Jesus Paid it All
A sermon that made Elvina Hall’s mind wander, and a new tune by musician John Grape, came together to form one the great hymns about the price Jesus paid for our sins. How wonderful that we don’t have to pay our way to God, because Jesus has already done so.
Welcome back to Friday Classic Hymns! Today I'm excited to share a hymn with you that is one of the most popular hymns around. Even though it was written over a century ago, this one is still sung regularly. In fact, if you just type it into YouTube, there are countless beautiful versions out there to listen to. I'm looking forward to sharing it with you: Jesus Paid It All. What a beautiful hymn!
Do you have any memories of this hymn or any stories that you can share of how this hymn has touched your life? If you'd share those in the comments below, that would be wonderful. Let's share each other's joy.
The Story Behind "Jesus Paid It All"
Elvina Hall wrote the words of this great song. She was born Alvina Reynolds, but in the 1860s as a married woman, she was attending the Monument Street Methodist Church in Baltimore where she was a faithful member.
The story is that their minister was going on a little bit - he was preaching a sermon that was maybe a little bit too lengthy. Alvina's mind began to wander, and into her mind popped the words of this song. Maybe his sermon was sitting there in the back of her mind or just inspiring her, but she started to write these words about how Jesus had paid it all. Since she had nothing to write on, she had to put the words down inside a hymnal. She wrote in one of the hymnals, and after the service she went up to the pastor to show him the words that she'd written.
Well, he was very excited by this because they are wonderful words. He took the words to the local church organist, a man named John Grape. As it turned out, Mr Grape had been writing some new music, and one of the pieces of music that he'd just written really fitted Hall's words in a beautiful way. The two were linked and it became a hit - it became just a very popular song. It was published in a popular hymnal of the time, and from there it just spread.
Listen to Grape's own words about what happened: "Soon after, the Rev. Mr Schrick called on me to select anything new in music that I had to offer. On hearing this piece, he expressed his pleasure with it and stated that Mrs Alvina M. Hall had written some words which he thought would just suit the music. I gave him a copy of it and it was soon sung in several churches and well received. At the suggestion of friends, I sent a copy to Professor Theodore Perkins and it was published in Sabbath Chords. Under the providence of God it has been going ever since. I trust that it has not failed in the accomplishment of some good to my fellow men, for the glory of God."
Well, he trusts correctly - that's what happened, because so many people have been blessed by the song. I believe it has brought great glory to God as Christians have sung it through the years. Maybe there's a lesson here: if your mind starts drifting during the next sermon you hear, why don't you try to write a hymn and see what happens?
What Do the Lyrics of "Jesus Paid It All" Mean?
The words of this hymn are really special. Let's take a look at what Elvina Hall wrote.
Verse 1
Verse one goes like this: "I hear the Saviour say, 'Thy strength indeed is small, child of weakness, watch and pray; find in Me thine all in all.'"
Beautiful! She's hearing these words from Jesus - a close relationship they must have as she hears Him talk about how in Him strength can be found. "Find in Me thine all in all." I like this line - don't just find in Me somebody who can help you alleviate your guilt, but find in Me your all in all.
Is Jesus your all in all today? Not just a religious figure, not just the one who can make you feel better about yourself, but is He your all in all - your deepest love, your greatest treasure? Yes, we are all children of weakness, and if we watch and pray and keep close to Him, we will find great joy in being His children.
Chorus
Then the chorus, which is so well known, goes like this: "Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe."
This is kind of a transactional thing. The theology is that you and I are slaves to sin and Jesus comes to pay the price to free us. Many hymns have got this sort of theme because that's what the Bible claims. Jesus talked about how He came to ransom sinners. There's a price to be paid to free them, and the price to be paid was His death. We all deserve death because of sin, but Christ paid it all - He paid the penalty so we can go free.
All to Him we owe - not in order to try to pay Him back so that we're even (of course not), but we owe Him everything in the sense that out of gratitude for what He freely gave us, we live in relationship with Him. Don't think you owe Him something to make the debt even. No, the debt is paid - you don't owe Him anything. But out of great reverence and respect for what He did, and because you love Him as He lovingly gave His life to you, you owe Him everything in that sort of spiritual sense.
Then the second half of the chorus says: "Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow."
Straight away I think of Isaiah 1, where Isaiah hears the words from God where He says, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Scarlet or crimson - a shade of red - our sin like blood stains us.
I remember watching as a kid - I watched a version of Snow White. It was the Cannon Movie Tales. Did anybody watch the Cannon Movie Tales? They were not the greatest productions, but we loved them as kids. In the Cannon version of Snow White, she pricks her finger at one point (actually her mother does) and this drop of blood falls onto the snow. This was always a picture to me, because when that drop fell onto the snow in this movie, it wasn't a beautiful rich red or crimson or scarlet - that blood was black on the snow. I always remember that, and it gave me a sense of how God's holiness and righteousness is pure, but our sin is like a black stain across His purity.
But He comes and sees our stains and washes us white as snow. That's what He paid for when He died on the cross. Our sins no longer stain us and they no longer stain God's glory, but they're washed away by His grace.
Do you know that your sins - crimson or scarlet or black as they are - can be washed away by the blood of Christ, so that when He has covered it, you are white as snow and God's glory is shining out of your life? How wonderful that Jesus paid for this! I hope that you've embraced Him so that you can benefit from what He paid for.
Verse 2
Let's go to verse two: "Lord, now indeed I find Thy power, and Thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart of stone."
Yes, God's power and His alone can change us. Changing the leper's spots - this is not just a reference to how Jesus would heal lepers and give them physical healing, but most Bible scholars believe that leprosy in the Bible is a type - it's a picture of sin. When Jesus heals a leper, it's a picture of how He can cleanse us of our sin.
We stand before God leprous because of our sins. That picture of a leprous person whose skin is so full of sores - that's a picture of us before God. Our sin is like an illness that scars us and makes us sick, but His power can change that and can make us well.
Then the other picture here is the heart of stone. This reminds me of Ezekiel, who spoke about how God would remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh.
Are you standing before God leprous still, full of sin because you've never claimed His cleansing? Are you standing before God with a heart of stone - you've never actually surrendered to Him and your heart is still full of sin, full of hatred? Or have you been changed by His power? Only His power can do it. Jesus paid it all - receive what He has paid for, would you?
Verse 3
Verse three says: "For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim."
She's expressing what we all know, or what I hope we all know - which is that we cannot offer anything to God to earn our salvation. No matter what good you've done, God may be pleased by our good deeds (I believe that He likes to see people doing good), but it's not enough to pay for grace. You've got nothing. No matter how much good or kindness you've spread in the world, that cannot wipe away those stains, those drops of blood that have stained you. Those good deeds cannot heal your leprosy or turn your heart of stone into a heart of flesh.
"Nothing good I have whereby Thy grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb."
If I want to be cleansed, all that's going to do it is the blood of Christ. If I believe in Him and if I ask Him to be the one who saves me and trust Him for that, then my garments will be washed white. All of that sin will be washed away, not because of what I did, but because of what He did. Beautiful words.
Verse 4
Then verse four: "And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, 'Jesus died my soul to save,' my lips shall still repeat."
Great verse, because she's saying one day when I'm standing before God's judgement throne and He will have completed my life - my life will have been finished - I will not say I'm here and let me in because I've done good, because I've lived a committed life, because I've been religious. I'll simply be able to say: Jesus died to save my soul. That's the only thing I'll be able to repeat, and that's what will get me in. That's what will keep me from being judged, but will rather alleviate the punishment that God could rightly give me.
Then I'll be complete. I like that word "complete." No matter how holy or sanctified we may be in this life, we'll only be complete when we are glorified in heaven.
Conclusion
What is the cry on your lips today? Is it "look what I've done, look how I have paid the way to earn God's favour"? Or are you humbly singing these words, saying: Jesus paid it all. Jesus died to save my soul. I've got nothing good to claim His grace, nothing to offer that can claim payment. I'll just have to wash in His blood so that I can stand cleansed and white as snow.
Beautiful words. Did any words in particular grab you or touch you? Is there anything there that I missed that you want to point out that really touched you as well? Let me know.
I just want to say thank you to those who kindly donate to my online work. Those who support me on Patreon get downloads of all these songs. If you want the solo piano piece that I'm playing in the background or an MP3 of the performance, those are on Patreon. If you would kindly look to donate there - but just remember, this is all free. I'm not expecting any payment. I'm just grateful for those who do donate, whether through Patreon or PayPal, so that I can do this every week.
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing to the channel. Let's sing it together and let's just celebrate the fact that we don't have to pay because Jesus paid it all.
References
Osbeck, K.W. 1985. 101 More Hymn Stories. Kregal Publications: Grand Rapids
