Jennifer Rothnie Supporter Housewife, Artist, Perpetually Curious

The band Mercy Me came out with the song, "Grace Got You" in their 2018 album 'Lifer.'

Key lyrics from it are:

"Laugh, 'til your whole side's hurting
Smile like you just got away with something
Why? Cause you just got away with something
Ever since, ever since Grace got you."

http://www.metrolyrics.com/grace-got-you-lyrics-mercy-me.html

The song itself is fairly vague and repetitive, so there is little to explain what this means other than we 'know how it ends' and 'Amazing grace.' But it appears the song is trying to describe how, because of grace, we've "gotten away" with sin (by either no longer being punished for it, or getting to keep it.)

Notably absent from the song is any reference to Christ, repentance, faith, God, pardon, or even sin. It's pretty much a descriptive song about dancing and laughing because you 'got away with something.' 

But did we 'get away' with sin?

The idiom 'get away with' generally refers to someone unjustly getting a break in their favor - either escaping arrest, escaping punishment, or getting less than a just sentence. The sense behind the idiom is "I didn't get the full punishment for my crime because the law/court messed up." The person who 'got away with it,' with either no punishment or a lesser punishment, is still guilty.

https://www.learn-english-have-fun.com/idiom-get-away-with-something.html
https://funkyenglish.com/idiom-get-away/
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/get-away-with-sth

It doesn't refer to things like judicial pardon (unless the pardon was obtained on false pretenses,) or cases where a sentence was lessened for genuine/valid reasons. 

So did believers "get away" with their former sin? Did we "get away" with not having to face punishment? No to both.

- We do not now stand guilty before God, but as righteous, for God credits us the righteousness of Christ. It's not that God sees us as guilty and waves away the punishment due us; there is *no longer* punishment due us because the court counts us as righteous (Rom 4:5-7.)

That is, we are not the criminal giggling because we got away from the law or got our sentence commuted. We are an upstanding citizen wearing the righteous garments of Christ. 

- We did not escape judgement of our own power or an oversight of the court. Rather, we were known to be guilty, and faced the condemnation of death. It wasn't a lucky break or escape that freed us - it was Christ! And God, in His mercy, allowed us a pardon for the sake of Christ. 

- Christ laid down His life in an excruciating death on the cross to give us His redeeming, covering blood and pay the penalty for sin. It was Christ who succeeded in providing a way for us to be counted righteous, not guilty. The penalty was fully paid. And not in a "haha, the court got the wrong guy" way, but in a "what love is this, that Christ would die so that I might live!" way.

- We don't get away with our sin; we have to die to it by uniting with the death of Christ (Rom 6.) Furthermore, life in Christ will move us to ask forgiveness for future sins (I Jn 2:1) as well as to make amends for past sins (Matt 5:23-25.) The sin of the believer is no longer judged by the law at all, but under grace.

- Christ, like the scapegoat of the Old Testament, has borne our sin on His body and taken it far from us.

- In the end, even our fleshly, sinful nature will be gone and we will be given new, spiritual bodies. We don't get to keep sin.

Is the song theologically sound? No.

We don't smile because we 'got away with something' and grace helped. We smile because we got away with nothing and were condemned, but even then God loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, cover us with His blood, and redeem us from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13.) We should smile in humility and joy, because we are forgiven an impossible debt. Smile, because we are counted Holy before God. Smile, because Christ won the victory over sin, and we now share in that victory (I Cor 15:57.)

October 01 2019 • 11 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

David Buyna Supporter Retired US Sailor

The thing about music is that it can be categorized. If a song clearly gives God praise I would say it is acceptable.

If it is modeled after worldly construction and is unclear in its message then I would say stay away from it. 

A joyful noise does not necessarily bring joy to the beholder, i.e. non-believers may detest worship songs because they don't conform to worldly standards. And when they hear such songs that do they tend to lose the point as a trade-off for being pleasing to the ear, not necessarily God's ear.

October 31 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Timmy Keil Supporter

All music belongs to God and I've no reservations about the authenticity of the Faith of Bart Millard. All music belongs to God, the Father of music, even that music that does not glorify Him. The wonderful thing about God is that He is able to turn all things to His glory even against the contrary intentions of men. God can and does use MercyMe to minister His grace into the lives of His own. But he can just as well use Van Halen, Cat Stevens, or Ozzy Osborne if He so chooses. I had a run in with some serious sanctimony in college (attended a Christian college) because I enjoyed listening to the musical soundtrack Jesus Christ Superstar. Many of my friends claimed I was dishonoring Christ because the music was somehow theologically incorrect. But was it? The whole point of Weber's musical narrative was that you simply cannot have an encounter with Jesus Christ and not be changed by it in some profound way. Anyway, I can think of many other indulgences in my life that dishonoured Christ a whole lot more than the music to which I have chosen to listen. Music and literature have above most other things taught me best about what it means to be human, and understanding what it means to be human is what has best concreted my relationship with my Maker.

March 08 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

James Kraft Supporter 74 year old retired pipeline worker

I do not know those who wrote the song. But, I believe they were basing it on Romans 11:6, and Romans 5:20 Where sin abounds grace much more abounds. 

John 3:18 Believers are no longer condemned. Not because we quit sinning, but because our sin debt was paid in full by Jesus ‘one blood sacrifice for all sin. The just for the unjust. 

Romans 4:5-8 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him who justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 

We have to be as righteous as God to go to heaven, and no on is. But He has imputed His righteousness to us apart from works. All grace. Romans 11:6.

First John 1:8. If we say we have no sin, we are deceived and the truth is no in us.

January 14 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report