In the song Let Your Kingdom Come, Bob Kauflin writes:
Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts
May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are
We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown
The cross has saved us so we pray
Your kingdom come
A friend of mine made an interesting observation about the last part of this verse. Kauflin writes that the cross has saved us, but that isn't exactly the case, is it? It was the broken, bloody, body of Jesus Christ, slain as a substitute for sinners, that saves us. I know the folks at Sovereign Grace believe and cherish this wholeheartedly. So I wonder why they decided to write this song as they did.
Any thoughts?
Poetic license? The cross is a metaphor or symbol of Christ's redeeming work.
ReplyDeleteLarry,
ReplyDeleteThen Paul made the same error: "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Am I boasting in the cross, or in the Savior nailed to the cross. I think that the later is implied, but Paul puts it this way to highlight the means through which Christ saved us, for a specific purpose.
This is true of almost any Christian song, hymn or otherwise. This is necessary for meter, variety of expression, metaphor (as Ralph said), etc. The very nature of poetry--of which a song is merely a type--is to use imagery, figurative language, etc.
For example:
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."
It wasn't Grace that saved us, it was Christ's broken, bloody, body slain for us. Grace is a concept, not a being, so how can it literally "save" us? Also, Grace isn't a "sound".
This is perhaps why there was such resistance to the writing of hymns and their use in church, and why some people believe in exclusive Psalmody. I guess some people see some danger in this. However, if you understand the genre, this is not a problem.
Will