Tag: scripture

In Christ alone

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is in Christ alone my hope is found’ by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.  It’s a candidate for ‘most popular hymn of the last decade’ – the copyright is dated 2001, but in the last ten years it has found popularity well beyond its original evangelical roots.

The phrase ‘In Christ alone’ seems to hark back, maybe deliberately, to the Reformation, where it is one of the five balancing principles: ‘By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to scripture alone, for God’s glory alone’.  Here we focus on one of those, but perhaps the most important, because whatever view you might take on the relative merits of faith and works, or the extent to which scripture is God’s direct revelation, surely all Christians can agree that without Christ, our faith would be in vain.

The first verse of the hymn praises Christ by giving him many honorific titles – ‘my light, my strength, my song, this cornerstone, this solid ground … my comforter, my all in all’.  Many of these have Biblical resonances of course, but put together make a firm basis for a hymn of praise. 

The second verse reminds us why Christ came, ‘gift of love and righteousness’ to take away our sin.   Some people prefer to substitute ‘love of God’ for ‘wrath of God’ when it comes to understanding what was happening on the cross, but both versions make sense: he bore the brunt of God’s anger at human sin, while also expressing the self-sacrificial nature of God’s love for sinners.  The last line is a beautiful paradox – ‘her in the death of Christ I live’.

The third verse celebrates the resurrection, ‘bursting forth in glorious day’, and his victory over sin.  The last reminds us that we have no need to feel guilty or fearful of what lies ahead of us, because of what Jesus has done to secure us eternal life. I would only quibble with the phrase ‘Jesus commands my destiny’ which sounds like the doctrine of predestination (that God has determined in advance our every action). I doubt that it’s intended to mean that, but perhaps something like ‘Spirit of Jesus guiding me’ would be better. But all in all, it’s a cracking hymn that brings together Christians of many persuasions to focus on the wonder at the heart of the Gospel.

The Bible in a Year – 9 September

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

9 September. Nehemiah chapters 7-8

In chapter 7 the city gates have been completed although few houses have yet been rebuilt.  The reconstruction of a city after war is both a difficult challenge, and also an opportunity to make a new start in the way the city is built. It is also an opportunity to rethink how it is governed.  The city is put in charge of two men – Hanani the brother of Nehemiah (who presumably was, like him, an administrator by profession), and Hananiah the commander of the citadel, i.e. a military leader (7:2). This latter was chosen because he “feared God more than most people”, and therefore would be a man of integrity. These two between them could make a good go of this challenging situation.

Chapter 8 records the reading of the law to the people.  There had been several generations without a functioning civil society. Levels of literacy would have been low, and the younger people would have no knowledge of the traditions of the Temple and its laws. So they have to be taught.  Ezra and thirteen other men carry out this task over the course of a week. The picture this passage gives of the assembled crowd bowing down together in response to the reading of the scripture is remarkably similar to how Islam is still practised.

Many people wept when they heard the Law being read.  Presumably that was when they realised that some of their actions and habits were in fact contrary to the religious laws, the penalties for which were often harsh.  But Ezra and Nehemiah – the civil and religious leaders – told people not to weep, but to rejoice.  They understood, as many people still do not, that the purpose of religious laws is not really to punish people, but to guide them.  Having scripture as a guide for life is actually something to be thankful for and happy about.  As Nehemiah put it, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (8:10). And so the people celebrated with feasting and joy “because they now understood the words that had been made known to them”.