A hymn and its story
Amazing Grace
Words by John Newton, 1772 · a slave-trader turned pastor
The man who wrote 'Amazing grace, that saved a wretch like me' had captained slave ships, and he never got over being forgiven.
The story behind it
John Newton went to sea as a boy and grew into a hard, blaspheming young man in the Atlantic slave trade, for a time a captain of ships that carried enslaved Africans. In 1748 a violent storm nearly sank his vessel; he cried out to God, and marked that day for the rest of his life as the beginning of his turning. His change was not instant, he remained in the trade for years afterward, but it was real and deepening, and he came at last to loathe the traffic in human beings he had once profited from.
Newton became an Anglican pastor at Olney, and in 1772 wrote this hymn for a New Year's sermon. In old age, nearly blind, he helped William Wilberforce in the fight to abolish the slave trade, and said, 'My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.' The hymn is simply that memory, set to music.
The words
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Scripture behind it
Why it still moves us
Amazing Grace endures because it is honest about both the wretchedness and the rescue. Newton did not soften the word 'wretch,' because he knew exactly what he had been. And precisely because his sin was real, the grace that reached him is amazing, unearned, undeserved, and stronger than any past. That is why the hymn belongs to everyone: whatever you have been, the same grace that led a slave-trader home is offered to you.
Sing it, and mean it
A hymn is a prayer you can carry in your chest. The people who wrote these did not write from a stage; they wrote from shipwreck and sickbeds, from ordinary faithful mornings, and handed us words for the days we cannot find our own. You do not have to sing well. You only have to lift it, and mean it, to the One it is about.
Meet the One these hymns are aboutWorship in The Living BreadThe good news of graceWhy did Jesus die?Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- Who wrote Amazing Grace?
- John Newton, an English clergyman who had once been a slave-ship captain. He wrote the words in 1772 for a New Year's sermon at Olney, out of his own experience of God's undeserved mercy.
- What is the story behind Amazing Grace?
- Newton spent his early life in the slave trade until a near-fatal storm in 1748 began his turning to God. He became a pastor and, in old age, an abolitionist alongside William Wilberforce. Amazing Grace is his testimony of being a great sinner saved by a great Saviour.
- What does Amazing Grace mean?
- It means that God's grace, his unearned favour and forgiveness, is powerful enough to save anyone, however lost. 'I once was lost, but now am found' confesses that salvation is a gift, not a reward (Ephesians 2:8).