To write a hymn is to look on the face of God, embrace his will, and sing his grace.
Hymns are expressions of worship. They are man’s glad and grateful acknowledgement of the “worth-ship” of almighty God, his confession of his own creatureliness before his Creator, his bowing before the transcendence of God. Hymns are a celebration of what God is and what he has done: songs of praise, thanksgiving, and joy in God. Christians sing hymns because God is worthy to be praised.
If a hymn is an expression of the worth-ship of God, a statement of Christian belief, a means of teaching biblical truth, and a witness to personal Christian experience, it follows that its words are of utmost importance. It is the words that decide the worth of a hymn. The music is merely the setting against which the words will be experienced; its purpose is to strengthen and enhance the message of the words. The best hymn tunes are those that best illuminate their text. With this background, let me suggest six characteristics of a good hymn.
1.Good hymns are God-centered, not man-centered. Good hymns adore the eternal Godhead for what he is, worshiping him for his holiness, wisdom, power, justice, goodness, mercy, and truth. They praise him for his mighty acts—for creation, preservation, redemption; for guidance, provision, protection; for the hope of glory. They offer petition suitable to their theme. Good hymns are free from introspection; they focus on God, not man. When man enters the picture it is to acknowledge the darkness of his sinful nature in the light of such a God, to seek his mercy, and to marvel and rejoice in his redeeming grace.
2.Good hymns are theologically sound. Many hymns in common use today contain theological untruths, yet they are sung by congregations who would quickly root theological error from the sermon.
For example, waxing sentimental over an old rugged cross will never save anyone; our faith must be in the Christ of the Cross, in his death, resurrection, exaltation, and present ministry for us—and our hymns must say so. The church should be more aware of this. Erik Routley, in Hymns Today and Tomorrow (Abingdon, 1964), says a hymn is a persuasive thing; it makes us feel that this is what we think, not just what the writer thinks:
“A congregation’s disposition towards right belief or away from it is subtly influenced by the habitual use of hymns. No single influence in public worship can so surely condition a congregation to self-deception, to fugitive follies, to religious perversities, as thoughtlessly chosen hymns. The singing congregation is uncritical; but it matters very much what it sings, for it comes to believe its hymns. Wrong doctrine in preaching would be noticed; in hymns, it may come to be believed.”
We should take a long, sober look at the theology of our songs and hymns, and seek out and use only those that are true to the Scriptures. There is no shortage of theologically sound hymns.
3.Good hymns are doctrinal in content. True worship is so inseparable from the foundation truths of our faith that most good hymns, in measure at least, are expositional in nature. And this is good.
Some preachers are evangelists or pastors rather than expositors or teachers; some stress certain doctrines and neglect others. But the worshiping congregation with a good and wisely used hymnbook can be constantly instructed and blessed as the great doctrines of the faith come before it in continual renewal and review.
The doctrine of good hymns is true to Christian experience as well as to Scripture. It does not describe as commonplace certain emotional, mountaintop experiences that for most Christians occur rarely, if at all. Good hymns express the thoughts and feelings of the average believer, not some super saint. Their doctrine is not only biblical, but down-to-earth and practical, helping worshipers to live as Christians should.
Good hymns are not myopic; they are full-orbed in their view. Good missionary hymns thus encompass the whole spectrum of evangelism, not content to “Bring them in” or “Send the light” again and again, or to rely on man’s feeble though necessary labors. Rather, they embrace God’s great redemptive purpose, and give themselves unsparingly to work in cooperation with him who alone can build his church. Neither do good hymns on prayer wallow in the sweetness of the hour, but set forth the true nature of prayer and encourage us to give ourselves to the sacrificial warfare it demands.
4.Good hymns have words of beauty, dignity, reverence, and simplicity. Whether lofty exultations or simple declarations of trust, good hymns are chaste, precise, and lovely in their utterance. Their language is clear and concise. Such hymns are never glib or pat or extravagant or sentimental; they are always true. They speak beautifully, feelingly, compellingly, and with restraint of the things of God, and they do not transgress the limits of good taste.
Good hymns are adult in word and tone. They do not insult our intelligence by requiring us to sing immortal truths in childish or unsuitable modes of expression. They contain nothing to bewilder or embarrass an unbeliever, but will speak to him of a deep, sincere, vital experience of God. While their figures of speech will have meaning for the contemporary worshiper, they will be in keeping with the worth-ship of God.
5.Good hymns display preciseness and finesse of poetic technique and expression. Good hymns have a single theme and organic unity. The poetry moves from a bold attack in the opening line through a definite progression of thought to a clear and decisive climax. Rhymes and rhythms are interesting, original, and correct. Meters may be varied, but conservative enough so that good, singable tunes can be written for them. The union of words and music is accurate. Good hymns should be short enough to be sung in their entirety so that the full impact of their sequence is not lost. They should be free of irrelevant, detracting refrains.
6.Good hymns turn heavenward. Worthy hymns rejoice in the unity of believers and the communion of saints. The best hymn writers have recognized more often than most of us that the people of God are one. They take their place with the warring, suffering, and triumphing church universal, identifying as readily with saints of the past as with those of today. Such hymns speak often of the soul’s true home.
In the end, good hymns are not the result of desire or ambition, but are an outgrowth of spiritual life. They are based not on feeling but on eternal verities, centered not on man but on God.
To write a hymn is to do more than use correctly certain techniques. It is to look on the face of God, to worship in his presence, embrace his will, accept his Cross and live daily under its obedience; it is then, having learned the disciplines of good writing, to sing God’s grace. True hymn writers have not primarily sought to write hymns but to know God; and knowing him, they could not but sing. Theirs are the hymns that have lived through the ages and will live into the future. We need this kind of hymn writing today if our generation will contribute anything real to the church’s treasury of worship and praise.
Carl F. H. Henry, first editor of Christianity Today, is lecturer at large for World Vision International. An author of many books, he lives in Arlington, Virginia.
