Photo by Jackson Simmer
Starting with a house purchase in 2006 in Knoxville, Tennessee, United Pursuit (formerly known as Will Reagan & United Pursuit) hoped to attract youth to win them for Christ through music. It eventually led to a full-fledged band, with several album releases, concerts, and inclusion in Billboard’s list!
They released a total of 17 combined albums and EP’s, including:
- EP (2008)
- Radiance (2009)
- In the Night Season (2009)
- Live at the Banks House (2009)
- Love/War/Solar System (2011)
- Color Of Red (2011)
- Here Begin (2011)
- Endless Years (2012)
- Live At the Banks House (2013)
- The Wild Inside (2014)
- Simple Gospel (2015)
- Looking for a Savior (2016)
- Simple Gospel B-Sides (2016)
- Tell All My Friends (2017)
- 40. (2017)
- Letting Go (2017)
- The Monthly EP (2018)
Also, see my reviews of Fill Me Up and Nothing I Hold Onto.
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?
Christ’s name is powerful! He can break the spiritual bonds that hold us back from following Him. His sacrifice for our lawbreaking is sufficient to save us. He offers liberation freely to anyone willing to receive it.
The difference between the statement “there is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain” and the Word of Faith kind of “Everyone will be healed” sort of claims is that this song focuses on potential, not on the result. Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient, but doesn’t claim that everyone will receive it. Jesus’ name can demolish strongholds, but doesn’t state that everyone will experience it. The power is there, but it makes no absolute assertions that guarantee a positive outcome. It leaves room for the will of God, even if it doesn’t state it explicitly.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
All of it is in agreement with Scripture.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Chorus]
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
It is in His name that demons are removed, people are healed, and lives are saved (Mark 16:17, Luke 10:17, Acts 3:6, Acts 3:12-16, Acts 4:30, Romans 10:13, Romans 10:19, and Philippians 2:9-11).
[Chorus 2]
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
Repeats Chorus, including a repeated fourth line.
[Verse]
All-sufficient sacrifice
Jesus’ death makes a payment that can satisfy the legal implications that make forgiveness of sins possible (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9).
So freely given, such a price for
Our redemption, Heaven’s gates swing wide
It was His love for us that caused Jesus to pay for our sins (John 3:16 and Romans 5:6-8), redeeming us (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, 1 Corinthians 6:20, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 9:28, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:9, and 1 John 2:2). The gates are wide in the sense that salvation is available to everyone who asks (Romans 10:1-13).
All-sufficient sacrifice
So freely given, such a price for
Our redemption, Heaven’s gates swing wide
Repeats lines 1-3.
[Bridge]
There’s an army rising up
That is, the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, and Ephesians 4:1-16).
There’s an army rising up
There’s an army rising up
There’s an army rising up
Repeats line 1.
There’s an army rising up
There’s an army rising up
There’s an army rising up
There’s an army rising up
Repeats line 1.
[Tag]
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain
Repeats Chorus, line 4, but in a different context. It is us, the body of believers, who can invoke the name of Jesus to break chains, just like the early church did in Acts 3:6, Acts 3:12-16, and Acts 4:30.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will be quick to understand that it’s a Christian song about the crucifixion of Jesus, though not comprehending its transforming power. I have qualms about their interpretation of the army that United Pursuit communicates.
Many will wonder why God doesn’t break their chains and find it difficult to follow Jesus because He doesn’t, but that is a question that is beyond this song’s lyrics and the interpretation therein, yet, United Pursuit’s lyrics bring these inquiries to the forefront.
Score: 6/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God in that it magnifies the reach and power of His might.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
United Pursuit’s Break Every Chain is a great song for believers. It makes statements about the power of Jesus’ name, that it breaks chains, carefully avoiding stating that everyone will experience it a la Word of Faith. Christ’s sacrifice makes possible the sufficiency for the redemption of sins, offered openly to anyone who wants it, bringing Him glory. Some unbelievers may struggle with the question of “why doesn’t God use His power to help me?”, which this song does not address nor is it intended to.
I highly recommend this for corporate worship for believers, though I would prefer fewer refrains in Bridge.
Final Score: 9/10
Artist Info
Track: Break Every Chain (listen to the song)
Artist: United Pursuit
Album: In the Night Season
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2009
Duration: 7:12
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2009 United Pursuit Music (ASCAP) Capitol CMG Genesis (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
03/26/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. I raised section 1’s score. This did not affect the overall review.
Comments
racefangurl
If an unbeliever raises that question you speak of, then the believers can say God will help you if you talk to Him in prayer.
racefangurl
Prayer of salvation, that is.
Lu
Oh, Vince, I am so saddened by your theological method. I am sure your heart is in the right place, but please, respectfully, take a look again. You’ve said it all ‘lines up’ with scripture. It really doesn’t. One key phrase is ‘break every chain’, and the most pertinent word there is ‘every’. That’s the word that would hit an individual when singing it. Every single situation which feels like a chaining (including the pressing one in the individual’s mind) God will break the situation.
But what Acts shows us is that sometimes God does and sometimes he doesn’t. Yes, some followers of Jesus were miraculously released from prison, as you mention. And that is to God’s glory. But some weren’t: some , like James, were executed. And, however hard it may be to comprehend, that is also to God’s glory.
(And of course, in Acts, here, these verses show ‘chains’ is not standing as a metaphor for sin. It may well act as that in other places in the Bible – but these certainly show it isn’t always that. )
Paul, himself, by the time he is writing letters, is often doing so from prison. In Ephesians 6:20 he says he is ‘an ambassador in chains’ Even more, in Philippians 1:13, he says he is ‘in chains for Christ’.
His chains proclaim his faithful devotion to Christ. The chains are to God’s glory.
It is a great mystery how sometimes God’s glory can be revealed in very different ways: but mystery is at the heart of the gospel.
For some people , God will display his glory through a changed situation. For others, a deepening devotion to God despite a dreadful unchanged situation shows God’s glory. And, us, not being God, don’t get to decide.
The danger of a song like that is it can give false hope – instead of pointing to the true hope of Jesus.
Moreover, it can add the risk, that is always there, that any ‘chains’ that aren’t broken was down to the individual’s lack of faith. Which is demonstrably wrong, but also so so cruel. Songs are importantly pastorally. Please, please, out of love for struggling people, take a look again.
racefangurl
Maybe to him, it’s saying God can, not that He will. God has the power to break every chain. See his commentary about the difference between this song and Word of Faith. This song doesn’t say “The power of Jesus will break every chain”, it says “There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain” But you act like it does says Jesus will break every chain. The part you need to read says potential, not result is what the song talks about. You seem to think the song talks result, but to him it’s not saying that.
Neal Cruco
Lu,
Your concern is valid, but Vince has already addressed it in his review. The name of Jesus has the power to break every chain. That does not mean every chain will be broken, as you have explained.
“The difference between the statement “there is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain” and the Word of Faith kind of “Everyone will be healed” sort of claims is that this song focuses on potential, not on the result. Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient, but doesn’t claim that everyone will receive it. Jesus’ name can demolish strongholds, but doesn’t state that everyone will experience it. The power is there, but it makes no absolute assertions that guarantee a positive outcome. It leaves room for the will of God, even if it doesn’t state it explicitly.”
R
The name can’t break the chain without the Blood
Abaho Derrick Moses
Well , at one Church when this sing was sung , the line “we’re the army rising up to break every chain” was disputed against with the argument that there is no human army sufficient to contend against the forces of the evil. But that it is the Lord alone who breaks the power of cancelled sin and that it is his anointing that breaks the yoke …,
Aaron Lee Easton
No doubt, Christ is God’s only answer to the sin question. Yet, any & all the benefits of Christ’s finished work on the cross comes to the believer by faith in Christ alone. Without proper faith in Christ alone [not adding some work or action to it] no bondage of sin can be broken.