Bethel Music – One Thing Remains

Bethel Music has been infiltrating worship sets for several years.  I myself have done several reviews from their artists under this label and other labels, including No Longer Slaves, Raise a Hallelujah, and Reckless Love.  Overall, I have not been impressed with their music.  Maybe One Thing Remains will change my mind?

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Bethel-music-one-thing-remains-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.  I strongly encourage you to consider the potential blessings and dangers of this artist‘s theology by visiting Resources.

1. What message does the song communicate?

The main thrust of this song is that “your” love does not fail.  It is a love that is deeper, wider, and stronger than any other that exists, including death.  Nothing will separate the recipient of “your” love that overflows our thirsty souls, causing us to lose what fear we had left.  It is also the source of our confidence and payment for our debt.

Who is this “your” whose love never fails?  Though the majority of these lyrics have the trappings of boyfriend language, what keeps this interpretation barely less likely is the mention of debt payment and the grave.  Still, Bethel could have included some attributes of God to make it clearer.

Side Note: To those sensitive to massive repetition, the Chorus shows up four times, each with a thrice-repeat.  The Bridge and second verse also appears twice apiece.

Score: 8/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Almost all of it does; However, one line is slightly unclear.  Since there is barely enough information to interpret “your” as God, I will not invoke a 2 point penalty for this section.

[Verse 1]

Line 1: Derivative of Psalm 36:5-11 and Psalm 108:4.

Line 2: A nod to Christ’s resurrection (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

Line 3: God does not change (Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, and James 1:17).

Line 4: Prefixes the Chorus.

[Chorus]

Line 1: Combines love never fails in 1 Corinthians 13:8 with God’s nature as love in 1 John 4:8 and God’s unchanging nature found in Verse 1, line 3 to conclude that God’s love does not fail or abandons us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Psalm 118:6 and Hebrews 13:5–6).

Lines 2-3: Repeats line 1.

Line 4: Repeats first two words of line 1.  Occurs on repeated versions of this section.

[Verse 2]

Line 1: That is, constant and unchanging. See commentary in Verser 1, line 3.

Line 2: An allusion to Psalm 107:9 contextualized as God’s love.

Line 3: We do not need to be afraid because God will help us (Genesis 15:1, Joshua 1:9, Deuteronomy 31:6, 1 Chronicles 28:20, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 34:4, Psalm 56:3-4, Psalm 94:19, Psalm 115:11, Psalm 118:6, Isaiah 35:4, Isaiah 41:10-13, Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 54:4, John 14:25-27, Romans 8:15, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Timothy 1:7, Hebrews 13:5-6, 1 Peter 3:13-14, 1 Peter 5:6-7, and 1 John 4:18).

Line 4: Twice-repeats Verse 1, line 4.

[Bridge]

Line 1: That is, regardless of one’s own personal scenario.

Lines 2 and 3: This is not made 100% clear, but the confidence and power come from Christ’s shed blood (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:18-19).  The believer is left to understand this on his/her own.

Line 4: That is, the certificate of debt nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14).

Lines 5 and 6: “Nothing” as defined by Paul’s exhaustive list in Romans 8:31-39.

Score: 9/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Their first impulse will likely be boyfriend language, unless they hear this at church or pay attention to the words “grave” and “debt” within these lyrics.  Still, the deep longing for love will stir some of their hearts.  Assuming they understand “your” as God, perhaps it will invoke in them a sense of relational inquiry?  On second thought, probably not.

As an aside, it might be painful to ex-Christians who experienced hardship and blame God for “failing” them by allowing them to get hurt.  Keep that in mind if you consider suggesting this song to an unbeliever.

Score: 4/10

4. What does this song glorify?

God’s incredible love exists is spotlighted, bringing Him glory.  However, the heavy use of boyfriend language makes it easy for unbelievers to miss the point.

Score: 7/10

Closing Comments

Bethel Music’s One Thing Remains is average.  On the one hand, it has highly Biblical lyrics that have a good message and brings glory to God.  However, it is trapped in heavy boyfriend language, making it easy for unbelievers to miss a God interpretation.

If your congregation does not mind repetition, feel free to sing this one at church.  There is enough Biblical accuracy to not automatically reject this one based on theology.  However, It’s not one I prefer.

Final Score: 7.5/10

Artist Info

Track: One Thing Remains (listen to the song)

Artist: Bethel Music

Album: Be Lifted High

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2011

Duration: 5:01

Agree?  Disagree?  Don’t be shy or have a cow!  Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

06/11/2021 – Per Artist Theology announcement, I expanded the red text to encourage others to study Bethel Music’s theology.

03/19/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.  I also raised my score for sections 1 and 4 and commentary for all sections, except 2.  My view on repetition is now a side note.  This raised its score from 6.5/10 to 7.5/10.