What Can Wash Away My Sin? Meaning, History, and Theology
"What can wash away my sin?"
- Written
- 1876
- Category
- Hymn
- Tune
- WHAT CAN WASH AWAY MY SIN
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- Published
- Rights
- Public domain
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Story
What Can Wash Away My Sin?, commonly known as Nothing But the Blood, is an 1876 gospel hymn written and composed by Baptist pastor Robert Lowry. Rooted especially in Hebrews 9 and 1 John 1, it proclaims cleansing, forgiveness, redemption, and assurance through Christ’s saving work.
Overview
What Can Wash Away My Sin?, commonly known as Nothing But the Blood, is a nineteenth-century gospel hymn centered on the sufficiency of Christ’s saving work. Robert Lowry frames salvation in terms of cleansing, pardon, righteousness, hope, and peace, repeatedly directing the worshiper away from self-reliance and toward Christ. The result is a concise congregational confession of grace.
The hymn’s theology is closely connected with New Testament teaching about redemption through Christ’s blood. Its emphasis is not on blood as an isolated religious symbol, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus as the basis of forgiveness and reconciliation with God. In that sense, the hymn joins atonement language with assurance: the believer’s confidence rests in what Christ has accomplished rather than in moral achievement or fluctuating emotion.
For worship, the hymn is especially appropriate in services involving confession and pardon, Communion, Lent, Good Friday, evangelistic preaching, or teaching about justification and redemption. Its simple question-and-answer design also makes it useful for catechesis because a central doctrinal claim is reinforced in a form congregations can readily remember.
Historical Background
Robert Lowry wrote both the text and melody of the hymn around 1876, shortly after moving in 1875 from Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, to Plainfield, New Jersey, where he became pastor of Park Avenue Baptist Church. By that point he was already an experienced Baptist minister, university teacher, composer, and editor of Sunday school and gospel-song collections.
The publication history requires some care because respected sources describe different editions. The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology gives the first publication as Gospel Music in New York in 1876, compiled by Lowry and William Howard Doane. Hymnology Archive documents a surviving Chicago edition of Gospel Music issued by Biglow & Main in 1877 and describes that printing as its earliest located edition. The 1876 date is therefore the standard date attached to the hymn, while the 1877 printing provides strong physical evidence for its early circulation.
The earliest form also differed slightly from the wording that later became dominant. Lowry’s original opening question used the noun “stain”; the now-familiar “sin” reading appeared quickly in other collections by 1878 and eventually became the prevailing form. Lowry himself continued to use the earlier wording in his own collections through the end of the nineteenth century. The original publication consisted of six stanzas with a refrain, while many later hymnals retain only four.
The hymn was associated from an early stage with Hebrews 9:22. Hymnary reports that the verse was printed beneath the title in its early publication, reinforcing the connection between the song and the New Testament theme of remission through sacrificial blood. Ira D. Sankey later recalled that the hymn was introduced at a camp meeting in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where it was warmly received. Because Sankey’s account was published decades later and does not establish the exact date of that performance, it is best treated as a valuable recollection of early use rather than as a precise composition story.
Lowry’s melody was created with the text, but the tune name PLAINFIELD is later. Hymnology Archive traces that name to the editors of The Baptist Hymnal in 1956; subsequent hymnals adopted it widely. The pairing itself is therefore original, while the familiar tune label is a twentieth-century editorial convention.
The hymn went on to circulate extensively in revival collections and denominational hymnals. Hymnary indexes it in more than six hundred hymnals, documenting unusually broad transmission. The original nineteenth-century text and melody are in the public domain, although later arrangements, harmonizations, and editorial settings may carry separate copyrights.
Biblical Foundations
Hebrews 9:22 is the hymn’s most explicit biblical starting point. Within the larger argument of Hebrews 9, the verse belongs to a discussion of covenant, sacrifice, cleansing, and Christ’s once-for-all redemptive work. The hymn turns that sacrificial framework into a personal confession that forgiveness cannot be secured by human effort.
First John 1:7 supplies the clearest New Testament connection between Christ’s blood and cleansing from sin. Ephesians 1:7 adds the language of redemption and forgiveness, while 1 Peter 1:18–19 describes redemption through the precious blood of Christ rather than through perishable wealth. Together these passages show that the hymn’s blood imagery belongs to a broader biblical account of Christ’s self-giving death and its saving effect.
Romans 3:23–25 places the theme within justification by grace. All are under sin, yet sinners are justified freely through the redemption found in Christ. Isaiah 1:18 contributes the cleansing imagery of scarlet becoming white, which later Christian hymnody often connected with forgiveness. These passages together support the hymn’s movement from human need to divine provision and assurance.
Verse Explanation
The hymn begins by presenting the problem of sin and the need for cleansing, then immediately locates the answer outside the self. Its second movement applies the same saving provision to pardon and purification, reinforcing dependence on Christ rather than personal qualification.
A later movement explicitly excludes human merit as a basis for atonement. From there the text turns toward the positive gifts that flow from salvation, including hope, peace, and righteousness.
The original six-stanza form goes beyond the four stanzas retained in many modern hymnals, extending the confession toward perseverance, final hope, and praise. Across the whole text, the recurring refrain serves as the theological center: every aspect of salvation is traced back to the same divine provision without requiring a different answer for each spiritual need.
Theological Reflection
The hymn’s primary theological claim is the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning death. It rejects the idea that sin can be removed through moral achievement, religious performance, or human worthiness. Salvation is grounded instead in Christ’s sacrificial work, expressed through the biblical language of his blood.
A second major theme is justification by grace. The hymn connects pardon and righteousness with what Christ provides rather than what the sinner produces. This gives its repeated confession both a negative and positive force: it excludes rival grounds of confidence while directing faith toward the one saving provision God has made.
The cleansing language also joins forgiveness with restored fellowship. In 1 John, cleansing by Christ’s blood appears within a call to walk in the light and live in fellowship with God and one another. The hymn therefore need not be reduced to a merely legal image of acquittal; its biblical background includes purification, reconciliation, and renewed life.
Finally, the hymn functions as assurance. Its repetition is theological rather than decorative: the answer remains stable because the ground of salvation is Christ’s completed work, not the worshiper’s changing feelings. That makes the hymn both evangelistic and pastoral.
Church Impact
The hymn spread through gospel-song collections, revival repertory, and denominational hymnals after its late-nineteenth-century publication. Sankey’s later testimony about its use at Ocean Grove shows an early connection with the camp-meeting environment in which gospel songs could move quickly from publication into evangelistic practice.
Its circulation eventually extended far beyond Baptist worship. Hymnary indexes the text in more than six hundred hymnals and documents use in Methodist, Presbyterian, evangelical, holiness, Pentecostal, African American, and other Protestant collections. That breadth demonstrates substantial transmission, though hymnal inclusion alone cannot establish how frequently every congregation sang it.
The hymn has remained especially useful in contexts focused on confession, pardon, atonement, conversion, Communion, and the passion of Christ. Its durability is closely connected with the combination of a single memorable theological theme, Lowry’s original gospel melody, and a refrain that allows a congregation to answer the hymn’s spiritual questions together.
Musical Notes
Robert Lowry composed the melody for his own text. The tune is now commonly known as PLAINFIELD, but that name was not part of the nineteenth-century origin of the hymn; Hymnology Archive traces it to The Baptist Hymnal of 1956. Some collections instead identify the melody by the hymn title or first line.
Hymnary indexes the tune in 7.8.7.8 meter with refrain. Its structure is characteristic of American gospel song: short textual units are answered by a recurring interlinear response, and each stanza is followed by a full refrain. Hymnology Archive notes the melody’s harmonic simplicity, which relies on the tonic and dominant functions and contributes to its ease of learning.
The original text and tune belong together, so this is not a case of a later melody being attached to an older hymn. Congregations may encounter different keys, harmonizations, or arrangements in modern hymnals; those editorial choices should be distinguished from Lowry’s original authorship of the melody.
Application
- Use the hymn after confession of sin to direct attention from guilt toward the sufficiency of Christ’s saving work.
- Examine whether assurance is being based on moral performance, religious activity, or changing emotions rather than on God’s grace in Christ.
- Read Hebrews 9 in context so that the hymn’s blood language is understood through covenant, sacrifice, cleansing, and redemption rather than as an isolated image.
- Use the hymn around Communion or Good Friday to connect congregational singing with the New Testament teaching on Christ’s self-giving death.
- Encourage believers to let received forgiveness produce gratitude, restored fellowship, and faithful Christian living.
Discussion Questions
- How does Hebrews 9 place the hymn’s blood imagery within the larger biblical themes of covenant, sacrifice, and cleansing?
- Why does the hymn repeatedly exclude human effort as a sufficient basis for forgiveness or righteousness?
- How do 1 John 1:7 and Ephesians 1:7 broaden the meaning of Christ’s saving work beyond a single metaphor?
- What does the early change from “stain” to “sin” show about the way hymns can develop as they pass through different collections?
- How can this hymn provide assurance without encouraging Christians to ignore repentance, discipleship, or growth in holiness?
Teaching Tips
- Read Hebrews 9:11–28 rather than only verse 22 so participants hear the hymn’s central image within the chapter’s argument about Christ’s sacrifice.
- Compare 1 John 1:7, Ephesians 1:7, and Romans 3:23–25 to distinguish cleansing, redemption, forgiveness, and justification while showing how they relate.
- Explain that Lowry wrote both text and melody, but that the familiar tune name PLAINFIELD was assigned only in 1956.
- Mention the 1876 and 1877 publication evidence carefully so learners understand that bibliographic differences can reflect separate editions rather than different authorship.
- Use the hymn after confession or during Communion, then invite worshipers to articulate in their own words why Christian assurance rests in Christ rather than personal merit.
Sources
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The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology — What can wash away my sin
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The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology — Robert Lowry
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Hymnology Archive — Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
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Hymnary.org — What can wash away my sin text authority
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Hymnary.org — PLAINFIELD tune authority
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Ira D. Sankey — My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns — Sunday School Times, 1907, p. 333
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World English Bible — Hebrews 9
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World English Bible — 1 John 1
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World English Bible — Romans 3
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World English Bible — Ephesians 1
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World English Bible — 1 Peter 1
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World English Bible — Isaiah 1
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