Nothing but the Blood of Jesus

with PLAINFIELD

I. Origins

In 1875, after having spent the last six years as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and professor of belles lettres (fine writing, literature) at his alma mater, the University of Lewisburg (now Bucknell University), Robert Lowry (1826–1899) moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, and took a position as pastor of the newly organized Park Avenue Baptist Church. One of his most enduring hymns, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” is believed to have been written shortly after his move to New Jersey. According to fellow composer Ira Sankey, “This very simple hymn was first introduced at a camp meeting in Ocean Grove, N.J., where it immediately took possession of the people.”[1] It was likely also used at Lowry’s Park Avenue church. (For more on the significance of Ocean Grove meetings, see “When we all get to heaven.”)

“Nothing but the blood of Jesus” was first published in Gospel Music: A Choice Collection of Hymns and Melodies (Chicago: Biglow & Main, 1877 | Fig. 1), where it was given in six stanzas with a refrain, originally beginning “What can wash away my stain?”

The common alteration of the first line to read “What can wash away my sin?” appeared very quickly, as in Spiritual Songs for Gospel Meetings and the Sunday School (1878), edited by Elisha Hoffman and J.H. Tenney, and in The Shining Light (1879), edited by J.H. Tenney and Aldine S. Kieffer, then it spread much more widely in other collections. In Lowry’s own collections, up to and including The Royal Hymnal (1898), he preferred “stain,” and it was adopted as “stain” into the popular Gospel Hymns series of Ira Sankey; nonetheless, the prevailing form has been “sin.”

The tune name PLAINFIELD was assigned by the editors of The Baptist Hymnal (1956) and has been repeated by other hymnal compilers.

II. Analysis

Robert Lowry had more than a passing interest in the sufficiency of the atonement of Jesus for salvation. The first collection he edited for Biglow & Main included a song he would later regard as “the best and most evangelistic hymn he ever wrote”[2]: it was titled “None but Jesus,” and it started like this:

Weeping will not save me,
Though my face were bathed in tears;
That could not allay my fears,
Could not wash the sins of years—
Weeping will not save me.

Jesus wept and died for me;
Jesus suffered on the tree;
Jesus waits to make me free;
He alone can save me.[3]

“Nothing but the blood of Jesus” would eclipse this one in popularity, but its basic message is the same. The doctrinal concept of it comes in part from Hebrews 9:22, which says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (ESV). More importantly, no one else’s blood could achieve the kind of once-and-for-all forgiveness offered by Jesus. Ephesians 1:7 tells us, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace,” and in the same passage of Hebrews we see the permanence of this gift versus the cyclical offerings of the old law, since “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26).

Also embedded in this hymn, in the refrain and in the second stanza, we see the unique idea of a cleansing blood, two ideas otherwise incompatible, but found in a description of the great multitude of heaven, who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). In the third stanza, the denial of good works comes from passages like Ephesians 2:8–10. In the fourth stanza, the hope and peace expressed by Lowry are expressed in passages like Titus 2:13, which calls Jesus “our blessed hope,” and Romans 5:1, which says, “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Any righteousness we might hope to attain is imparted to us by Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21). Stanza 5 describes an overcoming faith (1 John 2:13–14, 4:4, 5:4–5). Lastly, the appropriate response to such a gift is exuberant praise (1 Peter 1:3–7).

Musically, as a gospel hymn, it is easy to learn because it includes both as interlinear refrain (the repeated interjection of “Nothing but the blood of Jesus”) and a full refrain, and it uses only two chords, I and V. Its musical simplicity, coupled with its rich text, has undoubtedly contributed to its widespread adoption.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
8 May 2020

Footnotes:

1. Ira Sankey, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (Philadelphia: Sunday School Times Co., 1907), p. 333: Archive.org

2. J.H. Hall, “Rev. Robert Lowry, D.D.,” Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1914), p. 74: Archive.org

3. Robert Lowry, “None but Jesus,” Chapel Melodies (Chicago: Biglow & Main, 1868), no. 4: Archive.org

Related Resources:

William J. Reynolds, “What can wash away my sin,” Companion to Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Broadman, 1976), pp. 238–239.

Richard E. Gerig, “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus,” The Worshiping Church: Worship Leaders’ Edition (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990), no. 471.

Carlton R. Young, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), p. 496.

Robert Cottrill, “Nothing but the blood,” Wordwise Hymns (16 January 2012): https://wordwisehymns.com/2012/01/16/nothing-but-the-blood/

“Nothing but the blood of Jesus,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/what_can_wash_away_my_sin