Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know Meaning, History, and Theology
"Ask ye what great thing I know"
- Category
- Hymn
- Tune
- Standard Tune
- Rights
- Public domain
Viewed 24 times
Share this hymn
Help others discover the story, message, and study guide for this hymn.
Story
Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know is a Christ-centered hymn attributed to German Lutheran pastor Johann Christoph Schwedler and translated into English by Benjamin Hall Kennedy. Commonly sung to Henri Abraham César Malan's tune HENDON, it proclaims Jesus Christ crucified as the believer's highest knowledge, deepest joy, surest assurance, and final hope.
Overview
Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know is an English translation of a German hymn by Johann Christoph Schwedler. Its original publication is posthumously associated with the Hirschberger Gesangbuch of 1741, while the familiar English form was translated by Benjamin Hall Kennedy and published in Hymnologia Christiana in 1863.
The hymn is a compact confession of Christian faith centered on Jesus Christ crucified. Its question-and-answer pattern gives it a catechetical force: the greatest knowledge, deepest delight, surest foundation, and final hope of the believer are all found in Christ.
For worship, the hymn is useful in services focused on Christ's passion, assurance, testimony, evangelism, and doctrinal instruction. It gives congregations a clear and memorable way to confess that the saving knowledge of Christ surpasses all other claims to wisdom or glory.
Historical Background
The German original is attributed to Johann Christoph Schwedler, a Lutheran pastor in Silesia. Although older sources and later hymnals sometimes vary in how they identify the German title and publication trail, the text is generally linked with Schwedler and with posthumous publication in the Hirschberger Gesangbuch in 1741. The exact year of composition has not been firmly established, since Schwedler died in 1730.
The English version most often printed in modern hymnals is by Benjamin Hall Kennedy. It appeared in Hymnologia Christiana, or Psalms and Hymns Selected and Arranged in the Order of the Christian Seasons, published in 1863. Kennedy's translation gave the hymn its enduring English question-and-answer form and helped establish it in Protestant hymnody.
The tune HENDON is by Henri Abraham César Malan and is thought to date from about 1827. Lowell Mason brought the tune into wider North American use, publishing a form of it in Carmina Sacra in 1841. HENDON has become the most familiar tune pairing, though the text can be sung to other tunes of the same meter.
Biblical Foundations
The hymn's central biblical foundation is 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, where Paul resolves to know and proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified. This Pauline focus explains the hymn's repeated insistence that Christ is the believer's highest knowledge and glory.
Galatians 6:14 gives a closely related theme: the Christian boasts only in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:7-10 deepens the hymn's theology by presenting the knowledge of Christ as surpassing all earthly gain.
Colossians 2:2-3 supports the hymn's language of true wisdom and knowledge being found in Christ, while Romans 8:38-39 undergirds its assurance that Christ's love remains the believer's security in life, death, and final hope.
Verse Explanation
The hymn unfolds through a series of questions that ask what most delights, grounds, strengthens, consoles, and sustains the believer. Each answer directs attention back to Jesus Christ, especially Christ crucified.
This structure gives the hymn the feel of both testimony and catechism. It teaches by repetition, but the repetition is theological rather than ornamental: every major Christian hope is gathered into the person and work of Christ.
The final movement brings the earlier answers together as a summary confession. The believer's joy is not merely religious feeling but faith in the crucified and risen Christ, who saves, triumphs, and remains the believer's final confidence.
Theological Reflection
The hymn is strongly Christocentric. It does not present Christian faith as a set of disconnected benefits, but as the knowledge and possession of Christ himself. Christ crucified is the center of salvation, wisdom, joy, and hope.
Its soteriology is evangelical and confessional. Salvation rests on Christ's redemptive work rather than human achievement, and faith responds by naming Christ as the one in whom pardon, peace, victory, and life are found.
The hymn also forms Christian identity through testimony. Its repeated questions invite worshipers to examine what they value most, while its answers train the church to glory in Christ alone. This makes the hymn both devotional and catechetical.
Church Impact
Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know has appeared in Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, and ecumenical hymnals. Its broad use reflects the way its Christ-centered confession speaks across denominational lines.
The hymn has been especially valued for catechesis, evangelistic services, testimony, and worship centered on the cross. Its simplicity makes it memorable, while its theology remains substantial enough for doctrinal teaching.
Although it is less prominent in some contemporary repertoires, the hymn continues to serve congregations that seek clear, scriptural, and confessional song. It reminds the church that Christian witness is strongest when centered on the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Musical Notes
Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know is commonly sung to HENDON, a tune by Henri Abraham César Malan. Hymnal sources usually give the meter as 7.7.7.7.7, though some indexes note small textual or editorial variations in particular hymnals.
HENDON has a clear, balanced melodic structure that suits the hymn's question-and-answer form. Its moderate range and direct rhythm make it effective for congregational singing, especially when the final line of each stanza is sung with firm emphasis.
Lowell Mason's nineteenth-century use of the tune helped establish HENDON in American hymnals. The tune's dignified simplicity supports the text's confessional clarity without distracting from its central proclamation of Christ crucified.
Application
- Confess Christ crucified as the center of Christian faith and hope.
- Measure all other forms of knowledge, achievement, and honor by the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
- Use the hymn as a prompt for personal testimony and congregational confession.
- Find assurance in Christ's saving work when facing guilt, weakness, suffering, or death.
- Let the church's teaching, worship, and witness remain centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Discussion Questions
- What does the hymn identify as the greatest knowledge a person can possess?
- How does the question-and-answer structure strengthen the hymn's teaching?
- Why does 1 Corinthians 2:2 provide such a fitting biblical foundation for the text?
- How does the hymn connect personal assurance with the cross of Christ?
- What secondary concerns can distract the church from glorying in Christ alone?
Teaching Tips
- Pair the hymn with 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 or Galatians 6:14 to highlight its central confession.
- Explain that the German text is attributed to Johann Christoph Schwedler and was published posthumously in 1741.
- Clarify that the familiar English version is by Benjamin Hall Kennedy, not Jane Borthwick.
- Use the hymn in catechism, confirmation, discipleship, or evangelistic settings where a clear confession of Christ is needed.
- Encourage worshipers to notice how each stanza answers human need by returning to the person and work of Christ.
Sources
-
Hymnary.org, Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know text authority.
-
Hymnary.org, The United Methodist Hymnal, hymn 163.
-
Discipleship Ministries, History of Hymns: Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know, by C. Michael Hawn.
-
Hymnary.org, HENDON tune authority.
-
HymnSite.com, The United Methodist Hymnal 163, Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know.
-
The Cyber Hymnal, Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know.
-
Julian, John. A Dictionary of Hymnology, revised edition.
-
Carlton R. Young, Companion to The United Methodist Hymnal.
-
World English Bible: 1 Corinthians 2:1-2; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 3:7-10; Colossians 2:2-3; Romans 8:38-39.
Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know Lyrics and Guitar Chords
Tune
Learn This Hymn
Tune: Standard Tune
Accompaniment Versions
Choose the accompaniment version that matches how many stanzas you plan to sing.
4 stanzas
Help Keep These Hymn Recordings Free
Your support helps us continue creating accompaniment and SATB learning tracks for churches, choirs, and hymn learners.
Download Resources
Teaching and small-group resources available for this hymn.
These teaching resources are free to use. Contributions help us create more.
Opens in a new tab.