Photo by David Beale
Contemporary Christian artist Phil Wickham was 18 years old when he began his career in 2002. Since then, he released ten albums, including:
- Give You My World (2003)
- Phil Wickham (2006)
- Cannons (2007)
- Heaven & Earth (2009)
- Response (2011)
- The Ascension (2013)
- Children of God (2016)
- Living Hope (2018)
- Christmas (2019)
- Hymn of Heaven (2021)
- Hymn of Heaven (Acoustic Sessions) (2022)
He received a Dove award in 2019 for Worship Recorded Song of the Year for his song Living Hope.
Also, check out my other Phil Wickham reviews.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Phil-wickham-anthem-lyrics.
Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.
1. What message does the song communicate?
Despite Wickham’s statement that he is unable to fully capture all his reasons for loving Christ, he attempts to do so. Rationale includes:
- Perfect love
- Kind heart
- Abides in Jesus and vice-versa
- Receives undeserved favor/God’s righteousness
- The weight that anchors his salvation
- Holy Spirit immersion
- Calls Wickham loved and friend
- Invites Wickham in
- Faithful
- Good
- Unceasing splendor
In response, Wickham surrenders to Jesus’ ways and worships Him with song.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
The entire song lines up with Scripture.
[Verse 1]
Lines 1-4: Wickham is unable to exhaustively list all the reasons why he loves and worships God. However, he lists a few of them in this song.
Line 5: God’s ways (including His love) are without error (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Deuteronomy 32:4, 2 Samuel 22:31, Psalm 12:6, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 19:7-11, Psalm 25:8, Psalm 92:15, Isaiah 26:7, Matthew 5:48, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19, Romans 12:1-2, and 1 Peter 1:16).
Lines 5 and 6: My Spiritual Formations pastor did a sermon on the Hebrew word Hesed, which is difficult for translators to convert to English. We often translate it as “lovingkindness”. He offered Michael Card’s definition of this word, which is “When the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything”. What a great summary of this amazing word! We who are dead in sin do not deserve God’s forgiveness, yet, He offers to make us alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24). This is God’s perfect love and kind heart on display for all to see.
Lines 7 and 8: This is eloquently summarized in John 15:1-11, that Wickham abides in Him and He abides in Wickham.
[Chorus]
Line 1: That is, the song on Wickham’s lips (1 Chronicles 16:23, Psalm 33:3, Psalm 96:1-2, Psalm 98:1, and Psalm 149:1), given that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45).
Line 2: In the same way that an anchor prevents its ship from being swept away from wind and waves, Christ is the hope that secures Wickham when he faces the unknown. Jesus is the pathway that brings Wickham through the Old Testament veil that separated him from entering God’s presence (Hebrews 6:19-20).
Line 3: Wickham is immersed in God. Scripture tells us this occurs through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:4-5, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 11:15-16, and 1 Corinthians 12:13).
Line 4: If it wasn’t already apparent from these lyrics, Wickham explicitly states that he loves God.
[Verse 2]
Line 1: As stated in Romans 1:7 and Jude 1:1.
Line 2: See John 15:14.
Lines 3 and 4: There’s some disagreement about whether the lyrics here say “Your grace is unworthy” or “Your grace says I’m worthy”. Therefore, I will cover both sides.
If you think it says “Your grace is unworthy”, grace means undeserved favor. It tells us that Wickham is unworthy because he sinned (Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, Job 15:14, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, and 1 John 1:8-10), yet, Christ died for him anyways (Romans 5:6-8), welcoming him in.
If you think it says “Your grace says I’m worthy”, then this is about being made in right standing before God. Worthiness is tied to righteousness, which none of us are righteous based solely on works (Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 53:1-3, and Romans 3:10-12). However, the righteousness we attained comes from God (1 Corinthians 1:30 and 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Lines 5-8: Wickham surrenders to God’s will, laying his aside (Psalm 51:10, Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 11:19, Ezekiel 36:26, Romans 2:29, Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and 2 Corinthians 7:10).
[Chorus 2]
Lines 1-8: Repeats Chorus twice.
[Bridge]
Line 1: God always keeps His promises (Numbers 23:19, Joshua 21:45, Joshua 23:14, 1 Kings 8:56, Romans 4:21, 2 Corinthians 1:20, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Hebrews 10:23, and 2 Peter 3:9).
Line 2: See 1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 23:6, Psalm 27:13, Psalm 31:19-20, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 86:5, Psalm 100:5, Psalm 106:1, Psalm 119:68, Psalm 135:3, Psalm 136:1, Psalm 145:9, Lamentations 3:25, Nahum 1:7, Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, and Luke 18:19.
Lines 3 and 4: See Verse 1, lines 1-4.
Line 5: See line 1.
Line 6: Since God is eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Job 36:26, Psalm 48:14, Psalm 90:2-4, Psalm 102:12, Psalm 102:26-27, Proverbs 8:23, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 41:4, Habakkuk 1:12, John 17:5, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 1:11-12, 1 Peter 1:20, 2 Peter 3:8, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 11:17, and Revelation 22:13), God never changes (Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, and James 1:17), and God is beautiful (1 Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 27:4, and Psalm 29:2), it seems reasonable to think that His beauty will never end.
Lines 7 and 8: Essentially repeats lines 3 and 4.
Lines 9-16: Repeats lines 1-8.
[Outro]
Lines 1-4: Repeats Chorus, lines 3 and 4.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Outsiders to Christianity will likely interpret this song as I do: Wickham admitting that he cannot list all the reasons why he loves God, yet, attempts to do so anyway. Wickham explicitly invokes the name of Jesus and tells us that he worships Him, making it easy for unbelievers to interpret this song as Christian. Wickham’s language is everyday, with concepts easy for these people to grasp.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God that Wickham lists out his reasons for loving God.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Phil Wickham’s Anthem is great. I applaud Wickham’s humility, that he is unable to fully grasp the fullness of why he loves God. All of his reasons are sound and Biblical, including Jesus’ lovingkindness, faithfulness, goodness, and salvation, which glorifies God. Unbelievers should easily comprehend similarly.
This song is appropriate for corporate worship.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Anthem (listen to the song)
Artist: Phil Wickham
Album: Living Hope
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2018
Duration: 5:20
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
02/02/2023 – Just so that the issue surrounding grace says I’m worthy/unworthy is settled, and based on commentary both from Steve Barhydt and Spirit & Truth Ministries, I’ve covered both versions in this review as Biblical.
01/30/2023 – Katharine discovered that the Genius lyrics concerning “Grace says I am worthy” are incorrect! The actual lyrics state, “Your grace is unworthy”. I updated my review, significantly raising its score from 7.5/10 to 10/10.
Comments
Spirit and Truth Ministries
I feel like you misread the line “Your grace says I am worthy.”
Notice he didn’t say, “I am worthy of grace”, for no one deserves grace (Romans 3:10, 6:23). He says, “Your grace says I am worthy.”
It is only because of God’s grace that we can be worthy, and because He has given it to us, it says we are worthy (see Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 2:11, Romans 5:20-21).
Steve Barhydt
I second this interpretation.
Vince Wright
Spirit and Truth Ministries,
Thank you for your comment! I have a question. How do you define “worthy”? I define it as “having the qualities that deserve somebody/something” (see https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/worthy_1). This seems to me the very opposite of grace, which is “undeserved favor”.
-Vince Wright
Steve Barhydt
My two cents…
The offending phrase is ‘Your grace says I am worthy.’
There is no question that, in and of myself, I will never be ‘worthy’ of anything other than death and Hell.
The thing is that, as a follower of Christ who is walking by the Spirit, I am no longer living ‘in and of myself.’
The Bible does tell us that we can be made, or rather, declared worthy.
Look at Luke 20:34:35 (ESV)
34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,
35 but those who are CONSIDERED WORTHY to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,
In this event in Jesus’ life, the Sadducees ask Him what amounts to a trick question ‘If a woman is married seven times in the life, who’s wife will she be in the next life?’
His answer is ‘She’ll be no one’s wife because things are different in the next age.’
However, in His answer, He refers to those who are ‘considered worthy’ to attain the resurrection.
The Greek word used here is ‘kataxioō’, which from “Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words” https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2661/esv/mgnt/0-1/
********Begin Quote********
denotes “to account worthy” (kata, “intensive,” axios, “worthy”), “to judge worthy,” Luk 20:35; some mss. have it in Luk 21:36 (so the AV); the most authentic mss. have the verb katischuo, “to prevail;” Act 5:41, “were counted worthy;” so 2Th 1:5.
**********End Quote*********
Although Jesus does not explain to the Sadducees who these people are that are ‘considered worthy’, we know from other scriptures that to obtain the resurrection to eternal life you must be a follower of Christ (i.e. ‘Be saved’)
John 3:16 (ESV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And we know that salvation comes through the grace of God…
Eph 2:4-9 (ESV)
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by GRACE you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Therefore, it is though the grace of God that we are considered, accounted, judged ‘worthy’
As Spirit and Truth Ministries stated, the song does not claim that ‘I am worthy OF grace’ (emphasis mine), but rather ‘Your grace says I am worthy’
Standing outside of the grace of God, I am an outcast, unworthy but loved Romans 5:8.
Once inside of His amazing grace…
Rom 8:14-17 (ESV)
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Abba-Father.html
***********Begin Quote***************
It is life-changing to understand what it means to be able to call the one true God our “Father” and what it means to be joint-heirs with Christ. Because of our relationship with our Abba, Father, He no longer deals with us as enemies; instead, we can approach Him with “boldness” (Hebrews 10:19) and in “full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). The Holy Spirit “testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16–17).
Becoming a child of God is the highest and most humbling of honors. Because of it we have a new relationship with God and a new standing before Him. Instead of running from God and trying to hide our sin like Adam and Eve did, we run to Him, calling, “Abba, Father!” and finding forgiveness in Christ. Being an adopted child of God is the source of our hope, the security of our future, and the motivation to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1). Being children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords calls us to a higher standard, a different way of life, and, in the future, “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).
**************End Quote*******************
Vince Wright
Steve,
As usual, thank you for your langthy reply! I just found out that the lyric actually reads “your grace is unworthy”, which makes my criticism, as well as this reply, moot. However, you do raise good points. It made me think of the Christian concept of righteousness, or right standing with God. Righteousness is not earned, but we do have it.
-Vince Wright
Spirit and Truth Ministries
Vince,
I do not understand what your question means, but it appears you do not understand where I am coming from. Therefore, I will go deeper into what I meant.
God is both gracious and just (Isaiah 30:18). Justice demands that we must be punished, but grace says, “They are forgiven, purified, and made righteous by the blood of the lamb. Because they believe in the name of the only begotten Son, now they are worthy. (see 2 Corinthians 5:21, John 1:12-13, Romans 8:1,2).
We are not worthy of grace. It is God’s Law that reveals this. (Romans 7:7, John 9:41) But God in His grace says, “You are my child. (John 1:12) I love you. (John 3:16,17) I want you with me in Heaven and my grace made a way for you to be worthy.”
My point is this: in this review, you have mixed up the attributes of God’s Law and Justice with His Grace.
beautyofsalvationinchrist
Undeserved is not unworthy! God’s grace is worthy! When i say “this thing is not worth a million” i say it is less than million! When i say grace is unworthy i say it is less than me (unbiblical)
Vince Wright
beautyofsalvationinchrist,
Thank you for your comment!
When I hear something that is said of as “this thing is not worth a million”, that sounds to me like it’s worthless. Yes technically, it means “less than a million”, but then if it’s worth, say, a thousand, why not just say that? Tell us what value is has, not what value it does not have.
Besides, all of this is moot considering that I’ve already updated my review in constrast to the comment to which you are replying.
-Vince Wright
Michael Ramsey
I think when it says “Your grace says I’m Worthy” its implying your grace makes me worthy? I don’t know but does that make sense?
Katharine
Hi Vince,
Great review as always. I’m not going to say anything on the theology of the lyrics as I think I have little to add to the conversation.
However, when I looked up the lyrics online, I found that some places stated the line in question as ‘Your grace is unworthy’, and some as ‘Your grace says I’m worthy.’ Then when I listened to the YouTube video, I found it very hard to differentiate between the two because of the way Phil Wickham pronounces it. Perhaps this is something worth checking, that the lyrics have been transcribed accurately?
Vince Wright
Katharine,
Thank you for your comment! You are correct: the Genius lyric is incorrect. Odd because I swore I heard “your grace says I am worthy” when I listened to it. Oh well, I updated my review.
-Vince Wright
Spirit and Truth Ministries
I checked Essential Music’s site (Essential Music is a music “label” that has worked with many artists such as Elevation Worship, Maverick City Music, Pat Barrett, etc.) ant the correct lyrics are indeed, “You’re grace says I’m worthy.”
I will accept either way of singing it as God’s grace is undeserved, But it causes us to become children of God and thus heirs to the Kingdom.
Michael Ramsey
Essential Music’s site isn’t the most accurate. The have song lyrics, and chords wrong 20 percent of the time I’ve used them.
Spirit and Truth Ministries
Thanks for that info