“Adeste Fideles”
O Come, All Ye Faithful
The famous Christmas carol “O Come, All Ye Faithfull” which in Latin is known as ‘Adeste Fideles’, was written by John Francis Wade (1711-86). Wade whom had close ties with the Jacobite rebellions and has been accused of having Jacobite imagery throughout his hymns, such is the case with “Adeste fideles”. The Carol was first published in 1760.
“Taken in a Jacobite context, Adeste fideles becomes a combination birth-ode and call to arms, in much the same way the Christmas introits and MacLachlan’s poem join imagery of Christ’s nativity with that of his salvific role on earth: Adeste fideles, ‘Draw near ye faithful Christians’ [Attention faithful Jacobites!]; lati triumphantes, venite, venite in Bethlehem, ‘ with Joy to Bethlehem [England] come’; natum videte, regem angelorum, ‘behold the King of Angels’ ( a pun on regem anglorum, ‘king of the English’ [Charles Edward Stewart])”[1]
Born in 1720, Bonnie Prince Charlie was the focus for Catholic Jacobite rebels who wanted to restore the House of Stuart to the English throne. By 1745 their army took Edinburgh, however they were ultimately defeated at the Battle of Culloden (16 April 1746) by King George II’s forces. With the defeat Adeste Fideles slowly lost its Jacobite meaning.
Let’s now look at our current understanding of the Christmas Carol “O Come All Ye Faithfull” (Adeste Fideles) and its’ Christology and how this Carol invites us to celebrate and invites one people, those that are faithful. Only the faithful truly love God and are set apart to truly celebrate Christ’s birth.
Faithfull tells us who are invited but also their faithfulness also describes those that are joyful and triumphant (Psalm 101:6-7 Proverbs 28:20 Ezekiel 18:9).
Matthew 25:21-23
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ 22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ 23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
The Spirit is evident in those that are faithful giving way to happiness and joy. We also see this throughout Scripture; Ecclesiastes 2:25 (NIV) “for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?”Psalm 34:8 (NIV) “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
God built us in such a way that to run after happiness is part of who we are. God built the desire for joy and happiness right in. Blaise Pascal in recognizing this said:
All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.[2]
Christ is the goal, and pursuing Christ will result in our greatest joy and lasting happiness. Jonathan Edwards in his resolutions wrote this:
Resolved, To endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness in the other world as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.[3]
This joy is not like an earthy temporal joy that hinges on our circumstances. It hinges on Christ love for the Saints and we rejoice in this knowledge. Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” We see that it is Christ who makes our joy complete in
John 15:11, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
We are Joyful which is an eternal joy not just temporal because of the eternal love the Son has for us that He would as John 15:13 says that He would lay down His life for us His friends and in doing so claim victory over sin and death. The only one that can accomplish such a feat is the son of God who was “born the king of Angels.” So in knowing what He came to accomplish we celebrate and adore the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Only the triumphant can celebrate because they stand in celebration that victory is theirs, victory over and sin through Jesus Christ. For some, reason talk of sin and Christmas seem to be foreign to us. Yet, as strange as it sounds, we have Christmas because of our sin. Jesus main purpose for being born as a man was not so that he could “RELATE”. But He came to defeat sin and its reign over our life. Timothy Keller summarizes Kierkegard’s definition of sin this way, “Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him”. [4] Christ came to defeat that sin is seeking to find identify in anything other than Christ. Romans 8:37 tells us that we are “more than conquerors” and that victory is secure. The Greek word used here for “more than conquerors” is ὑπερνικῶμεν (hypernikōmen) which means, to be completely and overwhelmingly victorious. We are again reminded of this victory in 1 Corinthians 15:54b-57 in which it says,
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we sing this carol we sing in celebration not because of some gift that is wrapped with a bow. We celebrate because of the gift of Immanuel and what He will accomplish. We celebrate not some monetary temporal reason but of eternal value and reason.
This carol invites those faithful, joyful and triumphant to celebrate and adore the King of Kings, being not caught up in the redefining of Christmas by our culture but coming forward to adore the savior embracing the true meaning of Christmas.
O Come All Ye Faithful
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;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
O Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing all that hear in heaven God’s holy word.
Give to our Father glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
[1] Bennett Zon, “The Origin of ‘Adeste fideles’.” Early Music Vol. 24, No. 2 (May 1996): 286
[2] Blaise Pascal, Pascal’s Pensées (New York, NY: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1958), 85.
[3] Number 22 of Jonathan Edwards resolutions
[4] Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2008), 162.
