I just finished reading John Pollock’s riveting biography on John Newton, author of the beloved “Amazing Grace.” When Newton writes in his hymn, “that saved a wretch like me,” he was not exaggerating. What he had done in his early life was deplorable.
After his coming to faith in Christ, which was a long journey, Newton’s past, as you can imagine, haunted him. Even as he was making his way to testify before British Parliament to support William Wilberforce’s quest for Abolition, Newton said of himself,
“I am a poor vile creature to this hour!”
I think Paul was equally tormented by his past (it may well have been his “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.” 2 Corinthians 12:7). Paul truly had a past he wanted to forget. It’s not surprising he wrote,
“I forget everything that is behind me and look forward to that which is ahead of me.” (Philippians 3:13)
As has been said before, our past sins were intended to be a lesson, not a life sentence.
In 1807, almost completely blind and deaf, Newton uttered these last words,
“My memory is nearly gone. But I remember two things: ‘I am a great sinner…’ (He paused for breath.) ‘…and that Christ is a great Savior!’”
Paul put it this way in his letter to the Romans,
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:24-25)
The meme embedded here is profound. nw
