And Can it Be That I Should Gain
One of the 94 hymns we sing together at Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church on the Gold Coast. Browse the full hymnbook.
Lyrics
Verse 1
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Verse 2
He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace-
Humbled Himself because of love,
And bled for all His chosen race:
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
Verse 3
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Verse 4
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own
Behind the Hymn
"And Can It Be That I Should Gain" was written by Charles Wesley in 1738, just days after his dramatic evangelical conversion. Wesley, along with his brother John, had been an ordained Anglican clergyman and a devout religious practitioner, but it was on May 21, 1738 — three days before John's famous Aldersgate experience — that Charles came to a personal, living faith in Christ through justification by grace alone. He was literally sick in bed when the reality of grace broke through, and he immediately began writing this hymn, capturing the almost incredulous wonder of a religious man discovering that all his efforts had been insufficient and that Christ's grace was freely given. The line "Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?" became the theological heartbeat of the Methodist revival. The hymn's fourth verse — "Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light" — is widely considered one of the finest stanzas in English hymnody. Wesley went on to write over 6,500 hymns, but this remains one of his most powerful.