Photo by Noah Silliman
It’s that time of year again, where stores bombard us with ads, attempt to part us with our money with last-minute Christmas shopping, and reminds us how many days until the inevitable holiday arrives. COVID-19 brings a different set of challenges, making Christmas parties either a thing of the past or a monstrous challenge filled with masks, social distancing to prevent Grandma Sally from catching Coronavirus.
Amid the noise are tales of a lonely manger filled with animals, hay, and a teenage betrothed woman with a baby boy. Though the world would have us think this holiday is about food, shopping, and presents, we take this time to remember that God became one of us so that He could die in our place and rise again. The story of Christmas is more about Easter than giving gifts.
To honor this time of year, I will be reviewing Christmas songs from now until December 23rd, starting with Joseph Mohr’s Silent Night, written in 1816 and first performed on Christmas Eve in 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. John Freeman Young translated it to English, reducing from six to three Verses. This the mainstream version used today.
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1. What message does the song communicate?
It makes mention of the Virgin Mary with her baby boy Jesus, the Shepherds who feared the heavenly host of angels announcing Christ’s birth, and Christ as holy, light, and Lord. I grant poetic license to Mohr for the silent nights in the stable and before the angelic hosts.
It’s possible that the angels were singing, though the case for it is not strong (see section 2). This affects the song’s Biblical accuracy, but not its overall message.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Almost all of it aligns with Scripture, except that the angels sang. The Scriptural support for this is weak at best.
This song is public domain.
[Verse 1]
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
It probably wasn’t the night that Mary gave birth to Christ (Matthew 1:25 and Luke 2:5-7), the magi visited (Matthew 2:1-12), the shepherds came (Luke 2:15-20), or Mary, Joseph, and Jesus escaped to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15). Mohr probably takes poetic license to describe a regular night in Bethlehem post-birth, where nothing exciting or notable occurs.
“Round Yon Virgin” doesn’t mean that Mary is traveling nor does it describe her soft, maternal nature. It means “around that virgin”, indicating that “Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child” is a prepositional phrase, stating that it’s “that virgin over there”, whose name is Mary and has a child.
Of course, the child is Jesus. He is holy (Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34, Acts 3:14, Acts 4:27-30, 1 John 2:20, Hebrews 7:26, and Revelation 4:8), tender, and mild (Matthew 11:29 and 2 Corinthians 10:1).
Sleep in heavenly peace
Repeats line 5.
[Verse 2]
Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing ‘Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born
Once again, Mohr takes poetic license to state that the night that the angels visited the shepherds (Luke 2:8-14) was otherwise quiet. Though there were heavenly hosts and they announced the birth of Jesus, Scripture does not support that they were singing. Take a good look at Luke 2:13. It says “saying”. It comes from the Koine Greek word “legó”, which means “to say”. That doesn’t mean that angels can’t sing (Job 38:7’s “morning stars” could be seen as angels), but the text doesn’t say that they sang.
As for the Koine Greek term Aineo (to praise), according to Bible Study Tools, praiseworthy singing is a possible translation for this word. However, no major translation translates it with singing in mind.
Christ the Savior is born
Repeats line 5.
[Verse 3]
Silent night, holy night
Repeats Verse 1, line 1.
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
Jesus is the Son of God (Matthew 11:27, Matthew 14:33, Matthew 16:15–17, Matthew 27:43, Matthew 27:54, Mark 1:11, Mark 3:11, Mark 9:7, Mark 15:39, Luke 1:35, Luke 4:41, Luke 22:29, John 1:14-18, John 1:34, John 3:16-18, John 11:27, John 19:7, John 20:31, and Acts 9:20) and glowing illumination (John 1:1-8, John 8:12, and Ephesians 5:14).
With the dawn of redeeming grace
“The dawn”, meaning “the start”. This references the start of a new covenant, ushered in by Christ, summarized in Matthew 26:26-28, Luke 22:19-20, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
This speaks to the eternality of Christ (John 8:58, Colossians 1:13-17, and Hebrews 13:8).
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Repeats line 5.
Score: 9/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Aside from recognizing that the angels weren’t singing, I have confidence that unbelievers will interpret this song similarly as I. It contains minimal Ye Olde English and Christianese language, just enough for those who do not yet follow Jesus to know it’s Christian, but not esoteric as to require deep, theological study.
Score: 9/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies Jesus through retelling the Christmas story in word pictures. This song’s only potential minor error is that the angels were singing, slightly veiling His glory.
Score: 9/10
Closing Comments
Joseph Mohr’s Silent Night is a worthy Christmas song. Most of it is true to Scripture, flashing moments of Christ’s birth, the shepherd’s witness of angels, and three attributes of Jesus: His holiness, light, and the new covenant. Mohr states that the angels sang, which is Biblically weak at best. Unbelievers will find interpretation easy.
If you’re not bothered by the singing angels, then feel free to sing this one during corporate worship.
Personally, I’ll just sing “say”.
Final Score: 9/10
Artist Info
Track: Silent Night (listen to Bing Crosby’s version of the song)
Artist: Joseph Mohr
Album: N/A
Genre: Christmas, Hymn
Release Year: 1818
Duration: N/A
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
10/06/2023 – Re-examined this song for corporate worship and subsequently altered the review’s end.
10/25/2022 – Upon recent information, I updated my commentary on the singing angels. While this rose section 1’s score, the overall rating is unaffected.
Comments
Jim
I’m a little confused by the comment, “minor error is that the angels were singing, slightly veiling His glory.” How would singing angels veil His glory, even slightly? Seems like singing angels would only serve to positively support His glory. Just curious as to your perspective on how the singing would be a negative (not debating whether o not they actually did sing). Thanks!
Vince Wright
Jim,
Great question!
It’s in the context of the Scriptural text. If you examine it, the angels weren’t singing when announcing Jesus’ birth. They were speaking. Makes you wonder why so many Christmas songs contain something that isn’t supported Biblically.
-Vince Wright
Heather
Luke 2:13 also says they were praising. The word used is Aineo which means “ to praise, extol, to sing praises in honour to God.” I would agree that praises can be spoken and not only sung, but perhaps it deserves a 10/10 for following scripture since the definition of praising incorporates singing?
Vince Wright
Heather,
Thank you for your comment! It doesn’t just affect this review, but all the Christmas reviews I’ve done since I started this site.
First, I looked up the definition of the word “Aineo”. While some definitions only offer the phrase “to praise”, other sources contained the definition you offered, which includes “to sing praises”. This is fascinating and eye-opening! Thanks for sharing! This opens up the door to at least the possibility of angels singing to the shepherds.
Second, I went back to the text to see if the word “praise” exists as its own entity or if it’s explained by the word “saying”. The text says, “praising God and saying”. The article “and” is a logical operand that tells us that the angels were both praising and saying. One does not inform the other. The word “praising” exists as its own entity and should be examined separately.
In light of this information, it’s possible that the angels were singing, but it’s not clear that they did. One would have to interpret Aineo as “praising God in song”, which no translation to my knowledge does. It’s a weak case at best; However, I can no longer unequivocally declare that they weren’t singing. The best I can do is to say that it’s possible they were singing, but there is not a strong case to support it Biblically. I’m willing to remove the penalty in sections 1 and 3 as the weak case for singing angels shouldn’t affect its overall message or unbeliever’s interpretation. But, the weak case for the singing angels will affect its Biblical accuracy and inherent glorification of God.
I’ll go through my reviews and update them later today or sometime this week.
-Vince Wright