mgpcpastor's blog

Tonight at mgpc we sang ‘God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name’ also known by the words which are part of its refrain, ‘Freely, Freely’ composed by Carol Owens.
We don’t sing it often, I find that simple songs such as this maintain their helpfulness if used sparingly. I think we’ll use it as a confession/assurance song in our morning service some time in April.
As a song it has both the strength and the weakness of scripture in song type songs. The strength is that the lyrics are strongly grounded in Scriptural allusion. The weakness is that they can lack important elements of context due to their brevity, removal from the longer passages in which they are found and ‘mixing and matching’ of disparate phrases to make the point the song writer wants to emphasise, which may not have actually been the focus of the verses at hand.
Note in the lyrics below that it is not exactly clear what we are to ‘freely give.’ What we have ‘freely received’ is forgiveness of sins and spiritual gifts, but these are not ours to give, rather we give the good news to others of that which they can also freely receive from God. It sounds scriptural, but it’s really more contextual. And you have to provide a fair bit of your own context. And that’s a weakness.
(It’s also why anyone with a bit of theology generally drives others in a song selecting team crazy.)
I’m not sure it’s because we believe, but through our going and sharing the Gospel that others believe.
So, sparing use, and plenty of sound theology to ground it.

Here’s the lyrics:
1.
God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name,
I’ve been born again in Jesus’ name;
And in Jesus’ name I come to you
To share His love as He told me to.
Chorus.
He said: ‘Freely, freely, you have received,
Freely, freely give;
Go in My name, and because you believe
Others will know that I live.’
2.
All power is given in Jesus’ name,
In earth and heaven in Jesus’ name;
And in Jesus’ name I come to you
To share His power as He told me to.
Chorus.
He said: ‘Freely, freely, you have received,
Freely, freely give;
Go in My name, and because you believe
Others will know that I live.’

© 1972 Communiqué Music, Inc.

Now, Tiffany from mgpc loves Scripture In Song, but generally doesn’t like country music.
So, here’s ‘Freely, Freely’ in a country arrangement.