Nothing but the Blood is a gospel hymn, words and music by Robert Lowry, a Baptist pastor, and first published in 1876. It asks one question after another, What can wash away my stain (or sin, in most hymnals today)? What can make me whole again? and gives the same answer every time: nothing but the blood of Jesus. The hymn sums up the New Testament teaching that without shedding of blood is no remission (Hebrews 9:22) and that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Its refrain borrows Isaiah 1:18, white as snow.
Robert Lowry pastored Baptist churches in New York, Brooklyn and New Jersey and wrote some of the best-loved gospel songs of the 1800s, including Shall We Gather at the River and Christ Arose. Nothing but the Blood is his simplest. Each verse is a short question or claim followed by the same reply, so that a congregation hears the answer twelve times before the hymn is over. That repetition is the point. Lowry wanted singers to leave with one truth fixed in their minds: our cleansing, pardon, hope and righteousness all come from what Jesus did on the cross, not from what we have done. Below are all six verses and the refrain as printed in 1894, followed by 12 KJV passages that explain why the Bible speaks so often of the blood of Christ.
Nothing but the Blood: the words
Verse 1
What can wash away my stain?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Verse 2
For my cleansing this I see,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my pardon this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Verse 3
Nothing can for sin atone,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Verse 4
This is all my hope and peace,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Verse 5
Now by this I'll overcome,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Now by this I'll reach my home,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Verse 6
Glory! glory! thus I sing,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
All my praise for this I bring,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Words and music: Robert Lowry (1826-1899), first published in Gospel Music (Doane and Lowry, 1876). Text copied from Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 Complete (New York and Chicago, 1894), hymn 195, checked against Hymns of Consolation (Internet Archive scans). Both printings open with What can wash away my stain? Most later hymnals sing What can wash away my sin? The refrain is sung after every verse. Public domain.
What can wash away my sin? The blood that cleanses
1. Hebrews 9:22
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."
This is the verse behind the whole hymn. Hebrews explains that under the law of Moses almost everything was cleansed with blood, and then states the principle: without shedding of blood is no remission. Remission means sending away, the canceling of a debt. Sin is not a small stain that can be scrubbed out with good intentions. It is a death sentence (Romans 6:23), and only a life given in place of the sinner can cancel it. That is why Lowry answers his question with the blood of Jesus and nothing else. The animal sacrifices pointed forward to it, and the cross fulfilled it once for all.
2. 1 John 1:7
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. John writes to believers, people already walking in the light, and tells them that the blood keeps on cleansing. The verb is present tense: it goes on cleansing. A Christian does not need a second Savior for the sins he commits after he believes. The same blood that washed him at the start is enough every day after. Notice the word all. No sin is too dark to be covered, and none is left over. This is the comfort in Lowry's line For my cleansing this I see. See our Bible verses about the blood of Jesus.
3. Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
The refrain says, Oh! precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. Lowry is borrowing Isaiah's invitation: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Scarlet and crimson were dyes made to last. They did not wash out. God is saying that sin which seems permanent can be made clean. In Isaiah's day the people were going through the motions of worship while their hands were stained with wrong. God did not ask them to clean themselves first. He said, Come now, and let us reason together. The cleansing was His work.
4. Revelation 1:5
"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,"
At the start of Revelation John gives glory Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Notice the order. Jesus loved us first, and then washed us. The washing did not earn His love; His love led to the washing. John calls Him the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, and yet the first thing he praises Him for is this. Lowry's final verse does the same: Glory! glory! thus I sing. When Christians see Jesus as He is, the blood that washed them will still be the theme of their song.
For my pardon this my plea: redemption and atonement
5. Colossians 1:14
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:"
The second verse says, For my pardon this my plea. Paul writes of the Son, In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Redemption is a word from the slave market. It means to buy someone's freedom. Forgiveness is a word from the law court. It means to release from a charge. Both happen through His blood. A plea is what a prisoner says before the judge. The believer does not plead his own record. He pleads the blood of Jesus, and on that plea the charge is dropped. Paul says we have this redemption now, not someday, for everyone who is in Christ.
6. Hebrews 9:14
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Animal sacrifices could cleanse outwardly, but they could not reach the conscience. Christ's blood does. Many people know they have been forgiven in theory but still carry guilt they cannot shake. Hebrews says the blood of Christ purges the conscience too. It frees us not to sit still but to serve the living God. Lowry's line Naught of good that I have done reminds us that dead works cannot cleanse. Only Christ's offering can.
7. Hebrews 10:4
"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
Why could nothing else atone? Hebrews answers plainly: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. For centuries Israel offered animal sacrifices, and God commanded them. But they were reminders, not cures. They taught that sin costs a life, and they pointed forward to a better sacrifice. Lowry's third verse sings, Nothing can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Atonement means covering, and making one again. Not even the sacrifices God Himself gave could do it finally. Only the life of the Son of God, given once on the cross, could take sin away.
8. Titus 3:5
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"
Lowry's third verse goes on, Naught of good that I have done. Paul tells Titus, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration. Good works matter in the Christian life. Paul says so a few verses later. But they are the fruit of salvation, never its cause. If we could contribute even a little to our own cleansing, the hymn would have to say mostly the blood of Jesus. It says nothing but. The washing Paul describes is God's work in us, giving new birth to people who could not clean themselves.
Now by this I'll overcome: the blood and our hope
9. Revelation 12:11
"And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."
The fifth verse says, Now by this I'll overcome. In Revelation 12 the accuser of the brethren is thrown down, and the believers on earth win the battle this way: they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Satan's main weapon against Christians is accusation, reminding them of their sins. The answer is not to argue that we are good enough. It is to point to the blood of the Lamb. Our sins are real, and they have been paid for. That is how ordinary believers overcome.
10. Romans 8:1
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This is the verdict the blood secures. Lowry's fifth verse says, Now by this I'll overcome, and the battle he means is often fought in the conscience. Christians still sin, and the accuser is quick to remind them. Paul does not deny the sin. He says the condemnation is gone, because Christ has already borne it. Notice the word now. The believer does not wait until the end of life to learn whether he is forgiven. He can know it today, and that knowledge gives him strength to keep going, all the way home.
11. Revelation 7:14
"And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
John sees a great crowd in white before the throne and asks who they are. The answer: These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. It is a striking picture. Washing a garment in blood would normally stain it red, but this blood makes it white. That is the mystery Lowry sings about in his refrain. The people in John's vision are not there because of their own goodness. Every one of them is there because of the Lamb. That is why the song in heaven is all about Him.
Sing it: Whiter Than Snow, lyrics and meaning.
12. 2 Corinthians 5:21
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Lowry's fourth verse says, This is all my righteousness. Paul explains how: For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This is the great exchange. Jesus, who never sinned, took our sin as if it were His own, and believers receive His righteousness as if it were theirs. The believer's right standing before God is not partly his own and partly Christ's. It rests wholly on what Christ did. That is why his hope is steady. It does not rise and fall with his performance. It rests on a finished work.
A short prayer
Lord Jesus, I have nothing to wash away my sin and nothing to make me whole again except Your blood. I bring no plea of my own and no good I have done. Thank You for loving me and washing me from my sins in Your own blood. Cleanse my conscience from guilt that still lingers, and give me boldness to come near to the Father in prayer. Help me to overcome the accuser by pointing to Your cross. You are all my hope and peace and all my righteousness. Glory to You, now and forever. Amen.
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Frequently asked questions
Who wrote Nothing but the Blood?
Robert Lowry (1826-1899) wrote both the words and the music. He was a Baptist pastor and a professor at Bucknell University, and he also wrote Shall We Gather at the River and Christ Arose (Low in the Grave He Lay). The hymn first appeared in Gospel Music, which Lowry edited with William H. Doane in 1876.
Is it wash away my sin or wash away my stain?
Both are sung. The 1894 Gospel Hymns and Hymns of Consolation printings, which we copied above, open with What can wash away my stain? Most hymnals today print What can wash away my sin? The meaning is the same, and every other line of the hymn is the same in both versions.
What Bible verse is Nothing but the Blood based on?
The hymn rests on Hebrews 9:22 (without shedding of blood is no remission) and 1 John 1:7 (the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin). The refrain's white as snow comes from Isaiah 1:18, and the line Now by this I'll overcome echoes Revelation 12:11.
Is Nothing but the Blood in the public domain?
Yes. Robert Lowry's words and tune were published in 1876 and are in the public domain in the United States. Some modern worship arrangements add new choruses or bridges that are under copyright, but the original six verses and refrain may be printed and sung freely.
Sources: All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), public domain in the United States. References were checked against the KJV text from bible-api.com.
Related: Jesus Paid It All · There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood · Up from the Grave He Arose · The Old Rugged Cross · Rock of Ages · Blood of Jesus · Forgiveness · Redemption
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