Newton never recognized “Amazing Grace” as anything remarkable or especially significant among his hymns…Its relative obscurity in Britain and his lack of personal references to the song suggest Newton had no idea how popular it would become or how powerful its influence would be. The song enjoyed much greater notoriety in America in the 19th century. By the 1830s it was sung in churches across most major denominations. 

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved ______________.”

Whether you grew up singing in church or not, most people know the next few words of this famous song. It has been called the spiritual anthem of the United States. You’re just as likely to hear it sung on American Idol as you are at a local church.

Biographer Jonathan Aitken describes John Newton’s hymn, “Amazing Grace,” as “the most sung, most recorded, and most loved hymn in the world. No other song, spiritual or secular, comes close to it in terms of numbers of recordings (over three thousand in the United States alone), frequency of performances (it is publicly sung at least ten million times per year), international popularity across six continents, or cultural longevity (234 years old and still going strong).”[1]

There are whole books and videos that go into detail about both the backstory and history of the song. As I’ve read Jonathan Aitken’s biography, here are a few facts I’ve found interesting. 

A Song for a New Year’s Day Sermon

Pastor John Newton first introduced the hymn to his congregation in 1773. At this time, Newton had started writing and introducing hymns to go along with his sermon (as well as for the Olney Hymnbook that he and William Cowper had started working on). Newton wrote these hymns in plain language so his congregation could understand and sing them, but they also were meant to accompany and assist his sermon that morning. “Newton thought he could help them [his congregation] if he amplified his sermons by writing simply worded hymns that illustrated the biblical passages on which he was preaching.”[2]

“Amazing Grace” was first sung on January 1, 1773 to go with Newton’s New Year’s Day sermon. He leveraged these first sermons of the year to reflect on God’s goodness and mercy in his life. On the prior day (12/31/1772), Newton wrote these words as he looked back over his life and used up the final pages of a journey he had kept for years:

How many scenes I have passed through in that time! By what a way the Lord has led me! What wonders has he shown me! My book is now nearly full, and I shall provide another for the next year. O Lord, accept my praise for all that is past. Enable me to trust thee for all that is to come, and give a blessing to all who may read these records of thy goodness and my own vileness. Amen and amen.

The text Newton chosen for his New Year’s Day sermon were David’s words from 1 Chronicles 17:16-27. In this passage, David responds to God with thanksgiving after the prophet Nathan informed David that his sons/house would reign on Israel’s throne forever (ultimately pointing to Jesus, the son of David). 

Anyone familiar with both David’s story and John Newton’s story can see the parallel accounts of how great sinners received the unmerited mercy, steadfast love, and amazing grace of God. Biographer Jonathan Aitken writes, “There can be little doubt that Newton saw spiritual parallels between God’s grace to King David and God’s grace to himself. They had both been the worst of sinners; they had both endured tempestuous journeys of extraordinary drama; they had both been undeserved recipients of God’s mercy, salvation, and grace.”[3]

The outline of John Newton’s sermon from David’s words is as follows:[4]

“Who am I?”
1) I am miserable—a sinner condemned by the law and guilty under it.
2) Rebellious—We have defied God. We ere not merely undeserving of God’s mercy but we were “undesiring” of it.
3) Undeserving—We have no right to the mercy and love God poured out on us despite our condition and our rebellion.

“That thou has brought me hitherto”

1) Before conversion—God’s providence protected and led us.

Read More

^[1] Jonathan Aitken, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, 224. (This book was published in 2007).

^[2] Aitken, John Newton, 224.

^[3] Aitken, John Newton, 226-227.

^[4] You can see Newton’s handwritten notes at the Museum of the Bible, or online at  https://www.museumofthebible.org/john-newtons-sermon-notes. You can read a summary outline of those notes here: https://www.johnnewton.org/Groups/231011/The_John_Newton/new_menus/Amazing_Grace/sermon_notes/sermon_notes.aspx.