- "Your only Son no sin to hide, But You have sent Him from Your side To walk upon this guilty sod And to become the Lamb of God.
- "Your gift of love they crucified, They laughed and scorned Him as He died, The humble King they named a fraud And sacrificed the Lamb of God.
- "I was so lost I should have died, But You have brought me to Your side To be led by Your staff and rod, And to be called a Lamb of God.
- Refrain:"O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God. O wash me in His precious blood, My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God (or ending for the 3rd verse) Till I am just a lamb of God."
(Words and music by Twila Paris, Copyright 1985 by Straightway Music/Mountain Spring Music)
Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this definitely seems to be a psalm of praise to God extolling His power as well as His work, a hymn of praise and supplication, and a spiritual song is intended to inspire or cultivate feelings of spiritual devotion.
Twila Paris (1958) is described by hymnary.org as "a contemporary Christian music songwriter, author, vocalist, and pianist." Since 1980, she has released 22 albums, had 33 number one Christian radio singles, and has been named the Gospel Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year three years in a row (1993 - 1995). Some of her more popular songs include "He Is Exalted", "We Bow Down", "We Will Glorify", and the focus of this commentary, "Lamb of God", all of which are found in many hymnals and sung in church settings. According to CCM Singles, she has "helped to pioneer today's praise and worship music and contributed greatly to making this informal style acceptable to normally more conservative churches."
Well, let's see if any of that "informal" style has adversely affected the scriptural integrity of this hymn:
- "Your only Son no sin to hide,
- Some might argue about the use of the Greek word "monogenes", whether or not it refers to Jesus being "begotten" of God, but He is most certainly unique in His Sonship (John 3:16; "A Study of Monogenes").
- He was also unique in that He was the only one in all of human history to be without sin (Hebrews 4:14-15)
- But You have sent Him from Your side
- To walk upon this guilty sod
- Paul does an extraordinary job of showing us our place when we are compared to God. He quotes one Psalm after another in Romans 3:10-18 and sums it up by stating that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)
- And to become the Lamb of God.
- "Your gift of love they crucified,
- They laughed and scorned Him as He died,
- (Matthew 27:38-44, Mark 15:27-32, Luke 23:35-39)
- Earlier verses in all three accounts also show how He was mocked BEFORE He was on the cross!
- The humble King they named a fraud
- They accused Him of proclaiming Himself to be an earthly king, possibly taking the place of Caesar (Luke 23:2, John 19:12)
- And sacrificed the Lamb of God.
- Although their intent was to crucify Him, it was a sacrifice for our sins (1 Corinthians 5:7)
- "I was so lost I should have died,
- As was quoted from Paul, all HAVE sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).
- The price for sin is death (Romans 6:23), and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22)
- But You have brought me to Your side, To be led by Your staff and rod,
- This is an allusion to the 23rd Psalm, particularly verse 4.
- And to become a lamb of God.
- See notes about the refrain's alternate ending ("...Till I am just a lamb of God.")
- "O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God.
- O wash me in His precious blood, My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God."
- As we have seen earlier, Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29-30).
- [alternate ending for final refrain]: O wash me in His precious blood, Till I am just a lamb of God."
- He is the door for the sheep (John 10:7-17)
Simply because it is more informal than some hymns may sound does not make it less of a hymn of praise, so long as it does not become so informal as to denote a lack of respect for the Almighty and His Gift of His Holy Lamb.
As always, I welcome your thoughts on this....
--bas4d
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Work cited:
- "A Study of Mongenes", Reflections Regarding Responsible Reformation, #26, http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx26.htm, by Al Maxey, 28 March, 2003.
- "Artist Profile: Twila Paris," CCMSingles, http://www.newreleasetoday.com/artistdetail.php?artist_id=962, 4 March, 2016.
- "GMA Dove Award for Vocalist of the Year," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMA_Dove_Award_for_Vocalist_of_the_Year, 4 December, 2017.
- "Twila Paris White," en. wikipedia.org, https://hymnary.org/person/Paris_T.
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