Chris Tomlin – Resurrection Power

Unless you’ve been quarantined far beyond this recent COVID outbreak for the past 20 years, you probably know about Chris Tomlin.  He is a 26-time award recipient, including 23 Dove Awards, 2 Billboard awards, and 1 Grammy.

Tomlin released sixteen albums:

• 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)

Also, check out my reviews of Noel, God’s Great Dance Floor, Jesus Loves Me, My Deliverer, Wonderful Maker, Our God, At The Cross (Love Ran Red), and Home.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Chris-tomlin-resurrection-power-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.

1. What message does the song communicate?

We are former slaves to sin, freed by Christ’s sacrifice.  The Holy Spirit lives inside us, clothing us in righteousness.

Side Note: For those sensitive to mass repetition, Bridge speaks about freedom twelve times in rapid succession.

Score: 10/10

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

This song agrees with the Bible.

[Verse 1]

Lined 1 and 2: Describes Tomlin’s migration from spiritually dead to alive in Christ (Romans 6:1-11, Romans 7:4-6, Galatians 2:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:11, and 1 Peter 2:24).

Lines 3 and 4: Quotes from 2 Corinthians 5:17.

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: Jesus gave us His Holy Spirit, who lives inside us (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).

Lines 3 and 4: We we receive Jesus’ payment for lawbreaking (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), it frees us from becoming slaves to our sinful lifestyle (John 8:34, Romans 6:6, Romans 6:20-22, and 1 Corinthians 6:12).

Line 5: We are given God’s light (Matthew 5:14-16, Ephesians 5:8, 1 Peter 2:9, 1 John 1:5-7, and 1 John 2:7-11).

Line 6: Essentially repeats line 3.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-4: See commentary in Verse 1.  Tomlin makes the same points worded differently, except for line 1, where he describes the Holy Spirit as royal clothing.  In effect, this clothes us in righteousness ().

[Bridge]

Lines 1 and 2: See commentary on Verse 1, lines 1 and 2.

Line 3: Repeats line 1.

Line 4: Repeats part of line 1.  The word ‘Hallelujah” is a compound Hebrew phrase, with “hallelu” meaning “a joyous praise in song” and “jah” or “yah”, which refers to the Tetragrammaton YHWH. Put together, we are singing “we joyfully praise God in song”.

[Outro]

Lines 1-3: Repeats Chorus, lines 1 and 2.

Line 4: Repeats Chorus, line 4.

Lines 5 and 6: Repeats Chorus, line 5.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

This song is primarily about spiritual awakening, something that unbelievers won’t comprehend unless they experience it for themselves.  To comprehend this, they require a basic level understanding, that we’ve broken God’s laws, forgiveness of sins is available through Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside those who receive His salvation, and that this frees us from our former master: sin.

Those outside the camp of Christ will see that it’s a Christian song, given its explicit references to “Jesus”, resurrection”, and “sin”.

Score: 4/10

4. What does this song glorify?

This song glorifies God, that Christ makes available a personal relationship with God through sacrifice, freeing us from sin.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Chris Tomlin’s Resurrection Power is a great song for believers.  It magnifies our freedom from our former lifestyle of sin and shame, crediting Jesus as the One who saves us.  His Holy Spirit lives in us, bringing Him glory.  Unbelievers will probably not comprehend this basic message without further study or experience, even if they think it’s obvious that it’s a Christian song.

I highly recommend this song for believers who don’t mind Bridge’s repetition.  It could be used as a reinforcement tool for seeker-sensitive churches after preaching the Gospel and the freedom that comes with knowing Christ.

Final Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: Resurrection Power (listen to the song)

Artist: Chris Tomlin

Album: Holy Roar

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2018

Duration: 4:11

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

03/23/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.  I moved my commentary as a side note, raising section 1’s score.  This slightly increased its overall score, from 8.5/10 to 9/10.