The Father Turns His Face Away

In our examination of scriptural lyrics, I want to turn our attention to specific examples of lyrics sung by God’s people and consider their scriptural basis (or lack thereof). Our first example is Stuart Townend’s “How Deep the Father’s Love.” 

What About Unscriptural Hymns?

In the previous post, we pointed out the need for scriptural lyrics. The question for our consideration on this subject is, what do we do about unscriptural lyrics when we find them? There are some basic approaches, which we will consider in more detail below:

• Keep the lyric, but “reinterpret” or “qualify” its meaning.
• Alter the lyric to be scriptural
• Remove the offending verse or don’t sing the song at all

Must Hymns Be Scriptural?

I sometimes wonder if song/worship leaders should be giving the same disclaimer as preachers: “Compare the songs we sing to the Scriptures. You’d be my friend if you let me know if anything we’ve sung is out of harmony with the word of God.”