“Grace Greater than Our Sin”
Julia H. Johnston
Marvelous grace of our
loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
Julia Harriette Johnston (1849-1919) was the
daughter of a Presbyterian minister who served First Presbyterian Church,
Peoria, Ill. She lived in Peoria from age 6.
Johnston was faithful to the ministries of the
church, serving as a Sunday school superintendent and teacher for 41 years. She
was also president for two decades of the Presbyterian Missionary Society, an
organization founded by her mother.
She authored several books including Indian
and Spanish Neighbors (1905)
and Fifty Missionary Heroes (1913). In addition to many Sunday
school lessons, she also wrote about 500 hymn texts; today her reputation rests
primarily upon the hymn “Grace Greater than Our Sin.”
The writer contrasts the theme of God’s
abundant grace—manifest through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross—with “our
sin and our guilt” (stanza one), “sin and despair” (stanza two), and a “dark .
. . stain” (stanza three).
This “marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
freely bestowed on all who believe,” finds a scriptural basis in Paul’s
teaching of justification by faith in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of
the glory of God.”
Paul continues in verses 14-16, “Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift of grace. For if through the
offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was
by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.”
The text and tune of the hymn first appeared
in Hymns Tried and True, a 1911 collection by composer
Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919). According to UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young, Towner was “a
distinguished Methodist musician.” He studied first with his father and then
with famous gospel song composers such as George Root and George Webb.
Towner then served in Methodist Episcopal
churches in New York, Ohio and Kentucky. In 1893 he was named head of the music
department at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, working with the famous
evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Dr. Young notes that Towner “composed over 2,000
songs and was associated with the publication of fourteen collections.”
Baptist hymnologist William J. Reynolds noted
that the name MOODY was given to this tune in recognition of Towner’s
association with and service to Moody Bible Institute and its founder.
