Vol. 053: "Years I Spent in Vanity (At Calvary)"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary. [Refrain]
2. "By God's grace at last my sin I learned, Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary. [Refrain]
3. "Now I've giv'n to Jesus ev'rything; Now I gladly own Him as my King; Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary. [Refrain]
4. "O the love that drew salvation's plan! O the grace that brought it down to man! O the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary."

Refrain-- "Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary."

(Words by William R. Newell; Music by Daniel B. Towner)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", this seems to be a song of testimony ["Years I spent in vanity and pride..."], so it is making known that deposition (speaking) through the song.  We can see also that this is a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His work as well as a hymn teaching about His willingness to bless.

The words of the song were written by William R. Newell in 1895.  They came to him on his way to teach a class at the Moody's Bible Institute in Chicago, IL.  When he arrived, he slipped into a vacant class room and quickly penned them on the back of an envelope.  The music was written by Daniel B. Towner who studied music at the feet of some renowned teachers and musicians including John Howard and James Webb.  He was music director for many organizations including Moody's Bible Institute where he likely got to see the lyrical work from this song.

I wish to try something a little different with THIS commentary and hope it will be less confusing.  Before, I would ramble on about each verse and each line of each verse in many paragraphs; THIS time I want to attempt doing this in more of an outline form in the hopes of being more succinct and clear with the lyrics on which I'm commenting.

<Also, this is the first commentary I am doing by request. Somebody told me they had been approached that this song was unscriptural. She didn't remember what specific part of the song made it that way, but hopefully by analyzing this song thoroughly we can ascertain what would make the song unsound OR be able to allay those fears and be better able to sing the song "with the spirit" as well as "with the understanding" (1 Corinthians 14:15).>

• "Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified,
•  Again, this is testimony, rather subjective; since it says nothing that is out-rightly unscriptural [e.g.-- The Lord sent the Spirit upon me and I spoke in tongues], I find nothing against it.
• "Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.
• Since vanity and pride are marks of ungodliness, one can say that the one giving the testimony was ungodly.  Fortunately for him (as for all of us), "while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6)."
• As is written in Luke 23:33, "[W]hen they came to the place that is called The Skull [referred to as "Calvary" in many translations], there they crucified him...."
• "By God's grace at last my sin I learned, Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned,
• We can see examples of this being played out many times, where people learn of their sinful state, are thus in fear, and want to know what to do to avoid condemnation for spurning the Law of God (Acts 2:37; 16:29-30).
• The only part of this I find potentially questionable about this hymn is where the song writer says that he learned of his sin by the grace of God.  One could view that as sounding a little Calvinist.  And if we take the phrase literally, it may sound like "Unconditional Election" and "Limited Atonement", that the writer would only have learned of his error by God's grace.  However, as I will point out in my comments on the refrain, God's desire is for no one to perish but that all would come to repentance.
• On the other hand, it is by His grace that any of us learn of our (once) sinful conditions.  He gives us whatever chance we can get, whether it be providing Peter on the Day of Pentecost (or sending him to see Cornelius)(Acts 2 & 10 respectively), whether it be sending Philip to Gaza to meet the treasury official from Ethiopia (Acts 8), whether it be stopping Saul (later to be known as Paul) on the way to Damascus and sending Ananias to teach him (Acts 9), or even using Paul to prevent Elymus Bar-Jesus from speaking lies to proconsul Sergius Paulus so that he would hear the Word and eventually believe (Acts 13:4-12).  But it is still up to us to either send or be sent to make sure the Word is preached that they may believe (Roman 10:14-15).
• "Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary." 
•  I'd like to think it obvious that this is poetic license since turning to a "place of the Skull" for salvation would be pointless.  It is what Jesus did on Calvary that saves us.  No, He did not simply go there and get killed; besides the fact that He fulfilled a LOT of prophecy while being taken to and while hanging on the cross (John 19:28), He allowed Himself to be taken, giving Himself freely, so as to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins (John 10:14-17), thus demonstrating such a love for us that can not be paralleled or surpassed (John 15:13)!
•  "Now I've giv'n to Jesus ev'rything; Now I gladly own Him as my King; Now my raptured soul can only sing Of Calvary."
•  This does not ascribe to the Rapture (the removal of the faithful from the world), but refers to a religious ecstasy resulting from one's faith (see definition of "raptured").  With that clarification, the rest of the verse can be considered testimonial and poetic license on the writer's part.
• "O the love that drew salvation's plan!"
•  As was mentioned before, there is no greater love that one can demonstrate than that One gives His life for His friends (John 15:13) (and we are His friends if we do what He commands, John 15:14)
• "O the grace that brought it down to man!"
•  Also as I mentioned before, it is by His grace that we learn of our sinful conditions, not in the Calvinistic sense, but that He wants us all to be saved and will provide a way that we may hear His word and come to repentance (as mentioned in the second verse and the refrain).
• "O the mighty gulf that God did span At Calvary."
•  Considering that we were enemies of God as sinners before He imparted His grace to us, it was a considerable gulf (even metaphorically speaking) that God traversed when He did make the way of reconciliation to Him possible (Romans 5:7-11)

• Refrain

• "Mercy there was great, and grace was free;"
•  Paul talks a great deal about mercy and grace in his letters, but he has a good focus on both in Ephesians 2:1-10.  As he points out,
  we "were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us" [remember how Jesus was quoted by the disciple whom He loved: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)], "even when we were dead in our trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" [again, it is good to remember Romans 5:8 where we are reminded that "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."], "so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
• As I've dealt with Calvinism in some previous commentaries (and even in this one already), it seems good I should revisit it now.  I want to ensure how clear it is that I do believe we are saved by the grace of God and not because of works we might attempt.  That being said, if I am to be saved there is something I must do to receive this grace; after all, as Paul says here, we have been saved by grace through faith.  That does not mean that a simple mental assertion of His existence will bring Him to impart His grace to me; even demons believe that God exists, and that strikes them with fear (James 2:19).  If I truly believe in God, if I have true faith, I will act accordingly.  It is impossible to demonstrate faith without action of some sort (James 2:18).  But those actions must be in accordance to what He commands us to do (John 14:15).  Those actions in and of themselves will not save us, thus the grace is the gift of God and not the result of works (Ephesians 2:9).  God would have it that every soul was saved from perishing, but we must reach repentance first (2 Peter 3:9) and one is rather unlikely to repent if one does not believe, worse yet one can not believe if they have not heard; after all, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17).
• "Pardon there was multiplied to me;"
•  One can see through the prophet's writings that wicked people must forsake their wicked ways and unrighteous people must forsake their unrighteous thoughts in order to return to the Lord (so that He may have compassion on them) and to our God ("for He will abundantly pardon", Isaiah 55:6-7).
• "There my burdened soul found liberty, At Calvary."
•  Paul tells us to "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1, NKJV)."

I hope this allays any fears about the song being unsound and demonstrates its scriptural integrity.  As always, though, I welcome your thoughts.

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Vol. 526: "Pass Me Not"

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "Pass me not, O gentle Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by.
2. "Trusting only in Thy merit, Would I seek Thy face; Heal my wounded, broken spirit, Save me by Thy grace.
3. "Thou, the Spring of all my comfort, More than life to me, Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in Heav'n but Thee?

Chorus-- "Savior, Savior, Hear my humble cry; While on others Thou art calling, Do not pass me by."

(Words by Fanny J. Crosby; Music by William H. Doane)

Once again, as we begin with our Prime Directive "checkoff list", we can see that this is a psalm of praise to God giving high praise for His work as well as a hymn demonstrating praise and supplication as well as teaching (or reminding us of) our dependence on God.

This song was written by Fanny J. Crosby and is one of at least 2,000 that she wrote in her lifetime (some biographies credit her with writing as many as 8,000!). Due to an error on the part of the doctor attending to her, she lost her sight at the age of six weeks (!), but she seemed to feel it was all part of Divine Providence, since she is quoted as saying:

• It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me (from http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/c/r/o/crosby_fj.htm).

When one considers not only the sheer quantity of hymns she produced, but also the fact that she is still one of the most well known women in these United States, it's no wonder that the vast majority of American hymn books contain a portion of her work.

There are a lot of Biblical allusions in this song, thus indicating Miss Crosby was fairly well versed in the Scriptures. But, then again, so were Saul and Apollos, and both started in bad positions for Christ. Fortunately both were corrected (Saul in Acts 9 and Apollos in Acts 18:24ff). Is there a need for correction in this song?

As the first verse and the chorus share many lyrics in common (and may be the sticking point for me), I will proceed in reverse order for this song and begin with the last verse. "Thou, the Spring of all my comfort," it begins; this seems to allude to Isaiah 61 where it starts,"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted...."  And as Isaiah lists the many good things that the Anointed One was going to do, in verse two of that chapter he lists, "to comfort all who mourn" (incidentally, this is the same passage the Anointed One reads in the Nazareth synagogue in Luke 4 to the fulfillment in the ears of the people who were there!).  One could also make the case for quoting Jesus in some of His final words to His disciples, before He goes to the cross, in John 14:27 when He says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.... Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."  The final verse of the song ends by saying, "More than life to me, Whom have I on earth beside Thee? Whom in heav'n but Thee?"  This is very similar to what Asaph the psalmist writes in Pslam 73:25: "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You."  Similar sentiments were made by King David, the man after God's heart, in 2 Samuel 7:22 and 1 Chronicles 17:20 (his prayer of gratitude that, although the Lord refused to allow him the honor, his progeny would build the temple in his stead), and Peter in John 6:68-69 when Jesus asks the remaining disciples if they want to leave Him as well.

The second verse of the song says, "Trusting only in Thy merit, Would I seek Thy face."  One can find many examples in the New Testament of people who sought to see or meet with Jesus based on His merits (the fact that He healed so many). We see ten lepers in Luke 17:13ff; Zacchaeus in Luke 19; and the blind beggar (Bartimaeus) in Matthew 20:30ff, Mark 10:46ff, and Luke 18:35ff.  The verse continues, "Heal my wounded, broken spirit," similar to what King David writes in Psalm 34:18: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."  And this second verse of the song ends, "Save me by Thy grace." Paul (formerly Saul before his earlier mentioned correction) makes the point many times of how we are saved by the grace of God through faith (Rom 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).  And although we work to demonstrate our faith (James 2:14-26, emphasis on verses 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26), it is not the work that saves us.  Were it not for the grace of God, none of us would be saved!

There is another verse that was originally written for this song as the second verse (thus, de facto, we have just covered the fourth and third verses [?]).  Although it is not included in the Praise for the Lord hymn book we are covering, I still want to make mention of it as it reads, "Let me at Thy throne of mercy Find a sweet relief."  This seems to concur with what the inspired writer says in Hebrews 4:14-16: "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  The song verse continues, "Kneeling there in deep contrition" (as we see in Proverbs 22:4, the Lord rewards those who demonstrate humility and fear), "Help my unbelief" (this echoes the feelings demonstrated by the father of the young man with the unclean spirit in Mark 9:23-24).

This brings us to the final matter, the first verse and chorus, the only difference of which is their respective openings.  "Pass me not, o gentle Savior (the chorus substitutes "Savior, Savior,"), Hear my humble cry."  Of course, we know from King David's statement in Psalm 34:15 that "[t]he eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry."  But the verse and chorus continue, "While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by."  Granted, this closing statement is reminiscent of what Abraham tells three men who were standing before his tent in the oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18:3, "'O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.'"

However, it bears to be noted what the prophet foretells about how people would be called by God in the last days in Joel 2:32-- "it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls."  Peter mentions this passage in the first Gospel sermon given on that Pentecost in Acts 2 and it points out a doctrinal error that many espouse in Calvinism: it is those who call upon the name of the Lord (calling upon His authority) who are saved.  Those "who escape", those "among the survivors" (two variant ways of mentioning people who have been saved) are the ones "whom the LORD calls."  Unlike the error of "Unconditional Election" (the "U" in Calvinism's "TULIP", with God allegedly choosing whom He calls according to His own intention without any consideration of an individual's merit), we see that the Lord calls upon those who call upon Him, further punctuating what the inspired writer tells us in Hebrews 11:6, that "He rewards those who seek Him."  Therefore, the Lord is NOT going to pass somebody by if they are calling upon Him.  This makes the song smack of Calvinism and should either be revised or not sung at all.  It has a catchy tune and all, just like "Jesus is Coming Soon", which draws us in to want to sing it, but this is why we should check the scriptural integrity of the songs we propose to sing either to God in praise or to each other in encouragement and thus avoid spreading false doctrine.

[Calling upon the name of the Lord and being called by God have some overlapping thoughts with another topic I wanted to expand upon, drawing near to God, from Volume 436's commentary on "Nearer, Still Nearer". As before, once I have completed this separate piece, I hope to provide a link to it from here.]

Although I end every commentary with this, as always, I do welcome your thoughts…

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Vol. 826:”I’ll Be SomewhereListening”

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. "If my Savior calls, I will answer; If he calls for me, I will hear; If my Savior calls, I will answer; I’ll be somewhere list'ning for my name. (Chor) 
2. "If my heart is right when He calls me, If my heart is right I will hear, If my heart is right when He calls me, I’ll be somewhere list'ning for my name. (Chor)
3. "If my robe is white when He calls me, If my robe is white I will hear, If my robe is white when he calls me, I’ll be somewhere list'ning for my name.(Chor)

Chor) "I’ll be somewhere list'ning, I’ll be somewhere list'ning, I’ll be somewhere list'ning for my name; I’ll be somewhere list'ning, I’ll be somewhere list'ning, I’ll be somewhere list'ning for my name."

(Written by V.O. Stamps & J.B. Coates; Copyright 1937 The Stamps-Baxter Music Co.)

This is, of course, a classic hymn, has been sung for several decades. Unfortunately, length of time in singing does not make for scriptural nature…and this song does suffer.

First of all, if we go by our Prime Directive "checkoff list", an argument can be made (however weak) that this is a spiritual song in that it is intended to cultivate feelings of spiritual devotion, and might even admonish us to duty to do what we can to have our hearts right, our robes white, etc., so that our names are called.

 Although the premise seems simple (if my Savior calls, if my heart is right, if my robe is white, then I will answer/hear), it does seem to have too much exclusivity about it.  The second and third verses seem to clinch it: if my heart is right (equal to “if my robe is white”) then I will hear.  This smacks of the false doctrine of Calvinism and hints very heavily upon the concept of limited atonement as well as irresistible grace.

You see, according to the Calvinist, Jesus did not die for everybody; he only died for those who were specifically “elected” by God from the beginning.  And once the elect have been called by God’s grace, “resistance is futile” (more on this can be found at the article “The Five Points of Calvinism”).

Granted, some may be able to sing this song in good conscience with the idea that the song could be referring to when the Savior calls us either at the end of life or the end of time (Judgment Day).  As I have brought up before, one must be careful singing while having this mindset in case it is not understood by someone else who interprets it differently and more in the Calvinistic sense.

Again, I welcome your thoughts…

--updated 6/8/2015

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Vol. 389:”Let Him Have His Way with Thee”

(Introductory Volume/Table of Contents link)

1. “Would you live for Jesus and be always pure and good?/ Would you walk with Him within the narrow road?/ Would you have Him bear your burden, carry all your load? Let Him have His way with Thee.
2. “Would you have Him make you free and follow at His call?/ Would you know the peace that comes by giving all?/ Would you have Him save you so that you need never fall?/ Let Him have His way with Thee.
3. “Would you in His kingdom find a place of constant rest?/ Would you prove Him true each providential test?/ Would you in His service labor always at your best?/ Let Him have His way with Thee.

Chorus– “His power can make you what you aught to be./  His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free./  His love can fill your soul and you will see/ ‘Twas best for Him to have His way with thee.”

[words and music by Cyrus S. Nusbaum]

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately [Acts 18:24-26, NKJV].

I was wrong.

Fortunately, someone took me aside and explained the way more accurately.

Let me begin again with a comparison of this song to the Prime Directive:

If we go by our "checklist" from our Prime Directive , one could classify this as a psalm, a hymn, and a spiritual song.  It extols the power of God ("His power can make you what you aught to be"), it teaches our dependence on God as well as His willingness to bless, and it seems to intend "to bring the spirit of man into harmony with, and under the control of, the Spirit of God," as per the definition of spiritual song.  It also keeps with the Colossian "singing verse" as it teaches our dependence on Him as mentioned earlier and admonishes us to "Let Him Have His Way" with us.

I had problems with the second verse when the lyric asks, “Would you have Him save you so that you need never fall?”  I have grown up rejecting the notion that it is impossible to “fall from grace”, a tenet of the false doctrine of Calvinism, and my ears tend to perk up when I hear something that even resembles the concept. 

I came across Jude 24 that speaks about the Lord being able to present you faultless before the presence of His glory.  This gave me the opportunity, I thought, to revise the song so as not to say, "Would you have Him save you so that you need never fall", and instead would say, "Would you have Him save you to present you without fault?"

The problem with doing this is the fact that earlier in that same verse, it also reads, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling (falling)...."  I was disingenuous and skipped over that part entirely.  On top of that Peter in his second letter even mentions how to keep from falling.  In 2 Peter 1:10, he tells us to "be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things [earlier in the chapter, he tells us to add virtue to our faith, and more things are added, each one to the previous: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love] you will never stumble.

Even then, the question is answered in the final line of each verse: if we would "let Him have His way with [us]," then He would "save you so that you need never fall".  It is not teaching the impossibility of apostasy as I incorrectly thought.  The song instead teaches that in Christ one does not need to fall!  The Christian can avoid falling by adding the principles of Christian character to his or her life [again those principles build on each other: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love]. Thus, as the song says, "[we] need never fall".

This was the very reason why I started this commentary series.  There are things I have noticed over the years in some of the hymns that we sing that sometimes may not "pass the smell test" [#826- "I'll Be List'ning" is a good example of that about which I have written].  Besides having a chance to point out songs that really do have problems, showcasing the songs in this manner gives me a chance to hear from others in case my sniffer isn't working like it should.  My thanks go to the one who pointed out my error with this song and has given me cause to sing the second verse again.

As always, I welcome any more thoughts….

--updated (with corrections) 6/9/2015

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