Ghost Ship – Adoption

Contemporary Christian band Ghost Ship began in 2009 as one of the many Mars Hills bands.  They released one EP and three albums, including:

• A River with No End (EP, 2011)
• The Good King (2013)
• Costly (2015)
• To the End (2019)

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Ghost-ship-adoption-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?

Ghost Ship offers a vivid description of the type of person we were,  including:

• Shivering
• Hungry
• Afraid
• Shaking
• Astray
• Alone
• Without hope
• Rejected and unwanted by the world
• Thrown away
• Frail
• Futile
• Unremembered
• Careless
• Ignorant

Despite this state, “You” rescued us from depravity and made us “Your” children.  We are loved by “You”.  Who is “You”?  Someone with a lot of money and loves people.  Could it be interpreted as a human?

This begs another question: who is “we”?  If we take the natural interpretation, very few people would qualify.  For example, I’m not cold and starving as I write this review.  I would be disqualified.  A natural explanation, while possible, doesn’t fit the context of this song as much as a supernatural one.

That brings us back to our original question: who is “You”?  Could it be another deity?  Forgive my ignorance, but I don’t know of any other religion that describes adherents as “adopted children” other than Christianity.  Also, there is “You”‘s Kingship and riches.  Ghost Ship managed clarity without describing any attributes of God or using His name explicitly.

This song follows basic format.

Score: 10/10

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

The lyrics are Biblical.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-7: Examples of the “least of these” that Jesus references in Matthew 25:31-45.  It also hints at the Biblical concept of adoption, explicitly stated in the next line.

[Chorus]

Lines 1 and 2: As described in John 1:12-13, John 14:18, Romans 8:14-17, Romans 8:23, Romans 9:1-8, Galatians 3:26, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:3-14, Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 9:15, and 1 John 3:1-3, we who were formerly orphaned, alienated from God due to sin are welcomed into His Kingdom.

Line 3: Repeats line 1.

Line 4: Jesus is preparing a home for our eventual arrival (John 14:2).

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-6: See commentary on Verse 1, lines 1-6.

Line 7: Repeats Verse 1, line 1.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-4: Ghost Ship was not mature enough to realize that God owns everything and rules over it (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 5: Yes, as shown through sacrifice (John 3:16, John 14:6, and 1 John 4:9-10).

Lines 6 and 7: Essentially repeats line 5.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Adoption is a deep theological concept.  I don’t expect many unbelievers to understand it without researching the topic for themselves.  Most will likely see a natural, human explanation and miss Ghost Ship’s message, thinking that some rich king adopted a bunch of people.

Score: 3/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God as a loving ruler who receives undeserving people as His children.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Ghost Ship’s Adoption is Biblical.  It shows the world what kind of people we were before we knew Christ, adopted as His Children.  It brings glory to God.  Unbelievers cannot comprehend this song without deeper research into Christian adoption.

This song is inspirational, but doesn’t seem appropriate for corporate worship.

Final Score: 8.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Adoption (listen to the song)

Artist: Ghost Ship

Album: Costly

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 2015

Duration: 4:22

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

Updates:

02/26/2022 – Rescored section 3, raising its overall score from 8/10 to 8.5/10.

03/08/2021 – The original review incorrectly stated that Ghost Ship released two albums.  Thanks to JM for discovering my error!