Singing The Gospel
May 04, 2010
There is None Good but God Alone
There is none good but God alone.
Not one of us is righteous.
We spurned God’s Way and sought our own,
and so have become worthless.
What hope, then, can we see?
Christ Jesus: only He
the path of life has trod,
to love both man and God.
Yes He alone is worthy.
(Mk. 10:18; Rom. 3:9-23; Isa. 53:6; 1Jn. 2:1; Rev. 5)
Scripture alone reveals these things;
thus do the Fathers witness.
Good News of life and light it brings
to those now lost in darkness.
For from this sacred Word,
what wonders we have heard:
God’s grace in Christ revealed.
By His stripes we are healed.
We glory in the Gospel!
(2Ti. 3:15-17; 2Pe. 1:19-21; Lk. 24:25-27; 45f;
Tit. 2:11; Isa. 9:2; 53:5; 1Ti. 1:11)
In Christ alone is all our trust
for full and free salvation.
With His own blood He ransomed us
from ev’ry tribe and nation.
For us He lived and died.
Now, at the Father’s side,
full knowing all our needs,
our High Priest intercedes.
He lives to make us holy.
(1Ti. 5-6; Acts 4:12; 1Pe. 1:19; Rev. 5:9;
Heb. 2:11; 7:25; 9-10; Rom. 8:28-39)
And now by faith alone we stand
in Christ, our risen Savior,
who has fulfilled each just command
and made us just forever.
In Him is all our peace
and life that cannot cease.
By no work of our own,
but all of grace alone,
have we become God’s people.
(Ro. 3:28; 5:1-2, 15-19; Eph. 1:4-5;
2:5-10; 1Pe. 2:9-10)
For not by human pow’r or might,
but only by God’s Spirit,
do we begin to glimpse the light
of all we shall inherit.
The new life He imparts
transforms our hardened hearts.
Our race, by faith begun,
in faith must still be run.
Christ set us free for freedom!
(Zec. 4:6; Eph. 1:13-14; Rom. 8:2, 11;
2Co. 3:17-18; Gal. 3:2-3; 5:1, 7, 16-18, 25)
Above all pow’rs abides the Word,
God’s mighty Word that frees us.
Through prophets and apostles heard,
for us made flesh in Jesus.
No other word we speak,
nor human glory seek.
All earthly schemes must fail.
God’s Kingdom shall prevail.
To God alone be glory!
(Jn. 1:1, 14; He. 1:1-2; 2:1-4; 1Pe. 1:23-25;
Rev. 4:11; 11:15; Ps. 145:13; Ro. 11:36; Isa. 42:8)
Text: Gary A. Parrett, 2008, 2009
Tune: EIN’ FESTE BURG
* * * * *
This hymn is intended as a celebration of the five famed “solas” of the Reformation—Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia and Soli Deo Gloria. To these I’ve added the idea of Solus Deus (in verse 1 of the hymn). In my mind, all the solas flow from the fact that God Alone is good. Therefore all of us need salvation. Furthermore, God Alone can save, and does so by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Obviously, therefore, God Alone is glorified in the end. How do we know and understand such a glorious Gospel? We know this only through God’s revelation of these truths to us in the Scriptures.
After I had shared this hymn with some colleagues at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where I have taught for the past dozen years, one of them pointed out that true as all the historic Reformation emphases are, there was really no reference to the Holy Spirit in the hymn. It is true that the “battles” of the Reformation did not so obviously and often lead to full expositions of the ministry of the Spirit. Nevertheless, Calvin has often been referred to as the “theologian of the Holy Spirit,” and the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 has sometimes been called the “catechism of the Holy Spirit.” The emphasis of Solus Spiritus—that it is through the ministry of the Spirit alone that we are brought to, and grow up in, our salvation—would surely have been affirmed by the principal Reformers. In light of this, I added verse 5 to the hymn, perhaps a year after I had originally written it.
The hymn was actually written in honor of my colleague, David F. Wells, who recently retired as a professor from the seminary. David has been, I believe, a prophetic voice in North American evangelicalism for the past several decades, urging the Church to conform no longer to the pattern of this world but to return, instead, to biblical commitments as articulated by the Reformers. The hymn was written to celebrate these emphases in David’s ministry. His most recent book was entitled, The Courage to be Protestant, and that is, quite obviously, a central theme of the hymn. Another recent book by David was entitled, Above All Earthly Powers. That title comes from a line in Luther’s, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” I’ve incorporated that reference in the first line of the last verse, and have used the tune of Luther’s hymn as the tune for these verses also—another intentional evocation of the Reformation. The last half of the final verse is intended to be an echo of so much of David’s writing and teaching: it is to the Gospel and to God’s glory that we must commit ourselves, never to human schemes or marketing techniques.
Please feel free to use the hymn for personal or congregational worship. Soli Deo Gloria!
There is none good but God alone.
Not one of us is righteous.
We spurned God’s Way and sought our own,
and so have become worthless.
What hope, then, can we see?
Christ Jesus: only He
the path of life has trod,
to love both man and God.
Yes He alone is worthy.
(Mk. 10:18; Rom. 3:9-23; Isa. 53:6; 1Jn. 2:1; Rev. 5)
Scripture alone reveals these things;
thus do the Fathers witness.
Good News of life and light it brings
to those now lost in darkness.
For from this sacred Word,
what wonders we have heard:
God’s grace in Christ revealed.
By His stripes we are healed.
We glory in the Gospel!
(2Ti. 3:15-17; 2Pe. 1:19-21; Lk. 24:25-27; 45f;
Tit. 2:11; Isa. 9:2; 53:5; 1Ti. 1:11)
In Christ alone is all our trust
for full and free salvation.
With His own blood He ransomed us
from ev’ry tribe and nation.
For us He lived and died.
Now, at the Father’s side,
full knowing all our needs,
our High Priest intercedes.
He lives to make us holy.
(1Ti. 5-6; Acts 4:12; 1Pe. 1:19; Rev. 5:9;
Heb. 2:11; 7:25; 9-10; Rom. 8:28-39)
And now by faith alone we stand
in Christ, our risen Savior,
who has fulfilled each just command
and made us just forever.
In Him is all our peace
and life that cannot cease.
By no work of our own,
but all of grace alone,
have we become God’s people.
(Ro. 3:28; 5:1-2, 15-19; Eph. 1:4-5;
2:5-10; 1Pe. 2:9-10)
For not by human pow’r or might,
but only by God’s Spirit,
do we begin to glimpse the light
of all we shall inherit.
The new life He imparts
transforms our hardened hearts.
Our race, by faith begun,
in faith must still be run.
Christ set us free for freedom!
(Zec. 4:6; Eph. 1:13-14; Rom. 8:2, 11;
2Co. 3:17-18; Gal. 3:2-3; 5:1, 7, 16-18, 25)
Above all pow’rs abides the Word,
God’s mighty Word that frees us.
Through prophets and apostles heard,
for us made flesh in Jesus.
No other word we speak,
nor human glory seek.
All earthly schemes must fail.
God’s Kingdom shall prevail.
To God alone be glory!
(Jn. 1:1, 14; He. 1:1-2; 2:1-4; 1Pe. 1:23-25;
Rev. 4:11; 11:15; Ps. 145:13; Ro. 11:36; Isa. 42:8)
Text: Gary A. Parrett, 2008, 2009
Tune: EIN’ FESTE BURG
* * * * *
This hymn is intended as a celebration of the five famed “solas” of the Reformation—Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia and Soli Deo Gloria. To these I’ve added the idea of Solus Deus (in verse 1 of the hymn). In my mind, all the solas flow from the fact that God Alone is good. Therefore all of us need salvation. Furthermore, God Alone can save, and does so by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Obviously, therefore, God Alone is glorified in the end. How do we know and understand such a glorious Gospel? We know this only through God’s revelation of these truths to us in the Scriptures.
After I had shared this hymn with some colleagues at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, where I have taught for the past dozen years, one of them pointed out that true as all the historic Reformation emphases are, there was really no reference to the Holy Spirit in the hymn. It is true that the “battles” of the Reformation did not so obviously and often lead to full expositions of the ministry of the Spirit. Nevertheless, Calvin has often been referred to as the “theologian of the Holy Spirit,” and the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 has sometimes been called the “catechism of the Holy Spirit.” The emphasis of Solus Spiritus—that it is through the ministry of the Spirit alone that we are brought to, and grow up in, our salvation—would surely have been affirmed by the principal Reformers. In light of this, I added verse 5 to the hymn, perhaps a year after I had originally written it.
The hymn was actually written in honor of my colleague, David F. Wells, who recently retired as a professor from the seminary. David has been, I believe, a prophetic voice in North American evangelicalism for the past several decades, urging the Church to conform no longer to the pattern of this world but to return, instead, to biblical commitments as articulated by the Reformers. The hymn was written to celebrate these emphases in David’s ministry. His most recent book was entitled, The Courage to be Protestant, and that is, quite obviously, a central theme of the hymn. Another recent book by David was entitled, Above All Earthly Powers. That title comes from a line in Luther’s, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” I’ve incorporated that reference in the first line of the last verse, and have used the tune of Luther’s hymn as the tune for these verses also—another intentional evocation of the Reformation. The last half of the final verse is intended to be an echo of so much of David’s writing and teaching: it is to the Gospel and to God’s glory that we must commit ourselves, never to human schemes or marketing techniques.
Please feel free to use the hymn for personal or congregational worship. Soli Deo Gloria!
