Is There a Difference Between a Hymn and a Worship Song?

Gary: You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Still to come, Dave and Tom continue their weekly in-depth study of the doctrine of salvation. Please stay with us!

Now, Contending for the Faith: In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call. Here is this week’s question:

“Dear Dave and Tom, I’ve received the following commentary on hymns and choruses in an email from a friend, and I’m not sure where the person got it. Evidently, the author is a bit smarter than the two of you, because he left it unsigned to keep the controversy from parking itself on his or her personal doorstep. Although I have my suspicions, I’m curious to hear how you handle the enclosed submission.”

Tom: Dave, we usually don’t take submissions of any length, but I think this is definitely an exception.

“An old farmer went to the city on one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘it was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.’

‘Praise choruses?’ said his wife. ‘What are those?’

‘Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,’ said the farmer.

‘Well, what’s the difference?’ asked his wife.

The farmer said, ‘Well, it’s like this: If I were to say to you, “Martha, the cows are in the corn,” well, that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you, “Martha, Martha, Martha, oh Martha, Martha, Martha, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the cows, cows, cows are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the corn, corn, corn.” Then if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well, that would be a praise chorus!’

“As luck would have it, the exact same Sunday a young new Christian from the city church attended a small town church. He came home and his wife asked how it was.

‘Well,’ said the young man, ‘it was good. There was something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.’

‘Hymns?’ said his wife. ‘What are those?’

‘Well, they’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs only different,’ said the young man.

‘Well, what’s the difference?’ asked his wife.

“The young man said, ‘Well, it’s like this: If I were to say to you, “Martha, the cows were in the corn,” well, that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you,

“Oh Martha, dear Martha,

Hear thou my cry,

Incline thy ear to the words of my mouth,

Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by

To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth,

For the way of the animals who can explain

There in their heads is no shadow of sense.

Hearkenest they in God’s Son and His reign,

Unless from the mild tempting corn they are fenced,

Yea, those cows and glad bovine rebellious delight

Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.

Then goaded by minions of darkness and night,

They all, my child, Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

So look to that bright shining day by and by,

Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn,

Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry,

And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.”

‘Then if I were to do only verses 1, 3, and 4, and do a key change in the last verse, well, that would be a hymn.’”

Now, Dave, I think we’ve got two extremes here, and this is—I appreciate this, but what are we talking about when we’re talking about hymns that glorify God? Those that have content.

Dave: Like your news article, it’s a little bit difficult to take this seriously. Extremes is right! But I would say there is definitely a difference between so-called “praise songs” and hymns. That doesn’t mean that every hymn is the best, or that every praise…

Tom: And I think it makes a point here with their rendition of a hymn…

Dave: I don’t know of hymns like that. And maybe some people would say, “Well, I don’t know praise choruses like that.” Seven-eleven songs: seven words repeated eleven times or whatever. The hymns—you can take your pick. You can take your pick of praise choruses. You can take your pick of hymns. A lot of hymns in a book, and I know some fantastic hymns…

Tom: Right.

Dave: …and I know hymns that have biblical content, that have doctrinal content that bow you in worship before the Lord, because they biblically declare who He is and what He’s done in beautiful, straightforward language—not this kind of stuff that…

Tom: No, a regular song. A regular song in terms of content…

Dave: And I also know…

Tom: …and communication.

Dave: …I’ve also been present when so-called praise songs, or whatever they call them, from the worship team, and I find words about, “I love to worship You, I love to worship You, I love to worship You,” and I’m sitting there thinking, Well, then why don’t you worship Him? Worship is not words about worship. Praise is not words about praise. Love is not words about love. But if we began to declare the glory of the Lord, the wonders of His love, and there are wonderful hymns that state that in very clear, powerful terms, then we’re worshipping; then we’re praising. There must be some content to this. And so I must say that I have found an awful lot of these new choruses contentless, shallow, and repetitive. On the other hand, there are some that are quite good, and there are hymns that maybe are not quite as bad as that one, but…

So I think what we have to do is decide do we really want to praise the Lord? Do we really love the Lord? Then let’s find something from wherever it comes from that really expresses this clearly.

Tom: Dave, and it goes back to the point we made in our feature article: If you’re going to love God, you’re going to love Him on the basis of knowing Him, knowing Him better and better—what He’s done, what He’s about, what He’s, you know, as we said before, what He’s done for us…

Dave: Who He is.

Tom: …just who He is. And that’s a learning, growing situation of knowledge, of understanding Him.

Dave: And maybe we need to give more attention to the lyrics, to the words, than to the beat, because it seems like people can be very caught up in the beat. And I’m not opposed to clapping your hands or whatever…

Tom: Something upbeat.

Dave: …but there has to be some content, some cerebral understanding of who God is and why we’re praising Him rather than just clapping our hands and getting into a rhythm.

Tom: Yeah, it becomes mindless emotion if that’s the case.

Dave: Yeah.