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Friendship is underrated in the modern West. Here's my message on it last Sunday from Proverbs 27, drawing from Lewis, Tolkien, Keller, and the good people of Lewisham:

I've just started writing for Christianity Today's books newsletter, which comes out weekly with short reviews of three titles. Here's my first one; the next one will be out in a couple of weeks and cover a new theology of authority from Christa McKirland, Charles Murray's apologetic for Christianity, and Chesterton's Orthodoxy.Alan J. Thompson, A Basic Guide to Biblical Theology: Nine Themes That Unite the Old and New Testaments (Baker Academic, 2025) Fitting the whole Bible together can be challenging. Many readers are familiar with some of the most dramatic stories and most famous wisdom verses but would struggle to put them all in sequence—let alone assemble them into an overarching story that makes theological and narrative sense. That is why basic introductions to biblical theology can be so helpful. Summarizing the story of Scripture, showing people what to look for as they read it, and helping them visualize how it all hangs together can help readers find their feet in God’s Word and can give them tools to make sense of it. Sydney Missionary and Bible College New Testament scholar Alan Thompson does this thematically. Nine biblical themes receive a chapter each—Creation and Fall, covenant, Exodus and tabernacle, Law and wisdom, sacrifice, kingship, prophetic hope, kingdom of God, and Holy City—topped and tailed by discussions of how to put the Bible together as a whole. The clarity and simplicity of these themes is a strength of the book, as is the frequent use of diagrams to illustrate them. Thompson’s tone is also helpful. His hermeneutic is unapologetically Baptist, but he gives his reasons and highlights areas where people disagree, explaining differing positions fairly. In places, the book is not as basic as its title suggests, with less storytelling and more jargon (and mentions of the millennium) than we might expect. But this is a short, clear, fair, lucid, and well-researched introduction to biblical theology will serve plenty of students and serious laypeople well. Timothy Keller, What Is Wrong with the World? The Surprising, Hopeful Answer to the Question We Cannot Avoid (Zondervan, 2025) It is not easy to write a compelling, heartwarming, devotional book on sin. The subject lends itself to treatments that either breathe fire or water things down, depending on the audience. It’s hard to get to the heart of human sinfulness in a way that both exposes and explains, confronting the sin while comforting the sinner. The fact that Tim Keller has done both in What Is Wrong with the World? is testimony to his remarkable preaching ministry and to the skill with which his wife, Kathy, has posthumously presented it. Keller’s approach is to show us seven ways in which the Scriptures picture sin, each rooted in a different biblical narrative. In the story of Cain, sin is a predator crouching at the door. In the story of Saul, it shows a frightening capacity for self-deception. In Jesus’ parables, sin is leaven, quietly but inevitably spreading until it is rooted out. To Jeremiah, sin is mistrust; with Jonah, self-righteousness; with Naaman, leprosy; with the Israelites in the wilderness, slavery. Each picture receives a chapter full of biblical wisdom, psychological insight, practical illustration, and gospel hope, and each impressively reads like a book chapter rather than a transcribed sermon, which makes it a refreshing joy to read (also impressive, given the topic). The book concludes with two chapters on true repentance drawing from Psalm 51. Highly recommended. Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670) Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) was a genius. He gave his name to a philosophical dilemma, a unit of pressure, and a mathematical triangle—and he only lived to the age of 39. But he was also a deeply thoughtful Jansenist theologian whose blend of biblical observation, cultural analysis, apologetic wit, and charismatic experience makes him fascinating to read on nearly any topic. Many of his theological arguments have extraordinary sticking power. The Pensées (literally, “thoughts”) are an eclectic assembly of them, in the form of aphorisms, one-liners, paragraphs, short essays, and personal testimonies. Yet they still sparkle nearly four centuries later. Some have become familiar. Many readers will have come across his wager about betting on God’s existence or his quip that the sole cause of humanity’s unhappiness is that people does not know how to stay quietly in their room. (For Pascal, the reason for leaving his room is that if he stays there quietly, then he thinks about death, so he fills his life with diversions instead.) His evangelistic method has also been highly influential: Since people despise religion and are afraid it might be true, we have to first show that religion is worthy of respect, then make good people want it to be true. Only then do we show that it is. But the book also fizzes with humor, penetrating apologetics, and biblical insight. (I will never read the Joseph story the same way again.) Most of all, Pensées displays a deep love for Jesus.

I really don't want to forget the lesson of 2020-21, which is best summarised in James 4:13-15: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Still: there are lots of things that if the Lord wills them, I am greatly excited about in 2026. For instance:1. Finishing Matthew Bates’s wonderful book The Birth of the Trinity. I’m a third of the way through at the moment, and it’s theologically creative, brightly written, devotionally rich and a delight to read. 2. The new season of The Traitors. Is Harriet the secret traitor? Will the others work with her or against her? So intriguing. 3. Freya India’s book Girls: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything, due out in February. 4. 21 days of prayer at King’s Church London, which starts today. I will also be heading to Jubilee Church London for one of their evenings, so that’s a mighty double bill. 5. Speaking at the Advance Global conference in South Africa in March. This will be my third Advance conference, and the others have been outstanding, so I’m hugely looking forward to this. 6. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, due out in July. Yes, I have all sorts of concerns about it (and the trailer did not exactly alleviate them). But every Nolan film I’ve seen has been excellent, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. 7. Reading Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 1929: The Inside Story of The Greatest Crash in Wall Street History. My copy has just arrived and I started it this morning. 8. Francis Spufford’s new novel, Nonesuch, which is due out in March. 9. The annual fellows retreat for the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, in New York City in April. I learn so much, and laugh so much, in these gatherings; I’m particularly excited about this one because I missed the last one. 10. The second season of The Night Manager. The first was one of the best three single season TV shows I’ve ever seen (along with Chernobyl and The Honourable Woman), and while I don’t expect the second to be at that level, I’m still expecting to love it. 11. Preaching through 1 Corinthians for the first time since 2007. 12. Editing and contributing towards a new book for Newday, called How To Be Human. It is basically a biblical anthropology for teenagers based on Genesis 1-3, and we have twelve great writers and chapters lined up. 13. The third volume of Stephen Kotkin’s Stalin. I just finished the first, and it was as much a history of the world as it was a biography. If the same is true of the third then it will be brilliant. 14. July’s THINK conference with Peter Williams on Luke. I honestly can’t think of anyone I’d rather have teach on this book than Peter. 15. Tehran season 3. Rachel and I watched season 1 in December, and it was the first show we’ve seen in ages that had us trying to find excuses to keep watching it. 16. Carl Trueman’s The Desecration of Man, due out in April. 17. The World Cup this summer. Obviously. 18. Newday. Obviously. 19. The release of my new book, Happiness: What It Is, Where To Find It, And How To Make It Last Forever, in July/August. Clearly I would say this, but I’m really hoping it will help a lot of people. 20. A family holiday with the cousins in August. 21. Newfrontiers Global in Cyprus in October, which regular readers will know is always a highlight. 22. Visiting brothers and sisters in India in November. 23. Getting into the fourth and final volume of Christopher Ash’s Psalms: A Christ-Centred Commentary. Will Psalms 101-150 have Christ on every page? What a cliffhanger. 24. Our King’s Church leadership team week away, when we plan, pray and talk about the year ahead (and play the occasional game of water volleyball). 25. My oldest son turning eighteen. Yikes. 26. Christmas. Obviously. Happy New Year!

We all want peace. It’s a human desire. Ask yourself this: what price would you pay, And how much would it be worth, Just for one single day, to bring peace to the earth? I’m not just talking about a farewell to arms: I mean peace on earth and the healing of harms, Whether those harms come from physical pain, Or those anxious gremlins that live in your brain. So what’s your answer? What is peace worth? For your nation? Your family? Yourself? The earth?The Hebrew prophets had a craving for peace. They called it shalom: the world made whole, With healing for the body and joy for the soul. “Light is coming!” said the prophet Isaiah. “The warrior’s weapons will be fuel for the fire! Swords into ploughshares. A permanent ceasefire. Songs of deliverance rising from the peace choir. For unto us has been born a child, And in his name all the nations will be reconciled. They’ll call him Counsellor. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace, making all things well. O come, O come, Immanuel! Hasten the day when the conflicts cease! Heal sores, settle scores, put a stop to the wars, And cover this planet with life and peace! Centuries later, the peace child is born. Most people don’t notice: just an elderly priest, And some random shepherds on a piste in the Middle East. “Here comes the sun!” says the elderly priest. “He will guide our feet in the paths of peace!” A few months later, another old man Gives thanks for the peace child he holds in his hand. “I’ve prayed for this moment,” he starts to cry, “And now that he’s here, I’m done. I can die.” The random shepherds get more of a fright, As an angel chorus lights up the night, But the point is the same. “Glory to God, And peace on earth, and mercy mild: God and sinners reconciled through the peace child. Light the lamps. Strike up the band. Watch, as his influence spreads through the land, Confronting anxiety, conflict and sin With a calm and a peace only heaven can bring.” Shalom doesn’t come all at once, of course. You can’t create peace in the world by force, Or have it crash-land on the earth with a bump. Instead, it spreads, like flavour in a sauce, Or a piece of yeast bringing rise to a lump. So the peace child starts with the trickiest part: The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. He dies to reconcile God and humanity, Taking our sin and killing our hostility. He brings about peace between nations and tribes, Bridging their divisions and healing their divides. He puts back together the human soul, As fractured bodies and minds are made whole. And he readies the world for a day of release When death turns to life, and war becomes peace. O come, O come, Immanuel, And bring shalom to Israel, And make this whole world … well.

This is a superb debate about Tim Keller's ministry and legacy between Collin Hansen and James Wood, hosted by Peter Leithart. Collin has literally written the book on Keller; James's critique of Keller and winsomeness sparked a huge debate when it came out in 2022. (Full disclosure: I am a fellow at the Keller Center, which Collin runs, and James co-hosts Mere Fidelity, on which I have often appeared.) This is both a model of how to disagree well, and an illuminating exploration of a number of vital themes for the contemporary church, including cultural change, apologetic approach and political theology. If you would prefer an audio version, go here.  

Birds have wings; humans have books. One of the great delights of my job is having the time to read books, the privilege of being sent plenty to review, and the budget to buy others.I generally read in four different parts of the day. In the early morning, when my daughter is awake and I wish I didn’t have to be, I read history. In my devotional times, I read biblical commentaries or (occasionally) theology. In the evenings, as I am about to fall asleep, I read fiction. Everything else - books on culture, pastoral ministry, leadership, money, church history, or anything I am researching for a writing project or conference - is read during the working day, often in afternoons when my metabolism dips. Horses for courses, I guess. Here are five recommendations from each category. History and Biography Frederic Morton, A Nervous Splendour: Vienna 1888/1889. Dominic Sandbrook said this was one of the books that most influenced his writing, and I can see why: a haunting and beautifully narrated tale of a traumatic year in Viennese history, which also contains the seeds of much twentieth century history. And what an ending. David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. An utterly gripping true story about an eighteenth century shipwreck, that richly deserves all the plaudits it has received. The best sort of adventure yarn. Ian Leslie, John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs. It is hard to say anything new about The Beatles, but this is such a clever way of doing it, exploring the relationship between the two protagonists through the lyrics of the songs they wrote together. Neil Price, The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings. The Vikings are so much stranger to us than we think, and that makes them unsettling, even frightening. The best account of them I have read yet, which goes beyond the battles and the boats to the way they imagined the world. Helen Castor, The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV. A story in which you know the ending, and which has previously been told by plenty of writers including Shakespeare, has no business being this narratively tense, psychologically interesting and historically absorbing. Brilliant. Bible and Theology Christopher Ash, Psalms: A Christ-Centred Commentary. Admittedly I haven’t read the fourth volume yet, but the first three are so good that I’m happy to call it as one of the outstanding books of the year. My wife and I have both disappeared into it in our devotions for weeks at a time - a wonderful gift to the church. Michael Morales, Numbers. A two volume deep dive on one of Scripture’s most difficult and misunderstood books. The format does not always help, but there are abundant insights here on passages that have always been a mystery to me, from the structure of the Israelite camp to the prophecies of Balaam and the puzzling last few chapters. Magisterial. Danielle Treweek, Single Ever After. A really impressive piece of work, as I explained here. Tim Keller, What Is Wrong With the World? It is not easy to write a compelling, heartwarming, devotional book on sin. It is even harder after you have died. The fact that Tim Keller has done both is testimony to his remarkable preaching ministry, and to the skill with which his wife Kathy has presented it. Patrick Schreiner, The Transfiguration of Christ. The best sort of doctrinal study: biblically illuminating, devotionally satisfying, theologically compelling and stylistically readable. The best book I’ve read on the transfiguration, and better than most books on other things as well. Culture and Ideas Ed Yong, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us. You wouldn’t think that a book about how animals perceive the world would be captivating, but this really is. I’ve thought about it and quoted it numerous times since I finished. An eye-opener. Tom McTague, Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution, 1945-2016. This is basically a long history of Brexit, from the end of the Second World War to today, but it sheds a remarkable amount of light on many aspects of contemporary Britain, and makes a very convincing case that Brexit was near-inevitable for decades before it happened. A great read. Matt Smethurst, Tim Keller on the Christian Life. The secret sauce here is the choice of topics. Each of the book’s eight chapters takes a theme on which Keller regularly wrote and preached during his ministry, and synthesises his teaching into a theologically coherent and pastorally instructive whole. Musa al-Gharbi, We Have Never Been Woke. Book of the Year. A fresh, incisive, iconoclastic and well-written take on the rise of symbolic capitalists and the illusion of wokeness. You can read my longer review here. Alan Noble, On Getting Out of Bed. A short, rich, honest, moving and yet hope-filled book about living with depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, by a man who seems incapable of writing a boring book about anything. Fiction Iain Pears, An Instance of the Fingerpost. This murder mystery (or is it?), told by four unreliable narrators and set in mid seventeenth century Oxford, is up there with the very best novels I have ever read. Gripping, twisty, and utterly ingenious. Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere. I finally got around to this and can completely see what all the fuss is about. Such believable characters, and a plot that manages to be both surprising and inevitable at the same time. Liane Moriarty, Big Little Lies. Another book that everyone was reading a few years ago and I only just have. For an exciting book, the characters and themes are great; for a book with interesting themes, it’s wonderfully exciting. Seicho Matsumoto, Tokyo Express. This train-based detective story in post-war Japan was first published in 1958, and the world it evokes is both fascinating and intriguing, but it was recently retranslated and published as a Penguin Classic. Short, tense and really satisfying. Stephen King, 11.22.63. A man goes back in time to stop the JFK assassination, but life intervenes in all kinds of ways. Massive, taut and absorbing. My first experience of Stephen King, and hopefully not the last.

“Pastor fired for preaching sermons written by ChatGPT.”That headline might not actually have appeared yet but it almost certainly will. Clearly AI can perform tasks which assist sermon preparation, but the temptation to simply let AI write a sermon is high. And why not, if AI is your friend? The way in which many people are forming companionship with AI raises numerous ethical and practical questions. An assumption increasingly heard is that these relationships are largely because contemporary society makes ‘real’ friendships difficult. If you struggle to make human friends, AI offers an immediate virtual shoulder to cry on. But is it only sad and solitary people who are reaching out for artificial companionship? My flesh-and-blood friend, Richard Stamp, has been thinking long and hard about Christian discipleship in a technological age. He suggests more is going on – that even those who have lots of fulfilling human relationships can be drawn to AI companionship. The issue, as he sees it, is that (like it or not) AI provides: A different kind of friendship. Difference intrigues us and novelty excites us. AI feels and sounds different to other relationships. A wise kind of friendship. AI affirms your questions and its ‘wisdom’ is limitless. It has an answer to everything. A sexual kind of friendship. AI is like porn and prostitution: you can switch it on off at will, and it is always responsive to your feelings and desires. To use an overused term, it always responds to our most narcissistic tendencies but is unlikely to ever accuse us of narcissism. A patient kind of friendship. AI listens to whatever you want to drone on about in a non-judgemental way, without ever giving you an eyeroll or looking for an excuse to find someone more interesting to talk to. A discreet kind of friendship. You can tell AI the depths of your heart without shame and it won’t gossip your secrets to anyone else. (Although someone somewhere is surely collecting all that lovely data!) For these reasons the companionship of AI can feel more attractive, certainly easier, than dealing with people – with all their own needs and desires and quirks and foibles. This isn’t only the case for the lonely. We might have a rich social life but then enjoy unwinding with our therapeutic AI friend – and then ask ‘him’ to write a sermon for us while we’re at it. AI isn’t going away, so the issues raised by all this will only become more pronounced. The trick we’re going to need to pull off is learning to use AI in a way that maximises its advantages while remaining crystal clear that it is only a tool. There are other tools we might value and enjoy very highly – a particular kitchen knife, a favourite hammer, a car – but we would not blur this value and enjoyment with friendship. Because AI gives the illusion of really knowing and responding to us it is much harder to avoid the blur. Richard says, “I still think that we need to help people to be better at human friendship (fun, sagacity, intimacy, patience, safety, discretion), so that we keep synthetic ‘companions’ in their right place, but ultimately what we’re looking for and love with AI is to be found in God.” AI can be useful, fun even, but it really isn’t your friend. It certainly isn’t your saviour. And – please – don’t ask it to write your sermons.

We've been doing a series of devotional videos out of Mark's Gospel this term, and the other day it finished unexpectedly: with me explaining why I don't think Mark 16:9-20 was the original ending of the Gospel. Here is my five minute explanation, along with where I think the material comes from, and what I think it means for reading, preaching and reflecting on the passage.

Jean Twenge’s new book 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World came out last month and is the latest in a recent stream of titles calling out the threat of smartphones and social media for young people. I welcome the news that Australia is hoping to ban social media for under 16s, and am praying that our government does likewise. Twenge’s book contains plenty of research, charts and data that might provide some motivation for major societal change in this regard: “In recent years, 40% of high school seniors (17-18yrs olds) have not read a single book in the last year that wasn’t assigned for school. Back in the early 1980s, that was true of only 15% of high school seniors.” “11-17 years olds get an average of 237 notifications a day from their phones” “College students who used devices for an hour before bed were 59% more likely to have symptoms of insomnia and slept 24 minutes less than those who didn’t use devices before bed.” “In 2008, when few teens had smartphones, 45% of 8th graders (13-14yr olds) said they were often bored. By 2023, it was 61%. Devices filled with bite-size videos were supposed to mean we were never bored, but instead more teens than ever are filled with ennui.” “Meta’s internal research found that 13% of British teen users and 6% of American teen users who had suicidal thoughts said their desire to kill themselves traced back to Instagram.” All of which goes some way to explain the title of tech entrepreneur Jaron Lanier’s 2018 book Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now and the reason Sharon and Richard Pursey’s team are being celebrated for creating the first phone with inbuilt anti-nudity technology designed to keep children safe online. It’s obviously true that smartphones have transformed how we live, something that Jonathan Haidt describes as ‘the Great Rewiring,’ resulting in an end to the traditional play based childhood and the advent of the phone based one. In a world like this, one where more than twenty-four thousand minutes of new user video is uploaded to YouTube every minute of every day, how can the church ensure we’re doing what we can to disciple our young people? Here’s two things every parent, pastor and youth worker needs to know, followed by one opportunity not to be missed: 1) Boys and Girls Are Different Generally speaking phones and social media are affecting boys and girls differently. Already by 2015 we were seeing evidence of the impact that social media was having on girls as distinct from boys. In a study from that year one in five teenage girls said they had experienced a major depressive episode in the last year. Rates of clinical-depression among girls recently peaked at 29% compared to 11% among boys. Among children who spend more than five hours a day on social media, 38% of girls compared to 14% of boys suffer from depression as a result. The reasons for this are well documented as well but stem in large part from algorithms and beauty filters built into the apps young girls are using. Jonathan Haidt believes this is exactly what we would expect to find given the particular social dynamics among girls and the way social media amplifies them. In The Coddling of the America Mind he writes: If we were to put a handgun in the hand of every testosterone filled teenage boy we’d inevitably see a rise in the amount of homicides. If we were to put a device in the hands of our girls that created social comparison and anxiety we’d likely see a rise in the amount of suicides and mental health disorders. Boys, by comparison are spending more time playing video games and getting stuck in the quagmire of porn addiction. According to author John Gray, the reason for this is because a child’s brain on a video game, or a male brain looking at nude images of women, reacts almost identically to a brain on class A drugs. We also know that the presence of testosterone in boys slows down brain development whereas oestrogen in girls speeds it up. In the book Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina shares a particularly memorable contrast about the sexes from watching girls and boys at play. Two girls are together, one throws a ball into the air and catches it, the other says ‘me too’ and then does the same thing. Two boys are together and do the same thing but the second boy rather than saying ‘me too’ instead says ‘I can throw it higher.’ Consequently, healthy competition and challenges in discipling boys is perhaps more important to think about than when discipling girls. 2) Parents Matter To disciple young people well we need to do more to engage and equip parents for the task. In her book How the West Really Lost God, sociologist Mary Eberstadt studies trends in religiosity across time and finds a correlation between that and the strength of the family. When the traditional family is weak (or treated as an oppressive institution as has been the case in recent times) church attendance is low but, she says, revival of religion and renewal of the domestic family have often gone hand in hand. Eberstadt calls ‘Christianity’ and ‘the family’ twin columns of a society’s DNA helix that rise and fall together. When one is strong (church attendance say) the other is also strong (committed marriages and strong families), but when one is weak the other is weak also. Generally churches know this, which is why we run baby and toddler groups. But it’s also important to consider when thinking about how we can disciple young people. The first chapter in Twenge’s latest book is for parents: You’re in Charge. Twenge argues for the importance of what she calls ‘authoritative’ parenting as opposed to ‘helicopter’ parenting (hovering over kids), ‘snowplow’ parenting (removing all of the obstacles in their way), ‘gentle’ parenting (never saying no), or ‘lighthouse’ parenting (being a source for insight but not interfering too much). Clinical psychologist and parenting expert Becky Kennedy calls authoritative parenting “Sturdy Leadership”— it’s a combination of validating feelings but also holding boundaries. She suggests parents should respond to kids pushing back on rules with something like this: “One of my main jobs is to make decisions that I think are good for you, even when you’re upset with me. This is one of those times. I get that you’re upset, I really do.” Play the long game. “Your job is not to make your kids happy at every moment. It’s to raise competent adults who will be happy in the long term. Your most important job as a parent is giving your children experiences that help them grow.” Building on what we said above about rates of brain development, author Scott Galloway, who has two teenage sons, says that since the brain’s prefrontal cortex (the part in charge of self-control and decision-making) doesn’t fully develop until the mid 20s, he says: “my job as their dad is to be their prefrontal cortex until it shows up.” That’s a good way of thinking about why parents must not disengage from their children’s tech use. In 2014 Sociologist Christian Smith conducted more than 230 in-depth interviews, and studied data from three nationally representative surveys leading to one significant headline and a number of other important secondary findings. The headline was: the single, most powerful causal influence on the religious lives of American teenagers and young adults is the religious lives of their parents. Not their peers, not the media, not their youth group leaders or clergy, not their religious schoolteachers, not Sunday School, not mission trips or service projects or summer camp… but parents. Church leadership teams who want to disciple young people, need to be trying to equip their parents to live out their faith more in the home. Deuteronomy 6:7 says this: “you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.” We must be aware, in the words of Tony Reinke, that “in a world dominated by the image instead of the word, interior life gives way to exterior show. Substance gives way to simulation.” Pastors need to help parents and youth leaders work on their interior life so that we might push back against the dominant spirit of our age, not smartphones but performative culture. The Opportunity So those are two things we must be aware of. If you’re concerned about this and wanting to think more about what we can do, consider this. On Saturday 7th February 2026, Newday presents Youth Culture, a conference aimed at equipping parents, professionals, pastors and youth leaders to engage with the biggest issues facing a generation. We’ll be praying for change, sharing ideas and workshopping together about how the church might disciple a generation. For more information and to sign up, click here.    

There is something about Revelation 4-5 that seems to bamboozle certain songwriters. Preachers and commentators on this passage, and most readers in my experience, can see that the One seated on the throne in chapter 4 is God - surrounded by the sevenfold Spirit, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders - and that in chapter 5, the Lamb enters the scene and takes the scroll. The songs of chapter 4 ("Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty" and "Worthy are you, our Lord and God ...") are sung to the One seated on the throne: in Trinitarian terms, God the Father. The songs of chapter 5 ("Worthy are you to take the scroll ..." and "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain ...") are sung to the Lamb: in Trinitarian terms, God the Son. Chapter 5 concludes with both Father and Son being distinctly addressed as clearly as they are anywhere in Scripture: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!" (5:13). But a number of modern songs get in a bit of a muddle about this. In my most recent Christianity Today column I mentioned an obvious example: Bethel Music’s “No One Like the Lord” begins: “There is one on the throne / Jesus, holy.” It continues: Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain and seated on the throne … And the elders, creatures bow, Giving praise to him and him alone The song is powerful, sweeping, and melodic. I am confident the songwriters believe in the Trinity and are trying to reference the glory due to God. The problem is that Revelation 4–5 say something quite different. There is indeed one who is seated on the throne, but he is clearly distinct from the Lamb who was slain (5:7). The elders and living creatures bow down and praise the one on the throne as worthy (4:9–11), and they also bow before the Lamb (5:8–14). But the two persons are not identical. This is vital to our view of God. We do not praise the Lamb “alone”; we praise Father, Son and Spirit. Revelation chapter 5 concludes with all creation saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!” (v. 13, emphasis added). When songs are doing the liturgical heavy lifting—as they often are in low-church evangelicalism—this is a problem. This is not an isolated instance. Admittedly, you could read the chorus of “Who Else is Worthy?” as referring to Jesus’s worthiness to open the scroll, as opposed to his worthiness to receive worship—although I’m not sure most people singing it think that’s what they’re declaring. But you get something similar in “Worthy of It All,” which has one of my favourite choruses introduced by a puzzling line: All the saints and angels bow before your throne All the elders cast their crowns before the Lamb of God and sing: You are worthy of it all You are worthy of it all For from you are all things And to you are all things You deserve the glory The problem is that they don’t. The elders cast their crowns and sing worthy to the One seated on the throne (4:10-11), well before the Lamb has even entered the picture (5:6). To which you might well say: who cares? Surely the members of the Trinity are not jostling between them over who gets sung to by whom? Presumably not. But it does not help us worship our Trinitarian God if we so freely confuse the persons of God and Lamb, Father and Son. Nor does it help us understand Revelation 4-5. Nor does it help us defend against Oneness theology when it pops up (as it occasionally does, and increasingly will if distinctions like this are lost in a fog of congregational confusion). And it misses out on the extraordinary Christ-exalting drama of the moment when the Lamb receives worship along with the One on the throne (5:13-14), and is then seen at the centre of the throne, shepherding his people as the Father wipes away their tears (7:17). We don’t have to sing hymns every week (although at the moment, in or church, we do). We don’t even have to mention all the members of the Trinity each week (although I think we probably should). But as long as our songs are doing the liturgical heavy lifting in our churches - which I suspect they are for most readers (see Sacrament, Spirit and) - we should try and get the Trinity right. Here is how I concluded my column: To some this will all sound insufferably pedantic, if not mean. To others it will sound indefensibly sloppy, if not heretical. I hope it is neither. I have no doubt that these songwriters believe in the Trinity. Yet their lyrics unintentionally undercut that belief in ways that will confuse those who sing them. And the more popular the song, the more that matters.