I stand amazed in the presence

Mark Robin's recording keeps Charles Gabriel's 1905 hymn to just its opening verse and chorus, the whole song built around a single question: "I wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean." The wondering reaches for Romans 5:8's claim that "God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" — love explained as demonstrated toward the undeserving, not the qualified.

"How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior's love for me" echoes 1 John 3:1's own astonishment, "see how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God." The hymn's brevity is part of its point; after naming the specific problem — sin, condemnation, uncleanness — the only adequate response the song finds is repeated amazement rather than a longer theological explanation.