Runyan as
a hymn. When he retired, Thomas hadcomposed 1200 poems. The most famous

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hymn by Thomas O. Chisholm isGreat is Thy Faithfulnessand itwaspublished in
1923.
In 1960, Chisholm got a serious sickness because of his old body
condition. He was 94 years old and he died peacefully in New Jersey, February
29, 1960. Church gave honor to Thomas O. Chisholm for all contributions and
hymns he had written. Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was buried at Saint Thomas
Whitemarsh Episcopal Church in Whitemarsh, Pennsylvania. He left two
children, Ruth Elizabeth Chisholm Blisard (1905 - 2010) and Dorothy L
K Chisholm Borda (1907 - 1998), from his marriage with Katherine
Hambright Vandevere Chisholm (1874 - 1954) who died earlier before Thomas.
Hymn Great is Thy faithfulness is so popular, many Church especially the
Protestant Church sing this hymn. In 2003, the Simpson County Historical Society
erected a Historical Roadside Marker in his honor near his childhood home in
Simpson County, Kentucky. It is the way to give honor to Thomas and now his
hymns are sung around the world, including his masterpiece, Great is Thy
Faithfulness.
B. The Theory of Love
According to Thomas Lewis (2007), love is a simultaneous mutual
regulation in each person who meets the needs of the other, because nobody can
provide for his own (A General Theory of Love, p. 208). That definition is a kind
of love in general which means the love between human and humans that need
each other.however, to analyzea kind of literary work likeGreat is Thy
Faithfulness, it is impossible to use that definition. The hymn talks about the

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God’s love; a love that belongs to God. According to Thomas Lewis, love comes
from a person who meets the needs of the other, so if we adapt it to God’s love in
Christianity concept we can find that human needs God but God does not need
anything from humans (Devine Liturgy sermon, Yogyakarta St. Dionysius
Zakinthos Orthodox Church, November 1, 2013). As seen in the book of Act:
God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and
land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to
run errands for him, as if he couldn't take care of himself. He makes
the creatures; the creatures don't make him. (Holy Bible, Act 17:2425)
From that Bible verse, it is seen that God loves His humans unconditionally
without asking any payback.
The Holy Bible as the number one guidance for the Christian is written in
Hebrew and Greek. Any circumstance that is related to love is commonly found in
the book of New Testament which was written in Greek. In Greek language the
word “love” can be interpreted intofour translations: Eros, Storge, Philia and
Agape. (Allan Soble, 1989, p.168)
Eros
“Eros” is defined as love that occurs because of lust and sexual passion. In
fact, it is just a temporary love and has no sincerity. In the Bible, Eros is not a
kind of a good love that should exist in humans’ heart because it is the same as
letting the lust takes control. For example, David ambitiously wanted to marry
Betsyeba after he caught her taking a bath in a river. (Allan Soble, 1989, p.168)

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Storge
“Storge” is kind of natural love between parents and their children. Even
this type of love is not only occursin humans’ life, but also for animals’ life
because parents will protect their children naturally.In the Bible the example can
be taken from the story of Joseph and his father, Jacob. As a father Jacob gave all
the best to Joseph in order to prepare him to be a good person. (Allan Soble, 1989,
p.170)
Philia
“Philia” is love of friendship. Even friendship can be going further as
brotherhood and sisterhood. In the Bible, the example of this love can be found in
the friendship of St. Peter and St. Paul or David and Jonathan. (Allan Soble, 1989,
p.172)
Agape
“Agape” is the highest love because it is implemented as the God’s love.
This love is anunconditional love without any passion to get paybacks and
anything in returns. The criterion of Agape is written in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all
things. Love never ends. (Holy Bible, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
From all perspectives of love in the Bible, the main idea is that God as the
real love and He is the form of love because He has shown the Agape love by
totally sacrificing and giving blesses to the world without asking for returns
(Allan Soble, 1989, p.175).The role of human in this context is only a person who

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achieves the love and cannot give anything for a payback. Human can only give
responds for all given things from God. The responds can be in a form of
devotion, praise and worship, etc. However those things do not have the same
price with the love from God. He has the perfection and He is the owner of all
glory so the devotions are just an expression of relation between humans and
God.Yet it cannot be equalized with the love and glory of God.
According to J. White (2008), Agape also refers to the sacrificial love. It
talks about the Christianity faith in Jesus sacrificing on a cross. Jesus is the human
form of God in the world and He had shown the proof of His love 2000 years ago.
When He died on a cross the sacrificing also happened, the humans’ sins were
forgiven and paid. It refers to the Bible verse, taken from the book of Roman.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
(Holy Bible, Roman 5:8)
No one can give his/her soul to pay somebody’s debt because humans are not
perfect. God is perfect and has the power so that He could take the form of
Human in Jesus and then died on the cross for the humans’ sins forgiveness. This
sacrificing is the greatest love that God has done.
The understanding of Agape is going to be the consideration for the writer
to discuss about the theme of love because the love from God was felt by Thomas
O. Chisholm.
C. How God’s Love is Reflected in Great is Thy Faithfulness
This study reveals that love is reflected in two ways, they are the use of
word love directly in stanza two and the using of other words belong to the love

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manifestation or has the same meaning with love in the other stanzas. Both the
surface meaning and deeper meaning will be presented in the description of each
stanza. For the full lyric of the hymn can be seen in appendices.
1.

The Stanzas Contain Words Related to the Love Manifestation or Has
the Same Meaning with Love
Readers cannot see Thomas’ spiritual experience or his physical condition

directly through the lyrics. Instead of showing his spiritual experience directly,
Thomas wanted to express his feelings about the love from God according to the
Bible verse that gave him motivation and inspiration.
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His
compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy
faithfulness (Holy Bible, Lamentation 3:22-23)
It determines that Thomas was so inspired by the Bible verse and he wrote it
directly in his poem. Of course, in order to make it suitable to the sentence
arrangement, the Bible verse is shortened and the essence is taken to the stanza.
Therefore, the verse has the poetic sense, but it still has the message of the Bible
verse.
Other things are seen in the other words that refer to love. They can be the
form of love, the manifestation, characteristics of love and the other synonyms of
love. They are related to poetic diction which is the writer’s chosen words to
express something (A Glossary of Literary Terms, 1999, p 228), in this case to
express love. Thomas felt that God’s love has many forms and the impacts made
him closer to God. Love is not just on the lips, but it has the manifestation and the

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form. Each stanza reveals the manifestation of God’s love that was felt by
Thomas.
Thomas wrote the poem according to his spiritual experience when he felt
the God’s love while he was sick and weak. Thomas expressed his feeling after he
felt the impact of God’s love and poured it out into the poem.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
(Baptist Hymnal, 1991, p 54)
This first stanza illustrates the expression of praise. In this stanza, the lines
and the sentences declare that God is the Father of all people who believe in Him.
According to the book titled Mencintai Yesus Kristus (Loving Jesus Christ) by
Rm. Martasudjita (2003), Jesus has said in the Gospel that the only God is the
mighty Father because He loves his people (p. 125). Based on the personal
interview with Ps. Marthinus Sumendi on October, 1st 2014, the role of father in
the Bible is the main role, an adult man that has become a father shows his love as
a protector and a leader for his family. Due to the using of the word Father as the
personification of God, this stanza is similar to the reflection of Storge or parents
natural love to children. The surface meaning of Fatheralso determines the
biological parent for human. However, from the explanation of Martasudjita
above, this stanza is not the reflection of Storge love because it refers to the
biological parents to their children, but God is not humans’ biological father. For
God so love His creation, so He can be called as Father and the deeper meaning of
Father is about God who so love His people. Therefore, this stanza reflects Agape

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because it reflects that God the Mighty loves His people, so he wants to come
closer to them and can be called as the Mighty Father, so humans can feel His
love easily in many manifestations of love.
The second line, there is no shadow of turning with thee, is about the
guidance of God that is like a light that is never blocked by shadow. It is stated in
“The Lord makes his face shine on youand be gracious to you;”
(Holy Bible, Number 6:25)
In this verse, the love of God is symbolized by the shine or light.According to the
surface meaning, shine depicts that God pours out His light and it shines to the
earth like the sun. His shine never fades away and he gives the blessings forever.
Thomas felt the love and the care of God had never stopped and it influenced him
to be more confident. The deeper meaning of shine depicts that God assures
Thomas that He will never leave Thomas forever. Talking about the guidance of
God, it can be seen from Thomas’ experience when his health was getting worst.
Thomas surrendered and let God do the best for him. Then, Henry Clay Morrison
persuaded Thomas to move, so anyone could take care of him.
The next sentence states the word compassion as the manifestation of love.
According to Christie Walter (2000), compassion is the highest form of love. This
part describes that His compassion will never change and remain forever.
Compassion is the starting point of love, starting from compassion, somebody will
love someone else and compassion will always be there to stimulate another
manifestation of love.
The third stanza is the description of how the love God is proven. It is
about the most important blessing and grace from God for the human race.

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Pardon for sin and a peace that endured,
thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
(Baptist Hymnal, 1991, p 54)
Pardon of sin and the endured peace stated in the first line is a part of what
God has done as the proof of His love. In Christianity, the unseen God was
incarnated in the body of Jesus Christ and can be seen as reachable God. He
forgave all sins with His death on the cross and he gave peace by His grace of the
Holy Spirit (Martasudjita, 2001, p. 103). The incarnation and redemption
mysteries are the base of Christianity. If somebody does not understand or receive
that mystery,it means his/her faith in Christianity is not strong enough.
According to the biblical love theory, Agape is the kind of love that is
expressed in that third stanza directly. It is because the pardon of sins and the
enduring peace is given only by grace and cannot be replied by anything. A
human cannot give the pardon of sin to another human, and a human cannot reply
the pardon of sin that has been given from God. God will not claim anything in
returns, but Thomas has got that Agape freely by accepting Jesus Christ as the
savior and as God. From the death of Jesus Christ, God gave the forgiveness for
the world’s sin including Thomas’ sin. He felt that all of sins had been forgiven
and he had the peaceful life, although his physical condition was not good. The
impact of the forgiven sin in Thomas O. Chisholmmight not be able to be seen
directly through his physical body, but the effect was seen in Thomas’ attitude.
Somebody that has been forgiven must be happy and relieved, and so did Thomas
who had no worry in his life and felt the new life with God.

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