by Lenore Buth

Ask anyone, anywhere, to name a hymn or a Christian song and they likely would answer “Amazing Grace.” This spiritual is performed an estimated 10 million times every year. Sometimes that’s out of faith, but many times it’s just a song most people recognize, so it’s considered a standard.

This seems rather strange considering these are the first two lines:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound … That saved a wretch like me.

Being called “a wretch” is not a popular phrase in our time. These words, written in 1772, came from the heart and mind--and the experience--of John Newton. He meant exactly that, because he never stopped marveling that God could forgive him after what he had done and who he had been before.

I once was lost, but now am found … Was blind but now I see.

John Newton’s earlier life

When he was only six years old, his beloved mother, who had taught John about Jesus, died of tuberculosis. After that his childhood became troubled. Starting when he was 11 years old he went on half a dozen sea voyages with a merchant navy captain and spent his teen years at sea. His customary pattern of behavior was to rebel against authority. In his twenties he tried to desert the Royal Navy, but was caught and put in irons, then flogged. Later he was forced to be a servant to a slave trader in West Africa but after a time was rescued. On the voyage back to England the ship was caught in a bad storm and nearly sank. Newton called out to God to spare them and eventually, they made it to their destination.

He went on to become the master of a slave ship and kept that up for several years. Afterward he acknowledged that slaves on his ship often had been badly mistreated. Then in 1754, he became violently ill while out on the high seas. Finally, that was enough. Newton turned away from the slave trade and with life at sea.

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;

His grace has brought me safe thus far, His grace will lead me home

What changed him?

Once John Newton took the Gospel seriously, God gave him a heart transplant.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear … The hour I first believed.

After that he worked in an office for a time, then felt called to serve the Lord, and after fulfilling academic requirement, was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1764. People were drawn to hear him preach because his words came from the heart and thus had power. He also worked in the campaign to abolish the African slave trade. Because of his earlier life Newton could describe in detail the horrors of that practice. The slave trade was abolished in Great Britain just months before John Newton died in 1807,

The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be … As long as life endures.

John Newton, prolific composer

Over the years he wrote 280 hymns, some of which are included in our Lutheran Service Book. Here are three:

Think of Newton’s history as you consider verse 4 of “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds” #524:

O Jesus, shepherd, guardian, friend, My Prophet, Priest, and King,

My Lord, my life, my way, my end, Accept the praise I bring.

He also wrote “Glorious Things of You Are Spoken,” #648, and “On What Has Now Been Sown,” #921.

What’s the lesson for us?

It seems to me the obvious lesson is that where there is life, there still is reason for hope.

Anyone who knew John Newton in his earlier years would have declared him worthless and a lost cause. That is never, never true.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8-9

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Probably we all know someone we’ve prayed for over the years, prayed they would come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. Our call is to keep on praying and keep on trusting the Holy Spirit will be at work in the hearts and minds of those we pray for. The rest is up to our faithful God.

Could John Newton have written so eloquently if he had not lived the life he lived?

Only God knows the answer to that question, so let’s leave it in his hands.

All we need to know is that God works in the lives of people. Many Christians could testify that with God, no experience is ever wasted.

Although the last verse of “Amazing Grace” was penned by someone else, it fits in perfectly with the others as the close to this hymn that amazingly, is loved and sung all over the world. Those who sing may not realize it, but every single time, it witnesses to the Gospel and to the love of God in Jesus Christ.

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.