I recently came across this snippet from Tozer:
Dr. Simpson used to say, “Being filled with the Spirit is as easy as breathing; you can simply breathe out and breathe in.” He wrote a hymn to that effect. I am sorry that it is not a better hymn, because it is wonderful theology.
–Tozer, A. W. How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit (Kindle Locations 356-357).
He is right to emphasize that good hymnody requires more than good theology. Hymnody also involves sensibility, and if the sensibility is mismatched to the theology, the result is a caricature. Bad hymnody can trivialize good theology. It can sentimentalize good theology. It can debase good theology. What is left is no longer good theology; in fact, it is bad Christianity.
