Amazing Grace
Is "Amazing Grace" the best hymn ever? John Newton was an evil man who was saved by God's grace. The story behind this song includes ships, storms, slaves, John Wesley and George Whitefield, tombstones and more.
Possibly the greatest hymn ever written is "Amazing Grace." Everybody knows the song—it doesn't matter if you're a Christian, if you're in church, or if you've never been in church. Somehow this song starts up and everybody knows it. Everybody knows what it stands for. Everybody probably even knows that first line. It's so familiar, and it just keeps enduring. It's got a life of its own.
But some people can't stand this song. Some people think "Amazing Grace" will always remind them of funerals and death. It is probably the most popular song sung at funerals, so I can see how that is the case. But for others, this is a beautiful song that really informs their faith in a fantastic way.
How about you? Do you love it? Do you not really like this one? I'd love for you to share your thoughts below—that'd be great. But let's get into the history of this song, because it is quite a fascinating story that goes with it.
The Story Behind "Amazing Grace"
The author of this is John Newton, the famous slave trader turned minister. He was born in 1725, and his father was a ship captain. His mother died when he was only seven, so after just a few years of school—two or three—he found himself working on ships with his dad. He was pretty good at this, but he was a pretty wild character as well. As he grew up, he really became a rebellious guy. He got into all sorts of trouble, ended up in jail in fact, and was just known as one of those bad eggs. Newton did as Newton pleased.
Before long, as a young man, he was the captain of a slave ship. The slave trade was a cruel and evil thing, but he excelled in this field. He spent his days capturing, selling, and transporting black men, women, and children around the world in his ship. His was a life that clearly didn't glorify God at all—until one fateful day in 1748.
A big storm came up on the sea that he was sailing. So fierce was the storm that Newton was running around the ship trying to make sure that this ship of his didn't sink. As he was running around, he was crying to God, saying, "Please save us! Please save us!" However, he thought to himself, "Why would God save me? Look at me! If there is a God, He is certainly not going to have anything to do with me."
He started to think in the midst of the storm that maybe God was actually trying to send him a message. He remembered that story of Jonah in the Bible—Jonah rebelling against God and running away, but God throwing him overboard a ship to catch his attention. He wondered if that's what God was doing here, trying to catch his attention. As it turns out, he'd been reading a famous Christian book by Thomas à Kempis called The Imitation of Christ, and so God was clearly working in his life at this time.
The storm died down, and Newton felt that God had saved him. He wrote this in his diary concerning the event:
"March 21st is a day to be remembered by me. I have never suffered to pass it wholly unnoticed since the year 1748"—that's the year of the storm. "On that day the Lord sent from on high and delivered me from the deep waters."
Soon after this event, Newton gave his life to Christ and became changed forever. He became friends with the two great evangelists of the day, George Whitefield and John Wesley. But initially he kept sailing on his ship and he kept going with the slave trade, although he tried to make it better for the slaves and he tried to convert his crew by holding worship services and preaching to them.
But soon enough, he realised that this was no life for a man of God. He abandoned the slave trade and decided to go into the ministry himself. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1764 and took up the pastoral role at a small church in a town called Olney.
A big part of his message was this: "I used to be a wretch, but God saved me, and He can save you too." People from all around would come to hear the old sea captain who was converted and hear his amazing testimony. Lives were changed as people heard his story, because people realised if God could save a wretch like him, He could save a wretch like anybody.
Now, one of the things that characterised Newton's ministry at his church was the use of hymns. He didn't like to just use the traditional hymns in the Anglican hymn book of the time, so he began to write his own hymns. Of course, one day he sat down and he wrote this hymn that we know as "Amazing Grace." His title was "Faith's Review and Expectation"—that's not quite as exciting as the first line! The tune which we still sing today is said to have been heard by Newton on the slave ships. It's an old melody which he would hear the slaves singing as he was going around on his ships. He wrote these words to it, and it's become such a popular hymn today.
Now, it's said that when Newton was close to death, one of his church leaders said to him, "It's time for you to step down—you know, you're getting on a bit." He famously said this: "What? Shall the old Africa blasphemer stop whilst he can still speak?"
Another time, shortly before he died, he said these words in a sermon: "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Jesus Christ is a great Saviour."
Newton died in 1807, the very year that slavery was abolished by the British Parliament. On his tombstone you will find these words:
"John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach that faith he had long laboured to destroy."
What a story! God took this man's life, turned it upside down with Amazing Grace, and He can do the same for you.
What Do the Lyrics of "Amazing Grace" Mean?
Let's look at the lyrics that he wrote.
Verse 1: "Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)"
The first one says, "Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That sav'd a wretch like me!"
I love this—"how sweet." Just the word, just the word "grace" is so sweet to those who have been saved. If you know how much God loves you, and if you know that even though you've done your own thing and drifted away from Him, yet He has saved you and loved you, it amazes you. That word "amazing" shouldn't be skipped over. It really is amazing grace. It is unlike anything else in the universe—the grace that God gives His children. It saves wretches, no matter how far you've gone. If you come to God in repentance and faith, He will save you from your life of sin and give you a new life.
I love how he says, "I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see."
This is a reference to two things at least that Jesus did and said. First was He told the parable of the Prodigal Son—the man who'd run away from home and soon found himself in the gutters eating with pigs, came back to his home expecting his father to beat him, and instead his father embraced him and loved him. His father, in fact, said these words in Luke 15, speaking to the other brother: "This brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found."
That's how Newton himself felt—like a prodigal son who had lived a life of complete rebellion but had been found and accepted by his Father.
"Was blind, but now I see." Think of how Jesus would peel back the layers of people's spiritual vision and heal them in that way. Amazing Grace! Have you experienced grace like this in your life? You can. If you come to God no matter how far you've run, He can wash away your stains and make you new.
Verse 2: "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear"
Verse 2 says, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears reliev'd; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believ'd!"
I love this—"grace that taught my heart to fear." He's talking about the biblical fear of standing in awe of God and just absolutely being amazed by Him. God's grace allows us to do that. But grace also relieves our fears. Instead of being afraid of His punishment or being afraid of death or being afraid of anything, those who are in Christ and those who are saved have their fears relieved.
"How precious," he said, "did that grace appear." Do you know that? Does that make sense to you? The first time you heard of it, the first time you gave yourself to God, it was the most precious thing that you'd ever received in your life. Nothing will ever be as precious as the grace that we first receive from God.
Verse 3: "Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares"
Verse 3 goes like this: "Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home."
Think about him on that ship, about to go overboard and die, he thought—but God saved him. He looked back on his life and saw all these many dangers that God had seen him through. It was grace that got him through those. Then I like how he says, "Grace will lead me home." I've gotten this far by grace, and I will get to the end of my life by grace.
Do you see God's grace, God's riches, God's love for you—even though it's undeserved—as the main reason you've gotten through and the main thing that's going to get you through?
Verse 4: "The Lord has promis'd good to me"
Now, in Newton's hymn, we see three verses following these three that we don't really sing anymore today, which is a pity, because look at these words.
Verse 4 says, "The Lord has promis'd good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures."
That's a beautiful verse that says God's promises in His word give me hope and secure me as I go through life. Do you stand on God's promises and take His word seriously? It gives you hope like nothing else. "He will my shield and my portion be"—in other words, my protection and my portion, my satisfaction—"as long as life endures." God is this to me, Newton says. What a beautiful verse.
Verse 5: "Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail"
The next verse is one that we sing even more rarely: "Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease; I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace."
Isn't that beautiful? Even when my life on Earth and my flesh fails, even when I'm dead, I'll still go on. I'll have a life of joy and peace on the other side. That's just an amazing thing to think about. God's grace gives us eternal life. Wonderful.
Verse 6: "The earth shall soon dissolve like snow"
Newton's last verse said, "The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who call'd me here below, Will be forever mine."
He said, "You know what? The earth will be gone soon. Jesus will come back at some point. But because I have faith, because grace has been poured out into my life, God will be mine and I'll be His." Beautiful words.
The Famous Fourth Verse: "When we've been there ten thousand years"
Now, the famous fourth verse that you and I normally sing in today's version of "Amazing Grace" wasn't written by Newton, but in fact it comes out of a novel called Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. In that book, there's a verse added on to this hymn which goes like this:
"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."
Isn't that also just an amazing verse? Even though he didn't write it, it's very true. When we've been in heaven for countless years, we still will not be any closer to the end of our time of praise than the very instant we arrived in heaven, because there'll be no time. Isn't that something to think about?
Conclusion
Amazing grace flowed through the life of John Newton, and in these lyrics I hope we can take these lyrics as our own, because they tell our stories too. Of course, you and I probably have never almost died at sea, but I know that you can also see how God has sustained you through this life and given you grace from beginning to end.
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References
Newton, John. "Amazing Grace" (1779)
The Holy Bible, Luke 15 - Parable of the Prodigal Son
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
