The Slave Trader Who Became a Signpost

In 1748, John Newton was a profane slave trader caught in a violent Atlantic storm. As his ship nearly broke apart off the coast of Ireland, he cried out to God for mercy — and something shifted in him that night. It would take years for Newton to fully abandon the trade, and he carried the weight of that sin for the rest of his life. Yet God was shaping this deeply flawed man for a purpose Newton could not yet see.

He became an Anglican clergyman in the village of Olney, England, where he wrote hymns for his small congregation. One of them — Amazing Grace — would become the most recognized hymn in the English-speaking world. But Newton never pointed to himself. Near the end of his life, when his memory had faded and friends urged him to retire, he replied, "What? Shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?"

When he could barely remember anything at all, he said simply: "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior."

In Acts 13, Paul traces the thread of God's faithfulness from David — another deeply flawed man after God's own heart — through the centuries to Jesus. John the Baptist completed his work by declaring, "I am not the one. But He is coming." Newton understood this. The whole point of his life, his pen, his pulpit was never himself. It was always the Savior whom God had promised and sent. That message of salvation, Paul reminds us, has been sent to us too.