Jesus Paid It All -Elvina M. Hall

 

The words to this gospel song were written in 1865 during a Sunday morning service at the Monument Street Methodist Church in Baltimore. Elvina Hall was sitting in the choir loft listening to the pastor’s sermon on the crucifixion. Thinking about what Christ had done for her, she wrote her thoughts on the inside cover of her hymnbook. The words came to her easily, and she quickly made a copy and gave it to the pastor after the service.

 

Around the same time, unknown to Elvina, the church organist, John Grape, had given the pastor a new tune he’d composed that had been going through his mind for some time. There were no words for the tune, but it was titled “All to Christ I Owe.”  His wife believed the Lord had some purpose for it, so John gave it to the pastor, hoping it could be useful.

 

Pastor George Shrick was amazed when he noticed that the words and the tune fit together so well, like two pieces of a puzzle. As the three worked together to complete the song, they discovered that not one word of Elvina’s poem or one note of John’s tune had to be altered. The tune had a refrain, so the pastor and Elvina provided words for it, and it was soon being sung in churches all around Baltimore.  They sent the song to Professor Theodore Perkins, who published it in 1868 in his periodical, “Sabbath Carols.”

 

It may seem as though “Jesus Paid It All” came about as a coincidence, but the song's creation is an example of how God works using the gifts of various believers. A faithful choir member, a talented choir director, and a dedicated pastor worked together to produce a gospel song that’s been sung by many for more than 150 years. It has appeared in more than 800 hymnals, but most use only four or five of the original seven stanzas.

 

“Jesus Paid It All” is especially effective when sung for the Lord’s Supper, expressing the completeness of Jesus’ work on the cross to save lost sinners. It’s a reminder that one can do nothing to deserve such mercy. The song offers praise to Christ, who has paid the debt of sin and lifted the sinner from spiritual darkness.  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).

 

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