All Because of You (U2)

I was born a child of grace
Nothing else about the place
Everything was ugly but your beautiful face
And it left me no illusion

I saw you in the curve of the moon
In the shadow cast across my room
You heard me in my tune
When I just heard confusion

All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am… I am

I like the sound of my own voice
I didn’t give anyone else a choice
An intellectual tortoise
Racing with your bullet train

Some people get squashed crossing the tracks
Some people got high rises on their backs
I’m not broke but you can see the cracks
You can make me perfect again

All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am… I am

I’m alive
I’m being born
I just arrived, I’m at the door
Of the place I started out from
And I want back inside

All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am

All Because of You is a great new song on U2’s Atomic Bomb album. The music video for this song can be viewed at YouTube. When one listens to this song for the first time, one gets the impression that this is a love song, and this is an accurate impression. Bono passionately serenades his lover through this song. However, this begs the question, who is Bono’s lover? The natural assumption would be that it must be Ali Hewson, his one and only wife that he married decades ago. A close examination of the song reveals that this is not the case.
 
A close study of the lyrics reveals who Bono serenades. Bono repeats a line in the song a few times, which is “All because of you I am. . . I am.” Why is it that the lyrics repeat the words “I am” twice? In Exodus 3, God charges Moses with a mission to go and free the Israelites from their bondage under the Egyptians. The Bible says that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses at the burning Bush. Some people believe that references to the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament are actually references to Jesus Christ. When Moses received his charge from the Angel of the Lord, he asked God what name he should use to refer to God, if the Israelites ask what God has sent him. “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” (Exodus 3:14) In Mark, when the High priest asks Jesus if He is the Messiah, Jesus responds by saying, “I am.” (14:62) In John, Jesus says “before Abraham was born, I am!” (8:58) Therefore, there is a theme in the Bible of “I am” being a reference to God.

Who then is Bono serenading? Bono is serenading God or Jesus Christ more specifically. The use of the double “I am” in the song is a direct reference to God. Paul says in Ephesians, “‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (5:31-33) Paul describes the relationship between Christ and the church as being like that of a relationship between a husband and wife.

What does Bono serenade Jesus Christ about? First, Bono praises Jesus for creating him. In light of what I have already discussed, the word “I am” conveys a double meaning. It is saying both “All because of you I am” and “All because of you Jesus.” When one puts these two separate meanings together, one learns that he is thanking God for being the ground of his being. One can accurately translate “All because of you I am. . . I am” as “Jesus, I exist because of you.” Second, Bono thanks Jesus for his salvation. He says, “I was born a child of grace.” Jesus said in John that “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again.” (3:3) Therefore, being born a child of grace is a reference to his rebirth into salvation. Third, Bono praises Jesus for his beauty by saying “[e]verything was ugly but your beautiful face.” Fourth, Bono praises God for his transcendence and immanence. He says “I saw you in the curve of the moon / In the shadow cast across my room.” He cannot see God because God is transcendent and wholly other. If a person were to see God in His complete glory, that person would die. On the other hand, he sees evidence that God is immanent in his life, which is what he conveys through his reference to the curve of the moon and the shadows. Fifth, he praises God for his omnipotence stating that he is “An intellectual tortoise / Racing with your [God’s] bullet train.”

This song is also a theological depiction of the process of salvation. He states at the beginning of the song that he was born a child of grace. This refers to the beginning of his walk with God where he places his faith in Jesus Christ and receives the justification and forgiveness of sins that comes through Christ’s death on the cross. However, justification is only the beginning of the Christian journey, which is why it is referred to in the first line of the song. After a person is justified, s/he begins an incremental process of becoming holy, but this is a process where there will be bumps in the road along the way since we are still creatures with a sin nature.

Bono talks about his personal selfishness. “I like the sound of my own voice / I didn’t give anyone else a choice / An intellectual tortoise / Racing with your bullet train / Some people get squashed crossing the tracks / Some people got high rises on their backs.” He is talking about how selfishness is part of the sin condition. People often have elevated views of themselves and they feel that they are better than other people and God, but we inevitably get into trouble (or squashed crossing the tracks) when we get into the mindset that we know better than God does. He then says “I’m not broke but you can see the cracks / You can make me perfect again.” In Matthew, Jesus tells us that the standard for human conduct is perfection when he commands us to “[b]e perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (5:48) This is the goal that we as Christians must pursue with all of our being, but we inevitably fall short of this goal, and we get squashed crossing the tracks. However, God is always there with us in our faith journey, and he will make us perfect again.

(Posted by Trask)