The songs we sing influence the things we believe. Even if we aren’t consciously aware of it, what we sing will inevitably have a profound impact on us. This is because singing is interactive and multi-faceted. It ties words to rhythms and rhythms to pitches. The resulting melody and meter promote memorization, and the lyrics we internalize become a part of the library that informs the way we think.
One of the most striking evidences for the power of songs is the role that the Psalms1 played for the New Testament authors. If you pay close attention to the biblical text, you’ll notice an interesting phenomenon. Many theologically driven passages of scripture quote the Psalms. There are myriad examples, but I’ll share just one. The New Testament authors quoted Psalm 110:1 more than any other verse in all of scripture. This verse was foundational for the New Testament authors’ theology of the messiah and his kingdom.
Many theologically driven passages of scripture quote the Psalms.
It’s difficult to overstate the influence that songs had on the theology of our ancestors in the faith. Even outside of the Psalms, there are several biblical examples of prominent songs that contain theologically charged language. Take, for example, the passage in Philippians 2:6-11, which is believed to be a hymn of the early church that Paul utilized in his letter for the purpose of challenging his readers to pursue Godliness by imitating the humility of Christ in his incarnation.
The Twin Pitfalls of Careless Song Selection
Downplaying or ignoring the significance of the songs we use in congregational singing is a serious error. Song selection for worship is a vital task that should be undertaken with care.2 I see two distinct ways that failure to carefully consider lyrics can negatively impact churches.3
1. When Songs Mislead
Lack of care in song selection may end up causing misunderstandings about the Christian faith by teaching poor theology through misleading songs.
Bad theology in our songs has the potential to work its way into our congregations and to shape the way that people think in a detrimental way. That’s why it’s so important that we carefully screen the songs we include in worship. I should point out, by the way, that this doesn’t just go for modern worship songs, as some would have you believe. It also goes for some old favorites.
My aim is not for this article to be specifically targeted at any particular type of song. I don’t want that to distract from the greater point I’m making. My main goal here is to encourage you to think critically about the songs we sing as Christians and to evaluate lyrics for yourself. So, what I will say is just that there are many sorts of songs that can have a negative effect on Christian belief and practice due to spurious ideas present in the lyrics. We should avoid singing songs that are likely to muddle and confuse. Rather, we should choose ones that stand the test and are doctrinally rigorous.
2. When Songs Fail to Equip
Another negative outcome of careless song selection is that it may fail to equip us properly to handle all of the challenges of life and faith.
Churches miss out on a wonderful opportunity to educate their congregations when they don’t ensure that their musical repertoire contains theological depth. Theologically deep songs make for theologically deep Christians. If all of the songs we sing sit comfortably in the shallow end of the theological pond, we won’t be equipped with lyrics that are able to aid us when we encounter deeper waters of biblical doctrine or cultural confrontation.
Theologically deep songs make for theologically deep Christians.
Song selection can also be used as a tool to expose churches to a range of biblical themes and topics. We should want our songs not only to push our boundaries when it comes to theological depth, but also to broaden our horizons by encompassing the full breadth of biblical truth.
If we don’t approach song selection with forethought, we might end up singing only our favorite songs rather than those that challenge us. Or, we may find that the songs we sing always seem to cover the same small handful of biblical themes, leaving many doctrines and topics unsung. We love to sing songs about mercy, grace, and salvation, but are we also singing songs about unity, self-sacrifice, perseverance, and other more challenging topics? There are songs that hit on all of these subjects, but songs we aren’t singing won’t teach us.
This is another area where the Psalms can guide us. As an example, consider the “lament” Psalm, which is a type of song whose purpose is to serve as a means of expressing sorrow to the Lord. Negative emotions pervade the human experience. Given enough time, we will all be met with trials in this life that will test us and tempt us to be discouraged. If we do not include lament as a theme in the songs we sing, we will have no musical outlet for some of the strongest emotions we will ever feel as humans. Lament provides a powerful way for us to connect to God openly and honestly right where we are, in the midst of a sin-scarred and broken world. Including songs of lament is just one of a variety of ways that we can introduce a wider range of expression to our congregational singing.
A Few Words of Caution
As we think about song selection, we should do so with balance and maturity. Thinking carefully about the songs we sing is a vital task, but we should avoid taking it on with an overzealous attitude. If you’re eager to find theological errors in songs, you might start seeing them where they don’t actually exist.
If you’re eager to find theological errors in songs, you might start seeing them where they don’t actually exist.
Don’t get me wrong: bad lyrics and bad songs certainly do exist, and if we have no standards, we’ll end up singing anything and everything, to the detriment of our churches. However, I do think that we can sometimes be a bit too hasty when it comes to calling out songs as problematic. If we aren’t careful, we will end up nit-picking songs to death. This is why it’s important to analyze lyrics with balance. After all, by their very nature, lyrics will inevitably have a bit of poetic license in the way they describe things. Scripture itself uses a wide array of literary styles, expressions, word pictures, and poetic elements to come at the truth from many different angles. It is appropriate for the songs we use in worship to do the same.
We should preach (and sing) the whole counsel of God. To put it another way, there are no biblical truths we should be hesitant to sing. If you do find yourself hesitant to sing a particular lyric, consider whether your discomforts might be based on personal taste or a misunderstanding of scripture. If a song truly is unbiblical, it is right and proper for us to pass over it. However, I have often found that my resistance to certain lyrics has been due to my own shortsightedness.
There are no biblical truths we should be hesitant to sing.
Lyrics that make us uncomfortable can actually be a wonderful thing, as long as they’re making us uncomfortable for the right reasons. Our shortcomings and unbiblical notions should be challenged by the songs we sing. They should poke us and prod us in areas where we are lacking or misguided. This is another way that the songs we sing can shape our theology. They can help us to consider things we may not otherwise think about.
One more way I think we can find balance in song selection has to do with the desire for theological depth in our songs. Not every song has to sound like a passage from a systematic theology textbook. Sometimes we just need to tell God we love him. I think we misstep when we write off shallow songs as being entirely worthless. It is appropriate for us to convey a wide range of thoughts and feelings to the Lord in the songs we sing, and this can include simple songs that contain straightforward expressions of praise.
Some Practical Help
The final thing I’d like to do in this article is to provide a handful of practical suggestions related to song selection. First, I’ll give you a simple test that may help you determine whether you are being overly critical with the analysis of song lyrics. If your standards for lyrics are so strict that you would pass over songs for reasons that would disqualify Psalms from being sung in your church, you may have gone too far. The Psalms are sometimes (or indeed often) highly emotional, repetitive, and simple. They refer to personal struggles. They express doubt, grief, anger, and sorrow. They sometimes come off as self-centered. They utilize a lot of symbolic poetic imagery. They occasionally feel a bit shallow. And yet, God saw fit to include them in the canon of scripture in a book of songs that would be sung by his people for millennia. If it’s good enough for scripture, it should be good enough for us.
If your standards for lyrics are so strict that you would pass over songs for reasons that would disqualify Psalms from being sung in your church, you may have gone too far.
Here’s another bit of advice that may help with seeking songs that can expand the theological breadth of your church’s repertoire. This is something that I utilize on a fairly regular basis when I’m planning to introduce new songs to my church. I find it immensely useful to make a long and detailed list of biblical themes and topics4 and then consider whether or not the songs we are already singing are adequately exploring them. When I find an area that seems lacking, or that could use special reinforcement during the season our church is in, I search for (or write) songs that would be instructive to our congregation in that area.
Another thing I’ll say is that you don’t always have to completely abandon songs that contain misleading elements. Depending on the song, you might be able to preserve it if you skip a part. Alternatively, you could rewrite the offending lines. A necessary disclaimer: If you intend to rewrite copyrighted material, ensure you obtain permission from the copyright holder. Otherwise, you won’t be able to legally reproduce those lyrics (by printing or projecting them). Having said that, hymns that are in the public domain are fair game, and many hymns already have a variety of alternate verses that could be used in place of verses that have questionable lyrics.
Concluding Remarks
At the end of the day, my encouragement for you is to think critically and carefully about the songs you sing. They should be doctrinally accurate. They should be theologically rich. They should cover the full gamut of biblical themes and topics. And yet, we should exercise balance and maturity as we examine lyrics.
If you’re in charge of song selection in your church, I hope that the principles and suggestions I’ve shared here will be of use to you as you plan your congregation’s musical worship. If you’re not in leadership and you find yourself troubled by the songs that your church uses, the worst thing you can do is spread division and incite dissatisfaction amongst the other members of the church. I would implore you to approach your leadership directly and ask them to help you understand their thought processes behind the way they choose songs for worship. You might also take the opportunity to share some of these ideas with them.
My hope is that churches will think more carefully about the songs they select and will feed their congregations a steady diet of challenging songs that engage us theologically and equip us to think about all that scripture teaches, so that no matter what life throws at us, we will have a song to sing.
Footnotes
- The word “Psalm” just means “song,” and the Psalms were the songs of Israel and the early church.
- Song selection for worship should not to be done without pastoral oversight. Since songs are instructive, and since pastors are responsible for the teaching ministry of the church, it follows that the pastors should approve of the songs that the congregation sings. The job of selecting songs from week to week can (and perhaps should) be delegated, particularly if there is not a pastor in the church that has musical ability. Nevertheless, pastors should still at least exercise oversight on the inclusion of songs in terms of the lyrical content.
- It’s important to note that this article will not contemplate discussions of musical styles or authorship of songs. These are separate issues. Check out this article for some of my thoughts on how we should approach choosing songs from a stylistic perspective. I will also update this note with another link once I have completed an article I am planning to write about the authorship of songs.
- There are many places where you can find lists of biblical themes and topics if you have trouble thinking of more than a few. You can find them in hymnals, Bibles, theological textbooks, and creeds. One specific list of themes I have found useful in the past is this list on the CCLI website. If you aren’t familiar with it, CCLI is a licensing organization that enables churches to reproduce copyrighted lyrics legally in their services (by printing or projecting them).
