The Hymns of James M. Boice

After receiving a diagnosis of advanced-stage liver cancer, Dr. James Boyce wrote hymns of praise to God in the final months of his life. On this episode of 5 Minute in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols looks at the verses penned by this gifted minister and longtime friend of Dr. R.C. Sproul.

On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, we are talking about the hymns of James Montgomery Boice.

Dr. Boice was born in 1938 in Pittsburgh—well, McKeesport, to be exact, just slightly south and east of Pittsburgh. He died in 2000.

He was trained at Harvard University, then off to Princeton Seminary, then off to the University of Basel, where he earned his doctorate. From 1968 to 2000, he was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In addition to pastoring that church so faithfully for those decades, he also was the founder of the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. He was heavily involved in the International Council of Biblical Inerrancy, and he served as the chairman of the ICBI from its run, starting in 1977 all the way until 1988.

He was the author of over fifty books. He was the founder of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He was a significant figure in the Cambridge Statement, which was a statement that reaffirmed and restated the five solas here at the end of the twentieth century. Dr. Boice married Linda Ann McNamara. They had three daughters.

Well, on Good Friday of 2000, he received a diagnosis of advanced stage liver cancer. He died on June 17th, 2000. In those final months, he wrote hymns. Longtime friend—in fact, they called each other foxhole buddies of Jim Boice—was R.C. Sproul. He spoke of the four marks of his friend Jim's ministry.

The first mark was inspiration and authority of the Bible. The second mark was the doctrines of grace. The third mark was preaching, specifically the expository preaching of the Word of God. And fourthly, that fourth mark: godly worship in the life of the church.

R.C. remembers how he loved to sing hymns standing next to Jim on a platform at a conference, or there at Tenth Church. R.C. would remember how Jim would stand up on his toes and how he would raise his voice in exuberant praise.

Well, in addition to singing hymns, as I mentioned, James Montgomery Boice also wrote hymns. In those final months of his life, he would write fourteen hymns in all: twelve hymns and an additional two hymns for children.

Each of the solas gets a hymn. There's “Give Praise to God” on Soli Deo Gloria. There's “Heaven's Gift,” which is about Sola Fide; “Alive in Christ,” a hymn on Sola Gratia; “God's Amazing Word,” of course, on Sola Scriptura, and then Boice's hymn, “Christ Alone,” on Solus Christus.

One of my favorites is the hymn “Come to the Waters.” This hymn has five stanzas. It pulls from the imagery of Isaiah and of John chapter seven.

The first stanza says, "Come to the waters." The second stanza says, "Come to the river." The third, "Come to the fountain." The fourth, "Come to the well." Well, that's a reference to John 4, isn't it? And then the fifth stanza, "Come to the Savior."

Here it is in the fifth stanza, those metaphors: waters, river, fountain, well, are all made clear. Or another way we could look at it is these four stanzas drawing on this rich imagery of Isaiah from Isaiah 55 and Isaiah 46, and John 7 and John 4. All of that prophecy meets fulfillment in Jesus Christ, our Savior, and in His work on the cross. Shadow meets reality.

It's all there in this hymn, “Come to the Waters”: drama, imagery, theology, and then the very fifth stanza adds invitation.

"Come to the Savior, the God of salvation. God has provided an end to sin's strife. Why will you suffer the Law's condemnation? Take the free gift of the water of life."

That's James Montgomery Boice and his hymns. And I'm Steve Nichols. Thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.