Has possessing deep knowledge ever prevented you from enjoying a piece of art? For example, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has become well known for pointing out scientific inaccuracies in movies. According to his tastes, science-fiction films should be fictional because they present imagined characters and events, not because they misrepresent the laws that govern the universe.
At North Greenville University, one of my professors shared a story about how studying the Bible led him to dislike many popular Christian songs. Too many songs, he lamented, contain messages that downplay the glorious hope of the “new creation” in exchange for promises of a purely spiritual existence in “a big, big house / With lots and lots of room.” This professor was very passionate about the issue, so you can imagine the amusement my classmates and I felt when the campus band played “When We All Get to Heaven” at graduation this past spring, even if it was just an instrumental.
Easy as it may be to dismiss both critiques as nitpicking, my former professor’s distaste for poor theology in Christian music is completely different from Tyson’s aversion to inaccurate science fiction. The stakes for musical worship are much higher. Nobody watches Back to the Future Part III and assumes its depiction of time travel is realistic. But such is not necessarily the case with music. According to Dr. Ed Steele, who served as Professor of Music at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Leavell College, “The songs we use in worship have the advantage of repetition over a more extended period than sermons, which are heard only once.” Songs can connect theological ideas with our thoughts and emotions, meaning that what we sing may influence our thinking more than we realize.
What’s Being Presented to Us?
So, what do some familiar Christian songs reinforce, and what happens when we repeatedly sing words that present an incomplete picture of Christian hope? Consider these examples:
- From “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder”: “When his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies.”
This line reinforces the idea that eternal life (home) takes place in a distant location rather than in a redeemed physical creation.
- From “In the Sweet By and By”: “We shall sing on that beautiful shore / The melodious songs of the blessed / And our spirits shall sorrow no more / Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.”
Once again, the description here makes it sound like the author has their eyes fixed on a remote seaside paradise of their own conception. This imagery is not grounded in Scripture.
- From “I’ll Fly Away”: When the shadows of this life have gone / I’ll fly away / Like a bird from these prison walls, I’ll fly / I’ll fly away . . . Oh, how glad and happy when we meet / I’ll fly away / No more cold iron shackles on my feet / I’ll fly away.”
Although sin’s corrupting effects made existence more painful, we should not view earthly life as “imprisonment.” Likewise, the idea of “flying away” suggests a bodiless eternity. While some passages indicate that humans can be “absent from the body” (2 Cor. 5:8), we should understand these as references to the intermediate state—that is, the afterlife prior to Christ’s return. The New Testament does not, however, assert theexistence of a disembodied eternity. In fact, several texts refute the idea (Rom. 6:4-5; 1 Cor. 15:52; Phil. 3:20-21).
- From “Away in a Manger”: “Bless all the dear children / In Your tender care / And fit us for heaven / To live with You there.”
Christ did not come to bring humans to live forever in heaven. He taught the disciples to pray to the Father, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Jesus came to inaugurate the “age to come.”
More examples could be given, but these few convey the point. Even hymns, which are often revered for being more theologically rich than contemporary worship music, can portray 1) creation as inherently bad and worth abandoning and 2) Heaven as a far-off, mystical, perhaps bodiless eternity.
Firstly, they portray creation as undesirable. While the biblical authors frequently described the fallen state of creation, the picture they paint is more nuanced than that painted by the hymns reproduced above. Sin’s entrance into the world brought catastrophic effects, but it did not make God’s creation intrinsically evil. The goodness of God’s creative work described in Genesis 1–2 remains foundational even after sin has marred it.
Psalm 19:1 reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” Also, Psalm 33:5b says, “The earth is full of the Lord’s unfailing love.” And Psalm 148:13b declares, “His majesty covers heaven and earth.”
The songs recorded in Scripture speak positively about the created world even after the Fall. Creation was fundamentally good from the beginning, which is why the Lord promises not merely to abandon it, but to make “a new heaven and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1). Well, aren’t there songs of lament in Scripture? Absolutely. But a song written from the heart about a tragic experience is not the same as a song that presents earthly existence itself as something from which believers must escape. Creation will be redeemed, not abandoned.
Having established the first potential pitfall of viewing creation poorly, we now turn to the second pitfall of overspeculation of eternity as a mere bodiless existence.
Are We Singing About “Eternity” or Just “Life After Death”?
Here’s a helpful example. Think about Jesus after the crucifixion and before the resurrection. As is the case for believers who have already died, He continued to exist, even though His lifeless body remained in a tomb. On the third day, His spirit and body reunited. Where did the immaterial aspect of Christ’s being remain until it rejoined His body? We’d say it was in the spiritual realm or “in Heaven.”
We should understand that when hymns describe life in Heaven (the spiritual realm), the songwriters discuss a subject on which Scripture is largely silent. The Bible describes earthly life in vivid detail. It also speaks of eternity. But biblical references to the intermediate state are scarce, and it’s not entirely clear whether believers even remain conscious in this state, much less experience emotions or participate in activities, as many songs would suggest.
Our music then should reflect these two misunderstood truths: 1) that creation is good and 2) that believers experience eternity in a physical, not purely spiritual, way. It is a difficult balance to strike, and many questions arise. If creation is good, is it untrue to say that eternal life with Christ would be preferable to more time on earth? Absolutely not. Consider Paul’s words to the Philippians. He wrote, “Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake” (Phil. 1:22–24).
The untrained eye may read those verses and equate spiritual existence as always “far better” than physical existence, but that would be overreaching. Any form of existence removed from sin’s corrupting effects is preferable to physical existence in a fallen world, but God intends humans to experience the best of both ideas, namely, physical existence in a good and imperishable creation.
Why Are These Misinterpretations Dangerous, and How Does This Apply to Me?
Distaste for earthly life becomes a problem when individuals stop viewing creation as “good, but marred” and start viewing it as “innately bad and beyond redemption.” If someone grows accustomed to comparing earthly life to bodily imprisonment, as in the above lyrics to “I’ll Fly Away,” they may begin to resent their day-to-day existence. They may struggle to live missionally. They may view work as more of a burden than a blessing, forgetting that God called physical existence and humanity’s responsibility to work good from the beginning. They may fail to recognize the beauty that still exists in the world, and their view of sin’s corrupting effects may greatly outweigh their view of God’s good creative work.
So next time you sing a Christian hymn, take a moment to really reflect on what the lyrics convey. There is a difference between crying out, “How long, O Lord?” or praying, “Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,” and singing, “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.” The first expresses longing for Christ’s return amid the brokenness of the present world. The second, depending on how it is understood, can communicate a rejection of physical existence, which is a rejection of the New Testament depiction of eternal life.
The Christian hope is not that God will rescue us from creation forever, but that he will rescue creation from the effects of sin. On that day, the voice of the saints will proclaim, “Let earth receive her King.”
1 Thessalonians 5:21 – But test all things. Hold on to what is good.
—Chandler McCraw graduated from North Greenville University with a major in Christian Studies. He and his wife, Annalynn, live in Louisville, where he is pursuing his M.Div. at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.