Today is “Discernment in Music” (DiM) day here at Faithful Stewardship (2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (ESV)).

September 22, 2015. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Same Power” by Jeremy Camp which currently sits at #6 on the KLove top 10 and at #19 on 20theCountdownMagazine.

Overall, this is a good song of encouragement for those saints who are solidly grounded in the Faith. This song is aimed at reminding saints of who they are in Christ Jesus. However, there is some vague wording used in the song that can be co-opted by bad teaching. The song does not stand on its own. We’ll do what we can to give it our best construction, but it falls to the listener to maintain a proper doctrinal understanding.

Jeremy Camp VEVO Lyric Video

Lyrics (via KLove)

Same Power

I can see
Waters raging at my feet
I can feel
The breath of those surrounding me
I can hear
The sound of nations rising up
We will not be overtaken
We will not be overcome

I can walk
Down this dark and painful road
I can face
Every fear of the unknown
I can hear
All God’s children singing out
We will not be overtaken
We will not be overcome

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us

We have hope
That His promises are true
In His strength
There is nothing we can’t do
Yes, we know
There are greater things in store
We will not be overtaken
We will not be overcome

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us

Greater is He that is living in me
He’s conquered our enemy
No power of darkness
No weapon prevails
We stand here in victory

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us

Publishing: © 2015 Stolen Pride Music (ASCAP) (admin. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) / Sony ATV Timber Publishing / Open Hands Music (SESAC) (Admin. by Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC)
Writer(s): Jeremy Camp and Jason Ingram

Discussion

Let us get the basics out of the way. This song does not clearly identify its target audience as saints, repentant sinners forgiven by grace through faith. That is a problem because the Truth is that unbelievers are NOT indwelt by the “same power” this song is singing about. This song offers nothing to the unbeliever. There is no Law and no call to repentance.

Okay, so specific to this song is the fixation on the “power” that lives within us. One of the primary concerns I have with evangelicalism today is the tendency to divorce the power of God from God Himself. In this weekend’s podcast, I got stuck in a bit of a Star Wars analogy, where people get caught up in treating God the Holy Spirit like “the Force” and faith like midichlorians… the more midichlorians in your system, the better you hear “the Force”.  I am not accusing Jeremy Camp of this error, but the song lyrics are just vague enough for such an approach to theology to embrace this song as one of their own.

I believe that the chorus of this song is intended to reflect what Paul was writing in Romans 8.

Romans 8:1-11 (ESV) | Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind that is set on the flesh ishostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Now, there are a couple of times when the song uses the pronoun “He” referring to the “Same Power” that is living in us. It is in there, so I’m confident of Jeremy Camp’s doctrine here. My concern is that it is a little subtle for an industry flooded in aberrant mysticism and panentheism.

The Power of God cannot be separated from God. It’s not like how we think of our own strength being tied to energy, because we grow weary, we grow tired, and we have to grow in strength. God Is Power. In physics, power is defined as the ability to do work. Let us look at how the Apostle Paul references the Power of God.

Romans 1:16-17 (ESV) | The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (ESV) | Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Amen. This is what it means to say that He lives within us, those who believe in Christ Jesus. We are not only made alive in Christ Jesus by the Power of the Spirit of God, but we are also stewards of the Power of God, for we have the word of the cross, we preach Christ crucified, for only by hearing the Word of Christ can anyone be granted saving faith.

Conclusion

With a firm grasp on what the Bible teaches is the power of God, and that it isn’t something separate from God, this song is indeed a helpful reminder to the body of Christ. I hope we’ve been able to share some insight into the scriptures today. In parting, I’d like to share a portion of John 14:

John 14:23-31 (ESV)

²³ Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. ²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, ³¹ but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

Amen.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge