Chris Tomlin

It just dawned on me that though I have been blogging for almost a year now on the subject of music and grace, I haven’t even made a single mention of that most famous combination of music and grace: John Newton’s “Amazing Grace“. It has been an anthem of hope and faith for generations.
But why has this hymn had such an impact? What does Newton point out about God’s grace that resonates with us so strongly? Is there something in the music which made it so popular?

At the time Newton penned Amazing Grace, hymnbooks did not contain music; they were simply religious poetry books. The first time Newton’s lines were joined to music was in 1808, in A Companion to the Countess of Huntingdon’s Hymns, set to the tune “Hephzibah” by English composer John Jenkins Husband. More than twenty musical settings of “Amazing Grace” circulated with varying popularity until 1835 when William Walker assigned Newton’s words to a traditional song named “New Britain”.

According to author Steve Turner, the joining of these words and melody was a “marriage made in heaven . . . There was a rise at the point of confession, as though the author was stepping out into the open and making a bold declaration, but a corresponding fall when admitting his blindness.”

Sing through the lyrics at the end (if you need them to test his theory). I think Turner is quite right. It is at this very point we can see why the hymn works so well in communal praise. As we sing this appropriately-shaped melody together, we step out into the open and make a public and communal confession of our wretchedness, our need for God’s forgiving grace. We declare we have moved from ‘lost’ to ‘found’, from hopeless to being filled with hope! As we declare this together, the Spirit works.

It probably has a lot to do with the truth which James expresses here:
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16)

This hymn is a prayer! We pray together as we sing. We confess (our wretched need for God’s grace) to one another, and look with eyes of faith to the glorious future for us who are ‘found’. The power of this prayer-song transcends time, culture and place. I would predict that there are many more centuries of life in Newton’s hymn.

(Nb. If you are so young that you only know of Amazing Grace as being part of Chris Tomlin’s “My Chains are gone” then you should note how skilfully Tomlin has mimicked the rise and fall of the “New Britain” melody in his additional chorus. In this way he moves our focus to the flood of mercy experienced by all who are in Christ. Such amazing grace!)

Here are the 6 verses of the hymn:

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

The Lord has promised good to me
His Word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

Through many dangers toils and snares
I have already come
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

Yea when this flesh and heart shall fail
And mortal life shall cease
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun

And Tomlin’s clever chorus:

My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God my Saviour has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing Grace!

If you want to think a bit more about this grace, watch the film trailer . . . or the whole film AMAZING GRACE (2006).

You may also like:

Saved by a violent grace Keep your ears tuned to the gospel of grace

Here in Acts we continue our journey through the “Three Sixteens” – Peter and John have just gone up to the temple to pray. Peter commands a beggar, lame from birth, to get up and “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Literally Peter means a continuous action ‘be walking‘. He grabs him by the right hand to raise him up. “The power was Christ’s but the hand was Peter’s” (John Stott 1990). This healed beggar then famously goes “walking and leaping and praising God!” He becomes the living embodiment of the Messianic age, predicted in Isaiah 35:6, “Then will the lame leap like a deer“.

The result of all this is another hugely important 3:16 verse:
“By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.” (Acts 3:16)

Peter explains to those in the temple courts that this healing reveals Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. He is the promised suffering Servant who brings healing to all the nations. Peter’s own “power or godliness” did not heal the man. It was the power of the risen Lord Jesus. Peter tells the Jews that though they acted in ignorance and killed the “author of life“, this is how “God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer“ (verse 18).

This miracle, performed “in the name of Jesus”, brings physical healing and a great testimony. Peter wants them to repent and receive the promised Messiah who can bring them healing, promised healing that is so much more than physical.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

Peter has received the Spirit of the risen Christ, and in Jesus’ name alone can Peter heal. In Jesus’ name we can be healed from our sinful separation from God. He has offered to give us a new heart, a heart transplant. Our sick, dead, un-beating, stony hearts can be replaced. This is the healing we all need to receive – in Jesus’ powerful name.

Finally, here is the link to Chris Tomlin ‘s take on “The Name of Jesus” which he describes as “a saving place to run, a hope unshakeable . . . there is power in Your name, in the name of Jesus there is life and healing, chains are broken in Your name”.