"My sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more."

Hymn: “It Is Well with My Soul” – Horatio Spafford (1828-188)
Tune: VILLE DU HAVRE

This is a favorite hymn of many… including my wife, Carlita; and it is way up on my list. When I was at Southwestern Seminary and they still sang hymns in chapel, they did a survey of favorite hymns of students, placing this one at the top just above “To God Be the Glory” and (of course) “Amazing Grace”!

Sadly, this is the stanza (the to-be-most-pitied third) often skipped over when one is jettisoned for time purposes in worship-planning. I say “sadly” because after the flowing of peaceful rivers, sorrows rolling like sea-billows, Satan buffeting, and the coming of great trials, THIS stanza tells why it is well with my soul.

Some hymnlines I just can’t sing aloud; I get choked up, teared up… and I just mouth the text. This is one of those. Spafford has worded for me what I could not say on my own: all my sin – not just part, but the whole of it – has been nailed to the cross along with my Redeemer. As one who has trouble letting go, this line reminds me that I can release it; I no longer have to shoulder my transgressions. Sometimes when I am given opportunity to sing this stanza, I gather my wits and am able to phonate by the time I get to
“Praise the Lord, O my soul!”

During the Lenten season or at a weekend retreat, some of us are given the opportunity to scribble some iniquity on a 3” x 5” card and symbolically lay it at the foot of the cross… or even tack it a wooden facsimile. It’s a nice little exercise, but it can only be fully understood if you bring at least three packages of cards with you! It’s that “sin, not in part, but the whole” that completes the imagery.

I’m a Kenny Chesney fan. Sorry, musical-snob friends, it’s true! He has a great song called “There Goes My Life.” You can Google it later. However, each time you see a cross on display, smile a little bit and say with all kinds of sincere confidence, “There goes my sin… all of it.”


Choral Arrangement of This Hymn (counter #315)