By Grace I'm Saved, Grace Free and Boundless

By Grace I'm Saved, Grace Free and Boundless

# 456 Trinity Hymnal -

# 399 Original Trinity Hymnal

Text: Christian L. Scheidt, 1742

By grace I'm saved, grace free and boundless; 

my soul, believe and doubt it not.

Why stagger at this word of promise?  

Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?  

No; then this word must true remain: 

by grace you too shall heav'n obtain.

By grace! None dare lay claim to merit; 

our work and conduct have no worth.

God in his love sent our Redeemer,

Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth; 

his death did for our sins atone,

and we are saved by grace alone.

By grace! O mark this word of promise

when you are by sins oppressed, 

When Satan plagues your troubled conscience,

and when your heart is seeking rest.

What reason cannot comprehend

God by his grace to you will send.

By grace!  This ground of faith is certain;

so long as God is true, it stands.

What saints have penned by inspiration,

what in his Word our God commands,

what our whole faith must rest upon,

is grace alone, grace in his Son.*

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Hard to believe that a pastor who selects this hymn when planning worship could be accused of being an antinomian.  Hard to believe that a congregation that sings this hymn could be accused of being antinomian.  

The reason why I included the citation to the Trinity Hymnal is to draw attention to the fact that this is the official hymnal of the PCA and the OPC.  Did those who served on the Trinity Hymnal Revision Committee make a mistake?  If so, should we rip this out of our hymnal?  If not, why not? 

Note: I have also included a notation that this hymn was included in the original Trinity Hymnal (# 399).  Are we to conclude that the OPC has been wrong about this for more than 50 years? 

* Two additional stanzas can be found here.