In Christ Alone: What You don't Know About this Hymn

I'm pretty sure many of us Christians know little about this popular song entitled "In Christ Alone", that obviously captures all that the Cross of Christ entails and who we're in Him. Just as many of us do, I've been in love with this soul-enriching and spirit-edifying song for many years now and I don't quite think I'll get over it any soon. Taking this as a token, I decided to dig in just to really know those who got used by the Holy Spirit of God to birth this song and what really moved them into putting up this great piece of a song! 

To start with, "In Christ Alone" was released in 2001 by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, the renown songwriter  of this generation! 

According to an interview conducted by WeAreWorship.com, Stuart gave a clear details as to how both of them worked together to write and publish this song in 2001.

Stuart narrated how this song came into being as follows: "the song got written in an unexpected way. Keith Getty and I were at a conference together and a mutual friend said we should get together. He’d said how great Keith was at writing melodies and he probably said some nice things about how I write lyrics, and so we met for a coffee. Nothing particularly eventful happened but Keith said he’d send me a CD with some of his song ideas.

When it arrived I wasn’t expecting anything much from it. But as soon as I heard the first song – which was just him on the piano, playing the melody in the right hand – I thought there was something about it, something quite profound.

It was a classic melody, with that eternal, enduring aspect. I was getting to like it more and more and wondering what the song could be about. I phoned Keith and subsequently thought ‘this is a song about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and what that means for us.’

When I started to write the lyrics it got more and more exciting, and I got more and more emotional. I began to try and put into words what it means for Christ to have gone through what he went through, what that means for me and how that completely changes my life.

I sent the lyrics to Keith and he liked them and he suggested changing the first line. I’d started with the words My hope is found in Christ alone, but he thought it would be great if the song began with the phrase In Christ alone. I was slightly against it because I had this rhyme scheme going in the verse and didn’t want to mess it up. I was slightly irritated, but the more I thought about it the more I thought ‘yes that would probably be stronger’, so I moved it around.

I actually think it was a stroke of genius because now the song is known as In Christ Alone, it’s where the song begins, it’s the statement you make and it’s the first thing you sing. So I think that it made the song so much stronger as a result.

The song started slowly in terms of my writing. Sometimes you’re just trying to find your way with the first verse, trying to find the key theme. The second verse was about his life and going to the cross, but I think that by the third verse I was thinking about the moment of resurrection. The melody was so powerful, so suggestive of that, and it was at that point I began to be really caught up in the song. It kind of meant that the fourth verse just spilled out, with me saying ‘wow, this is what the cross and resurrection means: to change is everything.’

That’s the power of the song – it points to what Christ went through." 

To me, my take home from this elucidation and reading through the lyrics of the song again, is that we get to stand before Him not because of our great faith or because of doing well as a Christian, but purely and simply because of what he has done. That’s why the song is helpful. That’s why it means more than something!

Below is the original lyrics of "In Christ Alone." I implore you to kindly read through and try as much as you can to see what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross for you and what you stand to enjoy in Him:

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied -

For every sin on Him was laid;

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine -

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home,

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

Credit to: WeAreWorship.com