MercyMe – Flawless

MercyMe is well-known as the artist behind I Can Only Imagine, originally intended to be Amy Grant’s comeback song.  MercyMe released a jaw-dropping 18 albums, including The Worship Project (1999), All That Is Within Me (2007), and LIFER (2017).  They received 12 awards for their work, including 1 Billboard, 8 Dove, 1 ASCAP, and 2 American Music.  They were also mentioned 10 times on Billboard’s magazine Decade (2000–2009).

Check out my reviews of Happy Dance, I Can Only Imagine, and Even If.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Mercyme-flawless-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?

MercyMe gives assurance to those who struggle with doing the right thing.  This is not who we are.  Our value comes from God, who rescues us and whose unconditional love compels Him to sanctify us through sufficient sacrifice.  It is not in the things we do.  Sometimes, we struggle to accept this truth.

Score: 10/10

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

The entire song is Biblical.

[Verse 1]

Lines 1-4: While we often choose good and evil (Romans 7:14-25), we also sometimes believe the lie that this struggle is our identity.  It’s not.

Lines 5-7: MercyMe’s old self thought that there was value in their works.  However, Scripture teaches that it cannot save us.  The sum of their works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  They are dead in their sins (Proverbs 21:16, Luke 15:11-24, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:1-2, Colossians 2:13, and 1 Timothy 5:6).  Their works cannot save them (Galatians 2:21).

[Pre-Chorus]

Lines 1-3: When we think it’s too late for us, God’s grace swoops in to save us, if we would believe it (Genesis 15:6, Exodus 33:19, Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 3:21-24, Romans 4:3-8, Romans 5:1-2, Romans 5:6-8, Romans 5:15-21, Romans 6:14, Romans 8:1-4, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 11:5-6, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:6, Galatians 5:4, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Titus 2:11, 1 Timothy 1:15-16, and James 2:23).

[Chorus]

Lines 1-12:  Regardless of what we’ve gone through, Christ’s sacrifice makes us holy in God’s eyes (John 17:19, Romans 8:1, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Philippians 3:9, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 10:10-14, and Hebrews 13:12).

Lines 13-17 (only appears at the end): We became sanctified the moment that we called upon the name of Jesus for salvation (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:9-13).

Lines 18-23: Repeats lines 1-6.

[Verse 2]

Lines 1-4: While some will balk at the idea that God’s love is without condition, there is a difference between unconditional love and unconditional relationship.  When MercyMe says that God’s love is “unconditional”, they are saying that God’s love for us is not conditioned upon us.  Our behavior, whether good or evil, does not change God’s love for us.  He died for us while we were sinners (Romans 5:6-8). Nothing will separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). He is faithful even when we are faithless (2 Timothy 2:13). Of course, He also allows us to experience eternal separation from Him if that’s what we want (Matthew 18:8, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43, Jude 1:7, Revelation 14:11, and Revelation 20:10), but that is a separate issue.

God’s relationship with us is not unconditional.  When we decide to follow Jesus, He expects us to become holy (Leviticus 11:44-45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7, Romans 6:1-14, Ephesians 4:1, Colossians 1:10-14, 1 Peter 1:13-16, and 1 Peter 2:16) and to love everything else less than Him (Luke 14:25-33).

Lines 5-7: See Chorus.

[Bridge]

Lines 1-3: In terms of sanctification, we can take solace in knowing that Christ’s sacrifice is once and for all (Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:26-28, and Hebrews 10:10-14) and that there is no condemnation in Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Those outside the camp of Christ should interpret this similarly to my opening paragraph in section 1.  MercyMe’s language is common and easy to comprehend.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies God as the One who makes us flawless.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

MercyMe’s Flawless is flawless.  Iit accurately describes God’s unconditional love whose sacrifice is sufficient for salvation, compeling us to be different and bringing glory to God.  Unbelievers will find it easy to understand.

This song is inspirational, but not appropriate for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Flawless (listen to the song)

Artist: MercyMe

Album: Welcome to the New

Genre: Pop

Release Year: 2014

Duration: 4:15

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

Updates:

10/20/2022 – Upon examination, I changed my mind about my recommendation for corporate worship.

03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.

09/23/2020 – After prayerfully considering Neal Cruco’s comments, I decided to update my review.  Since I have no other criticism to offer, this significantly increased its score, from 7/10 to 10/10.