Nothing but the Blood

BY Guest Writer

Text:  Exodus 24:3-8, Romans 5:6-11, Hebrews 9:15-22

The hymn “Nothing but the Blood” was composed by Robert Lowry (1826-1899), a university professor and Baptist preacher from New England.

Although an accomplished musician, Lowry wanted most to be known as a preacher. He said, “Music, with me has been a side issue… I would rather preach a gospel sermon to an appreciative audience than write a hymn. I have always looked upon myself as a preacher and felt a sort of depreciation when I began to be known more as a composer” (Butterworth 165).

His preference for preaching comes through in the way his most popular hymn plays like a sermon. The hymn utilizes a call-and-response pattern similar to that of Psalm 136, in which the leader of the assembly makes a statement about God, and the people respond, “His steadfast love endures forever.”

The lines of the hymn alternate—the odd lines asking essential questions about what reconciles us to God, while the even lines respond with the same refrain: “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” The chorus, then, draws the musical sermon together, reminding us why the blood of Jesus is so necessary: “Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

By design, call-and-response hymns lead believers to confess their faith together. May we sing such songs over one another. And may “the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

Nothing but the Blood
Robert Lowry

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain:
O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow;
no other fount I know;
nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see:
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing this my plea:
nothing but the blood of Jesus. [Refrain]

Nothing can for sin atone:
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Naught of good that I have done:
nothing but the blood of Jesus. [Refrain]

This is all my hope and peace:
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness:
nothing but the blood of Jesus. [Refrain]

Butterworth, Hezekiah. Story of the Tunes. New York, NY: American Tract Society, 1890.

Russ Ramsey and his wife and four children make their home in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church and the author of  Struck: One Christian’s Reflections on Encountering Death (forthcoming, IVP, 2017), Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative, and Behold the King of Glory: A Narrative of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.