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About Numbered Notation

All steps
  1. The numbers are the notes of a scale
  2. “1=C” tells you where to start
  3. Dots make a note higher or lower
  4. How long each note lasts
  5. 0 means rest
  6. Bar lines and the time signature
  7. Curves: ties and slurs
  8. The words sit under the numbers
  9. Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings
  10. Minor keys: “6=A”
  11. Put it together: a line of a hymn
  12. Check yourself
  13. Try it on a hymn

The numbers are the notes of a scale

Numbered notation (jianpu, 简谱) writes a melody as numbers instead of notes on a staff. You do not need to read music: take one small step at a time and press Play on any example to hear it while each number lights up. Sound only starts when you press Play.

Instead of notes on a staff, each note is a number from 1 to 7. They are the seven steps of the scale you already know: do re mi fa sol la ti. After 7 the scale starts again at 1.

The seven numbers with their names. Press Play and say each name as its number lights up.
Sing along: do re mi fa sol, and back down to do.

If you can sing do re mi, you can already sing every number from 1 to 7. Tap or click any number to hear just that note.

“1=C” tells you where to start

At the top left of the sheet you will see something like 1=C. It means the number 1 (do) is the note C, and every other number counts up from there. 1=G means do is G, so the whole tune sits a little higher. Nothing else changes: the same numbers make the same shape, only higher or lower.

1=C: do is C.
1=G: the same numbers, starting higher.

Not sure where C is? On a piano it is the white key just left of the two black keys. Or ignore the letter and start on any note that is comfortable for your voice: the tune only has to keep its shape. The − and + key buttons on a hymn page shift the key for you.

Dots make a note higher or lower

A dot above a number means one octave higher. A dot below means one octave lower. Two dots mean two octaves. No dot is the middle range, where most of a tune lives. The name stays the same; only the height changes.

The same number at three heights: dot below, no dot, dot above.
A tune that climbs: it starts on a low sol and ends on a high do.

How long each note lasts

Tap your foot at a steady pace: each tap is a beat. A plain number lasts one beat, so you sing a new number on every tap. Dashes, lines and dots change that.

A plain number is one beat

Four numbers, four beats: one number for each tap.

A dash holds the note longer

Each dash adds one beat. The 5 lasts two beats and the 3 lasts four.

A line underneath makes it shorter

One line is half a beat, so two underlined numbers share one beat. (Two lines are a quarter of a beat.)

A dot after makes it half as long again

A dot after a number adds half its length. The first 5 lasts a beat and a half, and the short 3 fills the rest of the second beat.

0 means rest

A 0 is silence for one beat. Keep counting and keep tapping, but do not sing. Dashes after a 0 make the silence longer, just as they hold a note longer.

Sing 1 3 5, stay quiet for one beat, then come back down. Rests light up too, so you can feel the pause.

Bar lines and the time signature

Tall lines cut the music into bars, each holding the same number of beats. The two small numbers at the start, like 4/4 or 3/4, say how many: 4/4 is four beats in every bar, 3/4 is three. The first beat of each bar is the strongest, so lean on it a little. A double line with a thick edge marks the end.

4/4: count 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4. The first beat of each bar sounds a little louder.
3/4: count 1 2 3, 1 2 3, the lilt of a waltz.

Curves: ties and slurs

A curve over numbers joins them. If it joins two of the same number, it is a tie: sing the note once and hold it for both. If it joins different numbers, it is a slur: sing them all on one syllable, gliding from one to the next.

A tie: the 5 is sung once and held across the bar line, six beats in all.
A slur: “Him” is sung on two notes, 3 then 2.

The words sit under the numbers

Each number gets one syllable, written right underneath it. A short dash after part of a word means the word carries on under the next number. If a number has nothing under it, it belongs to a curve or a dash: keep singing the syllable you are on.

Read left to right, one syllable for each number: Twin-kle, twin-kle, lit-tle star.

Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings

A bar line with two dots, :|, means go back and sing that part again, from the matching |: sign (or from the start if there is none). Sometimes the repeat has two endings. Sing ending 1. the first time; on the repeat, skip it and sing ending 2. instead.

Play it: you hear the 1. ending, the repeat, then the 2. ending. Watch the highlight jump back.

Minor keys: “6=A”

A song in a minor key, which usually sounds more serious or tender, is labeled like 6=A instead of 1=C. It means the number 6 (la) is the home note, here A. The numbers keep their usual names; the tune simply feels at home on 6 and often ends there. 6=A uses the same notes as 1=C.

It starts and ends on 6 (la), the home note. Listen to the darker colour.

Put it together: a line of a hymn

This is the first line of hymn 8, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow”, written in numbered notation. Try the slow tempo first, and sing the words as each number lights up.

1=G in 4/4. Three silent beats, then “Praise” on beat 4. The dots under 7, 6 and 5 mean those notes dip one octave lower.

Check yourself

Four quick questions, with no score and no pressure. Tap an answer to see right away why it is right or wrong. You can always try another answer.

Tap the number that is held the longest.

Tap the 5 that is one octave higher than the first 5.

What does a 0 mean?

Under 1=G, which note is the number 1?

Try it on a hymn

You opened this from a hymn that has a Numbered view, so you can try it right now.

  1. Look at the top left of the sheet: the key, such as 1=D, and the time signature, such as 3/4.
  2. Find the first number and sing it. Then follow the numbers from left to right with the words underneath, one syllable for each number. Press Play in the player to hear the recording while you follow.
  3. Letters above the numbers (C, G7) are chords for a guitarist or pianist. Ignore them while you learn the tune.
  4. To be guided, open the Learn tab and press Play. Under Display, set Learn notation to Numbered (or choose Numbered on the Lead Sheet tab first). For hymns that have numbered lines, each line of numbers scrolls into view in time with the recording while a bouncing ball follows the words; other hymns show the piano notation there. The Tempo menu slows it down without changing the pitch.

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My old man has been crucified with Him

Experience of Christ As Our Person

English1179
1
My old man has been crucified with Him,
With all its foul corruption deep within;
And buried too its nature serpentine,
Completely finished—this great fact is mine,
I hold it fast.
2
But there’s a Person in my spirit now,
Born as a babe so small, so weak, so low;
Who by the Word’s pure milk will grow to be
The overcoming inner man in me
To gain my heart.
3
Christ as my Person must possess my heart
And be preeminent in every part.
The former owner died but haunts it still.
O Lord, move in; my mind, emotion, will
Now welcome Thee.
4
In spirit mingled, we are one, O Lord,
The human and divine in one accord;
Yet Thou must have a proper faculty
That all Thy glorious personality
May be expressed.
5
So, Lord, I give my heart to Thee today,
That it may be Thy home in every way,
A place for Thee to come and settle down,
And all Thy grand recovery work to crown
In one new man.

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Un Hermano

Jan 18, 2026

With the Jews and the
Gentiles as the Materials
-------------------

According to Ephesians 2:15 , Christ used the Jews and the Gentiles as the materials in His creating of the new man. Christ created the new man by imparting the divine nature into the redeemed humanity of the believing Jews and Gentiles.

In Himself as
the Divine Element
-------------

Ephesians 2:15 says, “That He [Christ] might create the two in Himself into one new man. ” The new man was created in Christ as the divine element. When we were the old man, we had the human element but did not have the divine element. Since God Himself has been imparted and added into us, we now have the divine element in us. Since we have the divine element, we have become something new. This new thing in its totality is the new man.

Through His Death
on the Cross
------------

The new man was created through Christ’s death on the cross. Thousands of Christians have read Ephesians 2:15 ; 4:24 ; and Colossians 3:10 , and they have seen the term the new man according to the letter, but they do not know what the new man is. Our becoming the new man was not merely a matter of our repenting and being sorry for our past and thereby becoming new. This is the teaching of Confucius; it is not the teaching of the Bible. In the creating of the new man, first our natural man was crucified by Christ on the cross, and then through the crossing out of the old man, Christ imparted God’s element into us. Thus, we became an entity that is different from the old man because we have God’s element in us.

Ephesians 2:15 tells us that Christ did this creating work on the cross. We usually consider that Christ’s work on the cross was related only to negative things, to cross us out, to crucify us. But Ephesians 2:15 tells us that on the cross Christ did something positive to generate us, not to put us to death. This divine thought is clearly seen in Ephesians 2:15. The cross of Christ not only destroys and kills; it also generates and brings in something divine.

The God-men
Chapter 1 (LSM)
CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 2

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Un Hermano

Jan 18, 2026

CRUCIFIED WITH HIM

Romans 6:6 : “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves. ”

Verse 17 : “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which you were delivered. ”

This is a vital doctrine in our belief: that by faith, we are crucified with Christ, and the old man is annulled. I do not crucify myself. When Christ was crucified, I was crucified with Him. By this I am set free from sin, being no longer a slave to it. In this way I can reckon myself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. This is a big doctrine that hinges on the person Christ.

LIBERATED IN HIM

Romans 7:24-25 : “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. ”

Here is a man who was constantly defeated by his own fleshly lusts. When he was at the end of his hopes, crying for deliverance, he saw the way of salvation: liberation by the Lord Jesus Christ. The power of liberation is also in the Lord.

The Normal Christian Faith
CWWN, vol. 27
Chapter 6 (LSM)

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Aug 12, 2025

Praise the Lord! May the Lord shine on us and cause us to see that we have been freed from the old man with his law, and we have been joined to Christ as our new Husband to love Him, live one with Him, and depend on Him! Hallelujah 😀

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Esther

Lagos, Nigeria

Aug 31, 2024

So Lord l give my heart to thee today
That it may be Thy home in every way
Amen!

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Mariegel

Oyen, AB, Canada

Aug 26, 2024

Christ as my Person must possess my heart
And be preeminent in every part.
The former owner died but haunts it still.
O Lord, move in; my mind, emotion, will
Now welcome Thee.

Read more
Rebecca Sadia

Austin, Texas, United States

Feb 9, 2024

Amen! Our old man has been WHOLLY CRUCIFIED! PRAISE THE LORD

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Antoinette Cooper

Easton, MD, United States

Mar 29, 2023

Stanza 5 is so all-inclusive and means the world to me! My prayer is to be saturated with the reality of every word so that my Lord could settle down and have His complete home in me!

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Chris Condon

London, United Kingdom

Apr 26, 2022

Praise the Lord for two sides to this wonderful truth. Our old man HAS BEEN crucified! Completely finished this great fact is ours! But we still sense the haunting of the former owner so we pray O Lord move in to every part of our heart, today!

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Jeffrey Hall

Church In Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Jan 24, 2022

So uplifting and freeing! The Lord will do it all if we will just co-operate and submit to Him. We are coming out of our oldness into the newness of Life! Praise the Lord for His Mercy and Grace. May all the saints experience The Divine Life in Oness.............. Bless You all..........

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Erik Kunkel

Round Rock, Texas, United States

Jul 18, 2021

Amen that our old man has been crucified!!!

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