My wife and I have enjoyed a very special friendship here in our Christian Retirement Community with a lady who served for many years in East Africa as a nurse/midwife missionary with the PCA’s Mission to the World committee. She grew up as a “cradle catholic” (from childhood) and attended college and vocational post-graduate training in Roman Catholic institutions. She came to saving faith in Jesus (and left her Roman Catholic connections initially over the doctrine of transubstantiation) shortly before heading to the mission field, so did not have an opportunity to become well-grounded in evangelical Protestantism, let alone the Reformed faith. The daily demands of medical duties left very little time for in-depth Bible study.
Now in retirement, she has been experiencing the excitement of discovering biblical truths that had for some many decades elided her. In her Catholic university education, she had many courses in theology, but it had all been in classic Catholic doctrine, without a single course in Bibe content. In fact, none of her courses even used a Bible as a text, and she did not even own a Bible. Even after many years as a Protestant, one Catholic doctrine that had remained unexamined was that of purgatory. As so, years after leaving the Roman Catholic Church, she still had the idea of purgatory in her mind, even thinking that it made sense to her that before people could go to heaven, they ought to spend some time in purgatory “to get cleaned up!”
In a conversation a few years ago with me and my wife, our friend mentioned that idea. My wife responded that “Jesus Paid It All,” and I started singing the well-known hymn (to us, anyway) by that name. Our friend said, “Oh, that makes sense. Did you just make that up as a song?” To which I obviously answered, “No, it’s another hymn that you’re going to get to know!” She gets it now. If Jesus did indeed pay our debt in full, what possible reason could there be for a purgatory where saints are expected to add to Jesus’ payment? We preachers occasionally remind our folks of this one Greek word that Jesus uttered from the cross: “tetelestai” … “it is finished,” meaning that the debt for our sin has been paid in full by Jesus’ atoning death. It is a word that applies to the finances involved in the realm of accounting when the outstanding balance has been paid in full.
And so we sing, “Jesus Paid It All,” confident that because of that, when we die, there will be nothing left in our account with God that remains to paid. Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross are for us, too: “Today you will be with me paradise,” not in purgatory! The wages of sin is death, and Jesus has suffered the death that we deserved. When God looks at us, He see the righteousness of Christ imputed (transferred) to us. And when He looks at Christ, He sees our sins nailed to the cross. Our justification is secure and sufficient. In her childhood and teen years, our friend had built up many thousands of years’ credit to reduce her time in purgatory. Now is happy in the knowledge that “Jesus paid it all.”
The hymn by that title was written in 1865 by Mrs. Elvina Mabel Hall (1820-1889), born in 1820 in the historic city of Alexandria, Virginia. As the daughter of Captain David Reynolds, Elvina grew up in a family where leadership and service were valued. Though the details of her father’s role as a captain remain unknown, the strength of character and faith that Elvina would later display suggest that she was raised in a household where such virtues were nurtured and encouraged. Little did she know that her own faith would one day inspire countless believers through the power of this hymn. She married twice, the first time to Richard Hal of Westmoreland County, Viriginia, who died in 1859. They had at least three children together that lived to adulthood, Agnes, Asenath, and Ella, and two that died as infants, Benoni and Ada. On September 8, 1885, Hall remarried Thomas Myers (1813–1894), a Methodist minister, at the home of her daughter, Ella. Elvina died in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on July 18, 1889. Her funeral was held at Strawbridge Methodist Episcopal Church, and she was buried in the Green Mount cemetery in Baltimore.
It was just a few months after the American Civil War had ended (April 9, 1865). As was her regular custom, this middle-aged woman was in the choir loft of her Monument Street Methodist Episcopal church in Baltimore on a hot summer morning. During Pastor Schrek’s sermon, her mind wandered. At least it was to spiritual things! Perhaps she was musing about the theme of his sermon; we’ll never know. Pondering the meaning of the cross of Christ, the storied scene flashed before her mind’s eye. High upon a rocky crag, three crosses scarred the afternoon sky. On the outer gibbets, hung two notorious thieves. Below, Roman soldiers drank and gambled, waiting for death to overtake the poor wretches suspended above them. It was a public execution, but far more significant than they imagined at the time. Suddenly, the air grew dense and an eerie darkness invaded the scene. As the soldiers gazed about them in superstitious dread, a triumphant cry pierced the gloom. It came from the figure on the center cross, who spoke that one word in Greek: “Tetelestai!” “(He) bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” wrote Peter (1 Peter 2:24). “He Himself is the propitiation (the full satisfaction of God’s justice) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world,” (1 John 2:2).
As the pastor’s sermon continued, Mrs. Hall took up her “New Lute of Zion” hymn book and, turning to a blank page inside the cover, she began to write. Afterward, she presented the pastor with some simple lines of poetry, not likely telling him when they were written! Glancing at them, the pastor was reminded of something that had happened just that week. The church organist, John Grape (1835-1915) had composed a new hymn tune, with no words in mind. He passed it on to Pastor Schreck, suggesting they might find a use for it in future. Stepping into his study, the pastor laid Mrs. Hall’s poem next to the lines of music. In surprise, he saw they fit one another like hand in glove. “Indeed, God works in mysterious ways!” he thought. (Little did he know!) The words and tune have been partners ever since, in the hymn, “Jesus Paid It All.”
We have no specifics about Elvina’s history of Bible knowledge, but this hymn of hers, “born in a church pew in a choir loft,” reflects excellent theology, including such essentials as these.
- Substitutionary atonement – Christ bore the penalty of sin.
- Sufficiency of grace – Salvation is not earned but received.
- Assurance of forgiveness – The “crimson stain” of sin is removed.
- Eternal dependence – Believers stand “in Him complete” before God.
Through the song, we confess our inability to save ourselves, and our utter dependence on what Christ accomplished on the cross. The repeated refrain emphasizes the “paid in full” value of the cross. That is the gospel of grace: that God, in love, did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
The hymn draws on several key passages:
Isaiah 53 – The suffering servant who bears the iniquity of many.
Romans 3:24–26 – Justification by faith in Christ’s work.
Colossians 1:13–20 – The cancellation of debt through Christ’s sacrifice.
1 Peter 2:24 – Christ bearing our sins in His body on the cross.
The refrain’s imagery of “washing it white as snow” echoes Isaiah 1:18 and Ezekiel 16:22–24, where God’s mercy removes sin’s stain.
Stanza 1 describes the singer hearing Jesus speak comforting words to reassure the heart. Perhaps it was something in the pastor’s sermon on that day in 1865 which reminded Elvina of biblical passages about Jesus speaking to those who came to Him, telling them that in their weakness He would be their strength. It suggests a close relationship between the believer and the Savior. We are all children of weakness, and if we watch and pray and keep close to Him, we will find great joy in being His children. What a great phrase, and a description of what should be typical for Christians, that we would want Jesus to be our “all in all,” the greatest source of fulfillment every day.
I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.”
The Refrain combines two images: first is that of our debt having been paid in full, and the second is that of our having been cleansed from our spiritual filthiness. The theology on which this is built is that we are slaves to sin and Jesus has come to pay the price to free us. Jesus said that He had come to ransom sinners. There was a price to be paid to free those whose wages for sin was death. Though once debtors to sin, we are now debtors to Jesus. Neither was a debt we could pay, or re-pay. We owe everything to Him, a debt we can repay only by gratitude and worship. In the second half of the refrain, we think of Isaiah 1, where Isaiah records the words from God where He says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” How amazing that spiritually, red can turn black to white!
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Stanza 2 responds to Jesus words, telling Him that we do indeed trust Him and recognize that His power is now and will continue to be adequate strength for us. In this stanza, Elvina has recalled how the Bible has used the imagery of leprosy as a picture of sin’s devastating effect on us spiritually (and relationally). We stand before God, leprous, because of our sins. That picture of a leprous person whose skin is so full of sores and an outcast from society is a picture of each of us before God before Christ healed us. Our sin was like an illness that had scarred us and made us sick, but His power has changed all that and made us well. Then the other picture here is the heart of stone. This reminds us of Ezekiel 36:26, which tell us how God can remove our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. As we sing this hymn, perhaps we should reconsider what an amazing thing God has done in us and for us.
Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots And melt the heart of stone.
Stanza 3 is the joyful confession/profession of a grateful heart, recognizing that the only thing we have contributed to our salvation is our sin (as Luther famously wrote). God is certainly pleased by our good deeds. He saved us for that purpose, according to Ephesians 2:10. But those deeds have no meritorious value when it comes to the forgiveness of our sin and the renewing of our nature. That is the result of sheer sovereign grace. No matter how much good or kindness we have spread in the world, that cannot wipe away those stains, those drops of blood that have stained us. Those good deeds cannot heal our leprosy or turn our heart of stone into a heart of flesh. The only thing that can do that is “the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.”
For nothing good have I Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
Stanza 4 has sometimes been omitted in hymnals (perhaps to keep the space on the printed page to four stanzas, making it easier to read), but it expresses a major part of the picture. The imagery of our being clothed in Christ’s robes of righteousness is magnificently articulated in the vision of Joshua clothed in filthy garments in Zechariah 3. As high priest, his condition is representative of the condition of the hearts of all the people. Though Satan accused him, the angel of the LORD (a theophany of the pre-incarnate Christ) orders that those filthy robes be taken off, and that he be clothed in clean robes. And this is more than just imagery as Paul writes in the early chapters of Romans about how we are “reckoned” righteous before God, not because of anything in us or that we have done, but solely because of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. We sing about it in the hymn, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus Blood and Righteousness” when we get to the phrase in stanza four, “When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then be found dressed in His righteousness alone.”
And now complete in Him My robe His righteousness,
I’ll rejoice with all my might, I am now divinely blest.
Stanza 5 gives us Elvina’s testimony (and ours) that looks ahead to the day when she and we will stand before God’s throne, not in judgment but in acceptance. What will it mean on that day to be “complete?” It is to have everything we need to be fully approved by the Father and welcomed into His presence, to enjoy His love for eternity. To be “complete” means that nothing will be lacking because Jesus has paid it all! “Tetelestai,” it is finished. That can become a challenge for every one of us. What will we say on that day, a day that is definitely coming? When we stand before God, will we say “Look at what I have done?” Or will we say, “Look at what Jesus has done?”
And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save,” My lips shall still repeat.
The tune ALL TO CHRIST was written in 1868 by John Thomas Grape (1835-1915). Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he became a successful coal merchant. He married Sophia F. MacCubbin, and they had one daughter, Agnes. He was a member of Monument Street Methodist Church in Baltimore, where he played the organ, directed the choir, and was active in the Sunday school. Later, he directed the choir at the Hartford Avenue Methodist Church. The hymn tune was composed by Grape specifically for the lyrics composed in 1865 by Elvina Mable Hall. Grape’s tune had a refrain, so Hall, upon hearing it, then added words to her poem for that, and the hymn was complete. At Schreck’s urging they sent the hymn to Professor Theodore Perkins, publisher of “Sabbath Carols” periodical, and it became popular. Grape died in Baltimore.
Grape’s inspiration came from a desire to create a musical response to Bradbury’s popular hymn “Jesus Paid It All.” While playing Sunday school hymns on the organ, he developed the melody, praying and studying to give it a fitting shape. Initially, his own choir and friends found the piece “very poor,” but his wife believed it would endure. Grape’s 1868 tune has endured for over 150 years, becoming a staple in Christian worship. Its enduring appeal is reflected in its continued use in hymnals, choral arrangements, and recordings. Grape’s work exemplifies how collaboration between composer and lyricist, combined with church encouragement, can produce a hymn that resonates across generations.
Here is a link to a chorus from Taiwan singing a gorgeous anthem arrangement of this hymn.