Chris Tomlin (Feat. Lady A) – Who You Are To Me

Contemporary Christian juggernaut Chris Tomlin began his career in 1993.  He released seventeen albums, including:

• Inside Your Love (1995)
• Authentic (1998)
• Too Much Free Time (1998)
• The Noise We Make (2001)
• Not to Us (2002)
• Arriving (2004)
• See the Morning (2006)
• Hello Love (2008)
• And If Our God Is for Us… (2010)
• Burning Lights (2013)
• Love Ran Red (2014)
• Adore: Christmas Songs Of Worship (2015)
• Never Lose Sight (2016)
• Holy Roar (2018)
• Chris Tomlin & Friends (2020)
• Miracle of Love: Christmas Songs of Worship (2020)
• Always (2022)

He is a 26-time award recipient, including 23 Dove Awards, 2 Billboard awards, and 1 Grammy.

Also, check out my other Chris Tomlin reviews and Christmas song Noel.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Chris-tomlin-who-you-are-to-me-lyrics.

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1. What message does the song communicate?

Though the world thinks God is unreal, unbelievable, and only for those “religious folk”, Tomlin has a deep-seeded personal relationship with Jesus.  He recognizes that Christ is:

• Liberator
• Living inside Tomlin
• Glorified through creation
• Awe-inspiring
• Trustworthy
• Love
• Forgiving
• Most important
• The Lamb who is worthy of Tomlin’s worship
• The Great Physician
• The long-awaited One

To this, Tomlin bows in amazement, wonder, and yielded to His ways.

My only minor criticism is “When I’m empty You fill me with hunger for more”.  This is confusing.  How does making me more hungry in the literal or figurative sense address Tomlin’s feeling of emptiness?  One would think that God fills Tomlin at some level, but that isn’t what the lyrics say.

Score: 9/10

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

With the exception of a single line that doesn’t make sense, this song is Biblically sound.

[Intro]

Line 1: Kool-Aid Man’s signature catch phrase.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1 and 2: These are common beliefs among those who don’t follow Jesus.

Lines 3-5: References Exodus 14:1-31 as an archetype to represent God rescuing Tomlin.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1 and 2: While unbelievers think that God is an idol of worship, Tomlin knows that He lives inside his heart (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14).

Line 3: Tomlin has seen God’s glory in creation (Psalm 19:1-4).

Line 4: Repeats Verse 1, line 5.

[Chorus]

Lines 1-4: God is:

• Amazing (Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 8:3-4, Psalm 147:5, Job 26:14, Isaiah 40:28, and Isaiah 55:8-9)
• Faithful (Numbers 23:19, Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 33:4, Psalm 91:4, Psalms 119:90, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Corinthians 10:13, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 10:23, 2 Peter 3:9, and 1 John 1:9)
• The embodiment of love (Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 17:7, Psalm 36:5-7, Psalm 63:3, Psalm 69:16, Psalm 117:2, Isaiah 54:8, John 3:16, John 13:34, John 15:13, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 8:37-39, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:25, Titus 3:4, 1 John 4:8-10, and 1 John 4:16-19 )
• Merciful (Exodus 33:19, Psalm 86:5, Psalm 145:9, Lamentations 3:22-23, Luke 6:36, Romans 9:15-16, Ephesians 2:4-5, Titus 3:5, Hebrews 4:16, and 1 Peter 1:3)
• Good (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)
• Vital (Philippians 3:8-10)

Line 2 is written poorly.  Even when taken figuratively, it doesn’t make sense that God salviating desire is going to solve Tomlin’s emptiness problem.  It would make more sense if it said, “When I’m empty You fill me”.  This communicates God as provider, which is supported in Genesis 2:15-16, Genesis 9:3, Genesis 22:8, Exodus 16:1-36, Psalm 18:2, Psalm 34:10, Psalm 81:10, Psalm 84:11, Psalm 107:9, Proverbs 10:3, Malachi 3:10, Matthew 6:25-30, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 21:22, John 14:13-14, John 14:26, John 15:1-10, John 15:16, Romans 8:32, Ephesians 3:20, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8, and 2 Corinthians 12:9.

Lines 5 and 6: Repeats/essentially repeats Verse 1, line 5.

[Verse 3]

Lines 1-3: Surrender helps Tomlin doubt his doubts (Psalm 43:5, Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).

Line 4: See Chorus, line 4.

[Bridge]

Line 1: Combines God as holy (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7,1 Peter 1:15-16, and Revelation 4:8) with God that does not change (Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, and James 1:17) and God that exists forever (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).

Line 2: Contextualizes God as the worthy Lamb, that is, Jesus (Revelation 5:8-14).

Lines 3 and 4: Jesus:

• Forgives (Matthew 26:28, Act 2:38, Act 5:31, Act 10:43, Romans 4:7, Romans 5:6-8, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Colossians 2:13-14, James 5:15, James 5:19-20, 1 John 2:1-2, and 1 John 2:12)
• Heals (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, and Luke 5:31)
• Is the Christ (Matthew 16:16, Mark 8:29, Luke 2:26-32, Luke 4:41, Luke 9:20, John 1:41-42, and John 11:47)
• Redeems (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)

[Post-Chorus]

Line 1: God is Higher (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11)

Line 2: Tomlin is awestruck amid God’s presence.  This is summarized eloquently in Psalm 33:8-9.

Lines 3-5: Repeats Chorus, lines 3-5.

[Outro]

Lines 1-8: Repeats/essentially repeats Verse 1, line 5.

Score: 9/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Verse 2’s mention of “cathedral” and “You” who lives in Tomlin’s heart points unbelievers to a religious interpretation.  It’s not until Bridge that they will realize that it’s Christian, chiefly, because it mentions the Lamb who is worthy.  Most of them will recognize this as Jesus.  Tomlin’s language is everyday, making it easy for them to comprehend the many actions and properties of Christ that I listed in section 1.

As stated in previous sections, the second line of Chorus will likely cause those who don’t know Jesus to scratch their heads, then unceremoniously dismissing it as drivel.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Aside from the aforementioned confusing statement, Tomlin’s litany of Jesus’ acts and attributes, alongside Tomlin’s reverent worship, brings Him glory.

Score: 9/10

Closing Comments

Chris Tomlin’s Who You Are To Me is mostly great.  It proclaims Jesus’ usual attributes in Contemporary Christian music such as His love, forgiveness, healing, faithfulness, and holiness (among other things).  Though “when I’m empty You fill me with hunger for more” is mistifying, it does little to tarnish God’s glory or an unbeliever’s interpretation of this song.

If this line could be addressed/modified, then I can recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: Who You Are To Me (listen to the song)

Artist: Chris Tomlin (Feat. Lady A)

Album: Chris Tomlin & Friends

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2020

Duration: 3:51

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