Songs With Issues
"AND CAN IT BE"
Musically this song is wonderful and powerful. And most of the content is so good that it is easy to find one's self singing it quite often. "And can it be"..... what a great thought-provoking question! And the final verse - starts out with Romans 8:1 "NO CONDEMNATION" - if that doesn't get us excited, what will? However, there is that one line which we believe many sing without understanding what they are singing - ”emptied Himself of all but love..”. This idea is sometimes referred to as the "kenosis theory" and certainly is a topic of theological debate. The kenosis theory stands in contradistinction to what is called the "hypostatic union" - that Jesus is simultaneously 100% God and 100% man. We at BibleTruthForToday believe that the Bible teaches the hypostatic union, and not the kenosis theory. Here's why:
Jesus was God in the flesh - NOT a man who became God. He was God from eternity past and will forever be God - God cannot be other than He is! There was not an interlude in the existence of Jesus Christ the Son of God where He was NOT God (not even for a second!). He caused the blind to see, He raised the dead, He ordered the wind and waves to be still, He knew men's hearts and thoughts without them speaking, etc. Yes, He was God. Oh, some say, He was "empowered" when He was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon Him. OK, so He was just a man like you and me for thirty years? and without sin ? IF He could do it as "just" a man, then why can't someone else? - that is just ludicrous. ALL have sinned and come short - EXCEPT the sinless, perfect One Who could ONLY have been sinless through childhood, adolescence and adulthood if He was God the entire time (which He was!). Bottom line? We don't believe He emptied Himself of all but love. He, of His own volition, restrained the use of His power. We cannot fully understand or explain the hypostatic union, but if Jesus was not God from eternity past, in the miraculous conception, through His entire earthly life, and forever after, then there is a significant flaw in fundamental theology.
Note: we have seen some hymnals in which the wording of this phrase has been changed from "He emptied Himself" to "He humbled Himself". That He "humbled Himself" IS Biblical and we approve of that wording change which makes an otherwise wonderful song even better!
"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).
"AND CAN IT BE"
Musically this song is wonderful and powerful. And most of the content is so good that it is easy to find one's self singing it quite often. "And can it be"..... what a great thought-provoking question! And the final verse - starts out with Romans 8:1 "NO CONDEMNATION" - if that doesn't get us excited, what will? However, there is that one line which we believe many sing without understanding what they are singing - ”emptied Himself of all but love..”. This idea is sometimes referred to as the "kenosis theory" and certainly is a topic of theological debate. The kenosis theory stands in contradistinction to what is called the "hypostatic union" - that Jesus is simultaneously 100% God and 100% man. We at BibleTruthForToday believe that the Bible teaches the hypostatic union, and not the kenosis theory. Here's why:
Jesus was God in the flesh - NOT a man who became God. He was God from eternity past and will forever be God - God cannot be other than He is! There was not an interlude in the existence of Jesus Christ the Son of God where He was NOT God (not even for a second!). He caused the blind to see, He raised the dead, He ordered the wind and waves to be still, He knew men's hearts and thoughts without them speaking, etc. Yes, He was God. Oh, some say, He was "empowered" when He was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon Him. OK, so He was just a man like you and me for thirty years? and without sin ? IF He could do it as "just" a man, then why can't someone else? - that is just ludicrous. ALL have sinned and come short - EXCEPT the sinless, perfect One Who could ONLY have been sinless through childhood, adolescence and adulthood if He was God the entire time (which He was!). Bottom line? We don't believe He emptied Himself of all but love. He, of His own volition, restrained the use of His power. We cannot fully understand or explain the hypostatic union, but if Jesus was not God from eternity past, in the miraculous conception, through His entire earthly life, and forever after, then there is a significant flaw in fundamental theology.
Note: we have seen some hymnals in which the wording of this phrase has been changed from "He emptied Himself" to "He humbled Himself". That He "humbled Himself" IS Biblical and we approve of that wording change which makes an otherwise wonderful song even better!
"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8).