Photo by Frank Busch
The Porter’s Gate is a recent band, establishing in 2017 as a “porter” gate, that is, the bridge between the unchurched and Christians. Much like Bethel, they are a collection of artists who banded together to release music. Thus far, they released to albums: Work Songs: The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Vol 1 (2017) and Neighbor Songs (2019).
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1. What message does the song communicate?
The carpenter, Jesus, ushered in the new Kingdom through crucifixion. We, His servants, are created for good works, filled with the Holy Spirit, are free from the curse of sin. The war against death is over. Christ won!
In response, we are entrusted with the good news about Christ, commanded to spread it to others. Though we will physically die, we will also inherit spiritual bodies, raised up to praise Him in His Heavenly Kingdom for all eternity. We will celebrate at the banquet table that Jesus prepared for us, gazing upon his nail-pierced hands.
There is a minor error in Chorus 1, that Jesus’ work is only His sacrifice on the cross. He also performed miracles and taught about God, convincing us that He is who He claimed to be.
Score: 9/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Most of it is Biblical; However, as mentioned in section 1, there is a small mistake in Chorus 1, that Jesus’ only work was crucifixion. He did much more than that!
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Verse 1]
O humble carpenter, down on Your hands and knees
Jesus’ profession was carpenter before His preaching (Mark 6:3). He humbled himself by leaving His throne and glory, becoming a human, and dying on the cross for our sins (Philippians 2:6-8).
Look on Your handiwork and build a house
So You may dwell in me
So You may dwell in me
Not a physical house, but humans who are vessels prepared to receive the Holy Spirit (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). We are His handiwork (Ephesians 2:10).
[Chorus 1]
The work was done with nothing but
Wood and nails in Your scar-borne hands
While I appreciate The Porter’s Gate’s sentiment in that Christ’s death on the cross paid the penalty for our 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), this is not the only work that Jesus did. According to John 6:29, Christ is also responsible for convincing us that He is who He claimed to be. He also performed miracles, which he called “work” (John 10:38). Thus, crucifixion is not the only work He did.
If we remove “nothing but” from the first line, it changes from an argument about Christ’s only work to the final words of Jesus: “Paid in full” (or it is finished; John 19:30).
O show me how to work and praise
Trusting that I am Your instrument
A prayer offered to God consistent with Ephesians 2:10.
[Verse 2]
O loving laborer with the sweat upon Your face
Another reference to Jesus as a hard worker. He deserves the title “loving” given that He is love (1 John 4:8) as demonstrated that He died for undeserving sinners (John 3:16 and Romand 5:6-8). The sweat is likely a reference to Luke 22:44, that he perspired before his arrest and death.
Oh, build a table that I too may join You
In the Father’s place
Oh, in the Father’s place
References Jesus’ parable of the great banquet in Matthew 22:1-14 and Luke 14:15-24. The Porter’s Gate accepts God’s invitation to join Him.
[Chorus 2]
The kingdom’s come and built upon
Wood and nails gripped with joyfulness
Though we think of kingdoms as places, this kingdom of God is an age; a time period that is both present (Mark 1:14-15) and future (Matthew 5:25 and Matthew 6:10). The sacrifice of Jesus ends the old covenant and age, ushering in the new covenant and rendering the old obsolete (Hebrews 8:13) Thus, we could argue that it’s foundational in the sense that apart from it, we would still be under the old covenant.
So send me out, within Your ways
Knowing that the task is finished
We are commanded by Christ to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), trusted to do what He says.
The dead will rise and give You praise
Wood and nails will not hold them down
These wooden tombs, we’ll break them soon
This changes the meaning of “wood and nails”, referring to coffins instead of the cross. In the future, there will be resurrections into spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-58, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, and Revelation 20:13), vessels who will offer eternal praise (Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 30:12, Psalm 52:9, Psalm 86:12, Psalm 89:1, Psalm 115:18, Psalm 145:1-2, Psalm 145:21, and Revelation 5:9-13).
And fashion them into flower beds
That is, converting dead coffins into an allotment brimming with life, referencing the final resurrection (Luke 20:34-38, Acts 24:15-16, Romans 6:1-5, Romans 8:11-13, 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 1 Corinthians 15:50-56, 2 Corinthians 4:13-14, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
The curse is done, the battle won
Jesus’ sacrifice broke our vexation caused by sin, defeating death as our final enemy (Isaiah 25:8, Hosea 13:14, Luke 20:35-36, 1 Corinthians 15:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, 2 Timothy 1:10, and Hebrews 2:14).
Swords bent down into plowshares
References Isaiah 2:4 in the context of Revelation 21:4, that God’s Heavenly Kingdom contains no wars.
Your scar-borne hands, we’ll join with them
Serving at the table You’ve prepared
According to John 20:25-27, Jesus retained His nail marks post-resurrection. As for our joining, see commentary on Verse 2, lines 2-4.
[Outro]
O humble carpenter
Repeats the first part of Verse 1, line 1.
Score: 9/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
The name of God or Jesus is not named throughout this song; However, most unbelievers are likely aware that Jesus was a humble carpenter. Thus, it will have a Christian interpretation. Though they will likely see its overall message, that God dwells within Christians, Jesus sacrificed for them, we spread Christianity to others, and we’ll rise again to join Him, its references to kingdom, table, and swords bent into plowshares require deep study. I’m on the fence about their understanding of curse. It was probably written to Christians, not unbelievers.
Score: 6/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies Jesus through us, that we are His workmanship and will one day meet Him face to face, slightly marred by The Porter’s Gate’s error that Jesus’ work was only His sacrifice.
Score: 9/10
Closing Comments
The Porter’s Gate’s Wood and Nails is a good song. It describes loving, humble, sweaty Jesus as a workman who created us for good works, transforming our curse under the Law into eternal praise, now and in the new life to come. We obey Jesus, telling others about Him with the Holy Spirit indwelling within us as we look forward to the great feast in heaven, giving glory to God. Though they err when stating crucifixion as Jesus’ sole work, and some concepts/terminology might require deeper study for unbelievers, everyone should walk away understanding its core message, with some praising God through it.
I recommend this for corporate worship only of “nothing but” is removed from Chorus 1. Seeker-sensitive churches looking for milk songs might want to look somewhere else.
Final Score: 8.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Wood and Nails (Live) (listen to the song)
Artist: The Porter’s Gate (Feat. Audrey Assad & Josh Garrels)
Album: Work Songs: The Porter’s Gate Worship Project Vol 1
Genre: Hymn
Release Year: 2017
Duration: 5:17
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2017 Hymns From the Porter’s Gate (ASCAP) (admin at EssentialMusicPublishing.com). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Updates:
03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.
Comments
Chelle
Hi,
I interpreted “the work” as the work of atonement, not that it was the “only” work Jesus did. I don’t see “nothing but” as a problem when you look at the work of salvation that was accomplished on the cross.
Logan
Love this review, thank you 🙂 I quite enjoy this song and Josh Garrels, which I think led me to overlook a couple of the points you brought up.
I find it neat to think about evaluating theology in music, and I think you do a good job putting yourself aside when you do it. I agree that this has more depth to it than a good amount of music out there. The problem is the more that you say, the more likely it is that you say something wrong. There’s a lot of music that doesn’t say anything wrong, it just doesn’t really say much (“Come and move” was a song review I read and subsequently listened to where I thought this might be true).
My question is: do you see any value in putting a metric to the depth of a song? Or would that be more of what we’d see in a traditional song review website?
P.S. I’m a youth and young adults pastor, and maybe have said this before to you, but I appreciate running potential songs for our groups through this site. Thanks for the diligent work you put into every review 🙂
Vince Wright
Logan,
Thank you for your generous compliments! I am thrilled that you find my content useful.
Great question! I’ve thought about giving a depth rating in the past, but haven’t implemented anything yet. If a lot of people want it, then I’ll be more inclined to provide a rating. Something like three ratings: Milk (for shallow songs), Meat (for depth songs), and Mixed (for songs that contain elements of milk and meat).
As a general rule of thumb, if a song has a high rating for sections 1, 2, and 4, and a lower rating for section 3 (7 or less), it’s probably meaty. If it’s a high rating all around, it’s probably milky. There are exceptions, but perhaps a good indicator for you to start with.
-Vince Wright
Logan
You implemented the milk thing! I like it a bunch! (admittedly it’s been too long since I’ve been on your site). I like seeing the sections thing in the comment here, it helps to understand the metric a little better too 🙂 Thanks Vince!
chodrilo
i agree with you. The only thing i would change about your post is the missing capital letters when referring to God Himself, other than that, well said!
Vince Wright
chodrilo,
Thank you for your comment! The lyrics in question are (insofar as I am aware) a faithful adaptation of what appears inside the booklet for physical CD’s. I prefer to present the lyrics as the author does.
-Vince Wright
Ron
Another error–one of grammar or vocabulary–could be mentioned here. The lyrics refer to “scar-borne hands;” this would mean that the hands are carried by scars. Perhaps a different word, instead of “borne,” would be more correct.
Vince Wright
Ron,
Thank you for your comment!
According to Merriam-Webster, borne means “past participle of bear”. This is saying that Jesus’ hands bore scars. That would certainly be the case considering that:
1) The nail marks went through his wrists, and
2) Back in Jesus’ day, the wrist was considered part of the hand.
-Vince Wright
Dawson
Borne is the past participle of bear and would mean that Jesus’ hands bore scars IF the lyrics said “hand-borne scars”. Ron is correct about the grammatical error. This error is the reason I can’t bring myself to sing this song.
Vince Wright
Dawson,
If the lyric does not say “hand-borne scars”, then what does it say? Where is your source?
-Vince Wright