I have heard for many years people in churches or on social media say something like this: “we need to sing more hymns because they are deeper than modern songs.”
Now, don’t get me wrong. I actually agree that we DO need to sing more hymns… but not because they are deeper. I’ll get back to that in a minute.
Normally, when someone says that hymns are deeper than “modern” music (or the even more vague title of “contemporary” music), they are suggesting that older songs (pre-1960, in my experience) contain theologically more robust lyrics. Or, to put it simply, they are saying that old songs are full of more truth than new songs (by “new,” someone normally means after the 1960s).
But again — that is just not true.
I can give you many examples of songs written in the last sixty years (which is a very diverse wide range of music to be lumped together) that contain much biblical truth and theological depth. For example, the song “Your Great Name” by Natalie Grant in 2010 lists at least nine specific outcomes of speaking the name of Jesus alongside ten different names given in the Bible for Jesus. Here are the verses:
Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name
All condemned; feel no shame at the sound of your great name
Every fear has no place at the sound of your great name
The enemy he has to leave at the sound of your great name
All the weak find their strength at the sound of your great name
Hungry souls; receive grace at the sound of your great name
The fatherless find their rest at the sound of your great name
Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of your great name
The bridge alone of the song lists six of those explicit names for Jesus:
Redeemer, My Healer, Almighty
My savior, Defender, You are My King
Then, the chorus expresses a worshipful refrain focused clearly on Jesus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb
That was slain for us
Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up
That all the world will praise your great name
In relatively few words, the song gets rather “deep” theologically.
At the same time, if you were to grab a typical hymnal and start flipping through the pages, you would find no shortage of songs that are neither deep nor necessarily true (you’ll also probably find many songs that you have never heard because your church never sings them – but that is another story!).
My favorite example of this problem would be “I’ll Fly Away,” which was written in 1932 and then renewed by Albert E. Brumley in the 1960s. Here are the lyrics:
Some glad morning when this life is o’er
I’ll fly away
To a home on God’s celestial shore
I’ll fly away
When the shadows of this life have grown
I’ll fly away
Like a bird from prison bars has flown
I’ll fly away
Just a few more weary days, and then
I’ll fly away
To a land where joys shall never end
I’ll fly away
The chorus:
Recommended
I’ll fly away, O glory
I’ll fly away (in the morning)
When I die, hallelujah by and by
I’ll fly away
While this is a fun, celebrative song covered by many artists across all kinds of people inside and outside of the church, Scripture does not tell us that we will “fly” to meet the Lord; we have no idea if we will meet Jesus in the morning, and Heaven does not have a “shore” that we know of. But even if you excuse my petty critiques by calling those phrases metaphorical (to which I would agree), you would still have to admit that the song is theologically shallow. That is probably why it has become so popular, even with secular artists. And that’s okay — because it is not a “hymn,” at least not by definition.
According to the church worship music categories given to us in His life goal is to serve God and His Church by reaching the lost with the gospel, making devoted disciples, equipping and empowering others to go further in their faith and calling, and leading a culture of multiplication for the glory of God. Find out more about him here.