Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends.
—John 15:13
Jesus loves me!
This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
These well-known words first appeared in Anna Warner’s novel Day and Seal in 1860. William Bradbury set the words to music in 1862.
In a 1962 Q&A session following a lecture on the campus of the University of Chicago, Swiss cleric Dr. Karl Barth, considered by many to be the greatest theologian of the twentieth century, was asked by a student, “Dr. Barth, what is the most profound thought you have ever considered?”
Barth paused, thought, then replied: “Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so.”
Jesus loves you. You will never entertain a more profound thought.
Jesus’ love is not “under these conditions”
—it is “no matter what!”