Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He made it white as snow.

How often have we heard and sung this refrain without thinking about the meaning of the words. I heard it the other day and realized that there is error in this song that subtly changes the way we think about ourselves and the message of Salvation. A path that if continued upon; reinforced by more of the same thinking, will misplace our confidence in who we are in Christ.

Jesus paid it. All to Him I owe.

If I were to go to your bank and pay your mortgage for you, what would you owe? I paid for the entire mortgage, received the title and freely gave it to you. You then owe NOTHING. In fact if you keep hassling me by trying to pay me back for something I freely paid for, I would think you were quite ungrateful for the gift I gave you. You would legally and morally owe me nothing and owe nothing to the bank. I would appreciate thanks now and again and would enjoy watching you treat others in a similar way to how I treated you, but again, you would owe me nothing or the gift would be conditional and therefore not a gift at all.

Any thoughts?

I understand the song to say that "were it not for Christ, I would be lost." We owe Christ for our salvation , not as a debt but as a result.

Someone pulls me up from drowning, and I say I owe him/her my life; or I owe my existence to the fact that my mother and dad loved each other... never a debt.

Were suppose to be praising him not trying to pay him back.

I think the line "Jesus paid it. All to Him I owe" reminds us to be grateful and that's all.


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I don't have the song in front of me (I guess I could find it but am too lazy) but is there actually a period after "Jesus paid it all"? I've always understood it to be more like "Jesus paid it all - all to Him I owe" meaning, He paid it all, everything I've ever owed Him. If that's the case it would make more sense to say "Jesus paid it all, All I've ever owed" but it wouldn't flow very well that way so I'm imagining the poet used poetic license to change it a bit. That's just what I've thought, but maybe there is an actual error in the song. I see where your coming from Peter, but I had never thought if it in the way you described.

**And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.**

Peter,
Good point!
Were all sins forgiven, past...present...future?
Or at what point are they forgiven?

...but I think the song may be consistent with the concept of a near kinsman.

Rom 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Is love our only ongoing debt?

Is love our only ongoing debt?

yoyo, I think you might have summed it up the best.