I first heard the contemporary hymn “In Christ Alone” in 2007. I had been very ill, and it was my first Sunday back at church. Joe Stowell, former president of Moody Bible Institute, was the guest pastor. He chose “In Christ Alone” to be sung by the congregation after his sermon. He said it spoke to him so deeply that he wanted to share it with others. I immediately felt as if it were written just for me, and sang it through tears. I imagine that is true for countless others who have appreciated the comforting lyrics and the powerful truths behind them.
I think we can learn several things from “In Christ Alone.” Notably that God, the universe’s creator and everything in it, loves and cares about us. He knows that we are helpless to save ourselves from our sin-stained lives and need a Savior to reconcile us with the Father. The hymn implies that as believers in Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are so bound up with Him in this life that He is our “mighty fortress.” We also learn that when we sing the lyrics of this hymn, we preach the gospel to ourselves each time. It contains everything to save, comfort, and encourage our souls. It makes for a great witnessing tool. Without saying a word, I can give this hymn to someone, and it will tell them everything about the most important relationship I have and that they can have.
According to Andrew Rinaldi’s GodTube article about “In Christ Alone.” the song was written in 2002. It was a collaboration between Keith Getty and Stuart Townend—two British songwriters who were already successful in separate careers creating modern hymns/contemporary worship music. The two met at a worship event in 2000, and Getty sent Townend a CD shortly after with some melody ideas.
Rinaldi quoted Townend’s response to the CD: “the first one on the CD was a magnificent, haunting melody that I loved, and immediately started writing down some lyrical ideas on what I felt should be a timeless theme commensurate with the melody. So the theme of the life, death, resurrection of Christ, and the implications of that for us just began to tumble out, and when we got together later on to fine tune it, we felt we had encapsulated what we wanted to say.”
As Townend implied, the hymn teaches us all that we need to know about the chronology of Jesus’ time on earth, what He accomplished for us, and how that impacts us for eternity. As believers, He changes our standing with God and continues to comfort and encourage us that nothing can separate us from him. One stanza goes beautifully with Romans 8:38-39:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Additionally, I think “In Christ Alone” goes along with Stowell’s sermon that night many years ago. He spoke about Jesus being “our Champion.” He meant it in the sense of a medieval champion. As Britannica.com observes, a medieval champion “fights in behalf of another. During the Middle Ages a feature of Anglo-Norman law was trial by battle, a procedure in which guilt or innocence was decided by a test of arms. Clergy, children, women, and persons disabled by age or infirmity had the right to nominate champions to fight by proxy.”
Jesus is our ultimate Champion. The message of how He saves us from the enemy of our soul is contained in the last stanza of “In Christ Alone” and makes one want to get up and cheer, if not cry, at the last notes.
In 2010 and 2012, a mainline denomination and a hymnal publisher, both of whom loved “In Christ Alone,” took exception to one word in the song: wrath. They disagreed with Townsend and Getty’s use of the word concerning God’s character.
According to Collin Hansen’s 2013 Gospel Coalition article “Keith Getty on What Makes ‘In Christ Alone’ Accepted and Contested,” the publishers changed the line without permission, which led to some controversy. Both Getty and Townend believed that the hymn fully expressed the gospel as originally written and had not given others permission to edit the song.
Regardless of these complaints, “In Christ Alone” remains one of the most popular songs of the last 20 years that has helped define the modern church hymn. Because of the lyrics and melody, it bridges the gap between old standards like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and contemporary Christian music songs that grew out of the Jesus Movement in the 1970s. Its message is timeless, and the crescendo of faith in the last stanza gives us hope for the rest of our days.
In my opinion, it would be difficult to name just a few hymns similar to “In Christ Alone.” If they are true gospel-centered hymns, they will all resonate on some level with each other. On the other hand, I find it difficult to name many other hymns that get me on my feet with my hands in the air like “In Christ Alone.”
But here is an attempt to suggest other hymns that cover some of the same themes of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, salvation, eternal life, and God’s care and provision for us until He takes us home.
If you’ve not heard it, I highly encourage you to find and listen to it. Our church’s music director plays it on a 100-year-old gigantic pipe organ, but I’ve heard it in so many iterations in different places and love it every time. Perhaps, like me, you’ll use it to encourage fellow Christians and share it with those who don’t know the Lord. You’ll see that everything we are, and everything we need, can be found in Christ alone.
Photo Credit: Peter Hulce/Unsplash
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).