Photo by GR Stocks
Contemporary Christian duo Shane & Shane started in 2001. They released a staggering 39 albums (including solo and Christmas), 4 live albums, and 3 EP’s.
Also, check out my reviews of Song in the Night, Yearn, Though You Slay Me, and Psalm 23 (Surely Goodness, Surely Mercy).
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Shane-and-shane-youve-already-won-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?
Jesus Christ is ultimately victorious, not just over death, but also in the future, where He will bring Shane & Shane into His eternal Kingdom and will judge the wicked, sending them to the eternal flames. Through this, Shane & Shane have received His internal peace, positive outlook on the future, provision, rest, and ultimate victory over present circumstances. Though they presently struggle, fighting their battles, and do not know which way the Lord will lead them, they know from the cross that God loves them and has their best interest in mind.
He gave them the Holy Spirit to be their guide and help, navigating them through life’s twists and turns. The Spirit will remind them to fix their eyes on Jesus, and that through it all, it is well with their souls.
Shane & Shane’s call to action is to continue to fight the good fight of the faith, which implies continual obedience and connection with God.
Side Note: Though not explicitly mentioned in the lyrics linked in this review, Bridge repeats two more times, followed by an expanded version of Chorus. Those who find excessive repetition annoying will be relieved to know that this song isn’t that bad.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
The entire song is saturated with Scriptural references and concepts.
[Verse 1]
Line 1: That is, internal peace granted to Shane & Shane by God (John 14:27, John 16:29-33, Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:14-15, and Colossians 3:15).
Line 2: Their hope is found in the shed blood of Jesus that grants them salvation (Matthew 11:28-30, Romans 5:1-8, Romans 8:24-39, Romans 15:13, 1 Corinthians 15:54-58, and 1 Peter 1:3-6).
Lines 3 and 4: Through Christ’s sacrifice, Shane & Shane receive God’s undeserved favor (Luke 18:9-14, Acts 13:39, Romans 3:20-30, Romans 4:1-7, Romans 8:3, Romans 9:16, Romans 9:31-32, Romans 11:6, Galatians 2:16, Galatians 2:21, Galatians 3:10-12, Galatians 3:21, Galatians 5:2-4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 3:3-9, 2 Timothy 1:9, Hebrews 6:1-2, and James 2:10-11).
Lines 5-8: Shane & Shane can view tomorrow, not through the lens of fearful expectation of God’s wrath (Hebrews 10:26-27), but that He controls their future (Psalms 16:5) and will provide for them as He has done for others (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).
[Chorus]
Lines 1-4: Not that Shane & Shane should cease fighting (1 Timothy 6:12), but that Shane & Shane remind themselves that ultimately, God will be victorious. Their end will be eternal life (Mark 10:29-30, John 3:15-16, John 3:36, John 4:14, John 5:24, John 5:39-40, John 6:27, John 6:40, John 10:28, John 17:3, John 20:31, Romans 5:21, Romans 6:22-23, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Galatians 6:8, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 2:11, Hebrews 5:9, 1 Peter 5:10, 1 John 2:23-27, 1 John 5:10-13, 1 John 5:20, Jude 1:20-21, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 7:16-17, and Revelation 21:3-4), while the wicked will experience eternal separation from God (Matthew 18:7-9, Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43, Romans 6:23, Jude 1:7, and Revelation 14:11). This concept is eloquently captured in Romans 8:31-39.
Lines 5 and 6: From personal experience, we as Christ-followers know that God doesn’t tell us everything. However, we know that He loves us. He proved it on the cross (John 3:16, Romans 5:6-8, and 1 John 4:9-10).
Lines 7 and 8: Repeats lines 1 and 2.
[Verse 2]
Line 1: That is, there is renewed strength given to those who wait upon the Lord (Isaiah 40:31).
Lines 2 and 3: References manna provided to the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land (Exodus 16:1-7). Although the manna was eventually God, God was still with them, as He is with Shane & Shane (Deuteronomy 31:6-8, Joshua 1:5-9, Psalm 23:4, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 139:7-10, Isaiah 41:10, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Zephaniah 3:17, Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 28:20, John 14:16-17, Hebrews 13:5, Romans 8:38-39, and Revelation 3:20).
Line 4: The first part is found in Verse 1, line 2. However, the latter portion means that God is their rest (Psalm 95:6-11, Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 3:1-16, and Hebrews 4:1-16).
Lines 5 and 6: The Holy Spirit guides Shane & Shane amid life’s challenges (Psalm 143:10, Luke 12:11-12, Acts 20:22, Romans 8:14, Romans 8:26-27, 1 Corinthians 2:13, Galatians 5:16-18, and Galatians 5:25).
Line 7: The Spirit will remind Shane & Shane of Hebrews 12:2.
Line 8: This is based on 3 John 1:2, that no matter what happens to Shane & Shane, they are well.
Line 9: Essentially repeats line 8.
[Bridge]
Lines 1-4: See commentary on Verse 1, lines 2-4 and 5-8. Also, it says that God is their defense (Ruth 2:12, 2 Samuel 22:3-4, Psalm 3:3, Psalm 5:11, Psalm 18:30, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 32:7, Psalm 34:22, Psalm 41:2, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 57:1, Psalm 59:1, Psalm 61:3, Psalm 91:1-16, Psalm 118:8, Psalm 121:7-8, Psalm 138:7, Proverbs 18:10, Proverbs 30:5, Nahum 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 3:3, and 1 John 5:18).
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will likely think it’s Christian. This song explicitly states that Jesus Christ is Shane & Shane’s victory. Despite its heavy reliance of Christianese language and concepts, almost everything written here can be pieced together without much research. They probably won’t know what “manna” is. Not a big deal.
Score: 9/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies Jesus as the ultimate victor over eternal death, who brings peace, guidance, supplication, and hope to those who follow Him.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Shane & Shane’s You’ve already won is awesome. Jesus Christ triumphs through His shed blood and implied resurrection, benefiting His followers with eternal life, internal peace, provision, The Spirit’s guidance, rest, and hope. Unbelievers should be able to piece this together with little issue, even if they don’t know what “manna” means.
I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.
Final Score: 9.5/10
Artist Info
Track: You’ve already won (listen to the song)
Artist: Shane & Shane
Album: N/A
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2022
Duration: 6:56
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Comments
Ron
“The lyrics “We will be with you AGAIN” is problematic in areas where LDS (Mormons) are the predominant religious culture (ex: Utah). In their theology they pre-existed with their “Father God” before they came to earth. I live in Utah, and our worship band is currently evaluating this issue. If we come up with something acceptable, I’ll post it.
Keith
Vince, the two Mikes, in separate comments, raise a question about the lyric that indicates a believer singing this song is declaring that he will be with Jesus Christ “again”, even though that believer has never been with Christ previously. Can you share your thoughts on that topic? Thanks!
Vince Wright
Keith,
Thank you for your comments!
I don’t agree that the “believer has never been with Christ previously”. If they had never been with Christ previously, then how are they a believer? I suppose they could be like the demons who believe and shutter (James 2:19), but the opening lines don’t seem to indicate that Shane & Shane are shuttering. They are expressing their faith in Jesus.
Having said that, I think the word “again” is about the trajectory from physical to spiritual bodies. We’re seeing Him now in our physical bodies. We’ll see Him “again” after we die physically (1 Corinthians 15:40-58).
-Vince Wright
Joe Fillmer
Here’s my take.
In the beginning before the fall, we were united with God. He walked with Adam in the garden. (Gen 3:8). Additionally Rom 11:36 tells us ‘All things are from God, through God and to God.’ I think that includes us. When sin entered the world, a seperation from God occured. Adam and Eve were evicted from the garden. Scriptures such as Isaiah 59:2 (But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.) reinforce that our sin and iniquity create a separation between us and God. From the point of the original sin in the garden forward everyone born into the world was born in that sin and destined for hell.
So many scriptures remind us of this separation. For example the parable of the Prodigal Son is representative of a separation from God (The Father) followed by a joyous reunion.
Of course as believers…..We know how the story ends!!!! Through the blood of Jesus Christ THE SEPARATION IS ENDED! As Jesus told the thief on the cross, “today you shall be with me in paradise.”
One of my favorite reassurances of this reconciliation and reunion is in 2nd Corinthians 5:17-19
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
My church cheers during this bridge which brings me great joy.
Mike Spelts
We sang this at our church and an elder was concerned about the bridge. Specifically the line “we will be with You again”, since we have not yet physically been with the Lord. We explained that we can sing this as a part of the entire church throughout history, who once did have Jesus walking with us physically. (maybe that’s a stretch) Or we can sing it knowing He is with by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. And we will “again”, in a new way, continue to be “with Him” in eternity.
Because I didn’t want to stumble our elder, or confuse anyone else, I now skip the bridge when I lead this song, since it is long enough without it. Just wondered if you considered this line when doing your review and have any thoughts.
Thank you!
Mike
I love the song but I have been wondering the same thing about “we will be with You again”. Specifically, because there are those who incorrectly think we existed in Heaven before we were born, which is not scriptural. It did occur to me that perhaps the songwriters just added “again” to make the song flow, but that it *could be* correctly understood to mean that Christ was with men here physically and when we go to Him, “Man” as a race will be with Him “again”. It would be great if we could ask them…
Ethan
I too had concerns over the bridge. I thought about changing the word “again” to “amen”. I will probably do that the next time I lead this song.
Joe Fillmer
It’s not appropriate to do this if you plan to show it on the screens. It violates copyright. The CCLI police aren’t going to storm your church, but we should keep our ministries above reproach. See #3 from the CCLI website:
https://us.ccli.com/ccli-news/five-questions/
3. Changing Lyrics
Here’s another question we’re starting to hear more and more: Can I change song lyrics to fit our church’s preferences or theology? The answer is no—not without permission from the song owner. One of the exclusive rights of a copyright owner is derivative works, so any changes must have the owner’s permission.
Keep in mind that you are free to arrange songs as you wish, as long as it doesn’t change the melody, lyrics or fundamental character of a song. For example, you may want to start with the chorus, or even the bridge—if it fits the flow of your worship set. That’s fine. Maybe you don’t want to sing all the verses of a song, or maybe one of the verses has lyrics that you find objectionable. Feel free to skip verses. Just don’t change the lyrics.
Brett
One thing that stuck out to me about this song, and I was wondering if you would bring it up, is that it says “I will overcome.” I think a better lyric would be “You will overcome” referring to God, of course. No matter what comes our way, God will overcome it. We don’t have the strength necessary to overcome everything, but God does and through Him, we may overcome it. Any thoughts about that? Am I just overthinking? Thank you!
Vince Wright
Brett,
Thank you for your inquiry!
When put together, “There’s future grace thats mine today that Jesus Christ has won”, “I’m fighting a battle You’ve already won” and “I will overcome” is a rewording of Romans 8:37.
-Vince Wright