December 11 

Fullness of Grace 

TEXT AND TUNE: Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend

b. December 16, 1974, Lisburn, Northern Ireland

b. May 22, 1980, Belfast, Northern Ireland

b. June 1, 1963, West Yorkshire, England

This hymn is one of the earliest collaborations by the writing team of Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend, a new generation of hymn writers from the United Kingdom who follow the musical heritage of Watts, Wesley, and Newton. All were raised in Christian homes. Townend’s advanced education in literature is evidenced in the quality of his poetry. He resides in England and is a worship leader and composer. He writes: “Songs remain in the mind in a way sermons do not, so songwriters have an important role and a huge responsibility.”²⁷ Keith Getty’s advanced education is in music. He was honored in June 2017 as an “Officer of the Order of the British Empire” by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to music and modern hymn writing. Keith was introduced to Kristyn by his friend and her uncle, a professor at Oxford University. They were married in 2004, and they split their time between Belfast and Nashville.

This team of modern hymn writers contribute on multiple levels to a sort of re-inventing of the traditional hymn form that crosses classical, folk, and contemporary styles. They have written sixty of the most popular two thousand hymns in America and the United Kingdom, according to the Christian Copywriting Licensing. The Gettys tour the US extensively, and their Christmas tour includes Carnegie Hall and most of the major concert halls across the country.

As you sing this hymn … you find in the title the unique focus of thought describing these few words by the gospel writer John: “From the fullness of His grace we have all received.” These words portray the inestimable value Jesus brought through His incarnation. Consider the rich couplets of adjectives that permeate the stanzas: human frailty, meanest worth, holy innocent, joy unspeakable.

He was despised, rejected, and crushed for the sins past, present, and future of the world. “This is the wonder of Jesus.” But it is the word “fullness” that reveals the richest treasure of deity inserted into humanity. There is an inexhaustible supply of what the world needs—grace, hope, and God Himself. No amount of good deeds are full of enough goodness. No amount of right living provides adequate righteousness. To attempt to earn grace is futile and negates the power of the incarnation.

We not only need grace for our salvation but also in our living. The great English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, wrote profoundly about “fullness.”

There is fullness of blessings of every sort and shape; a fullness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve and to perfect. There is fullness at all times; a fullness of comfort in affliction, a fullness of guidance in prosperity. A fullness of every divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love. A fullness which is impossible to survey, much less explore. Fullness there must be when the stream is always flowing, and yet the well springs up as free, as rich, as full as ever. Come, believer, and get all your needs supplied; ask largely, and you shall receive largely, for this “fullness” is inexhaustible and is stored where all the needy may reach it, even in Jesus, Immanuel—God with us.²⁸

We say it again: Come, believer, and get all your needs supplied!