Chris Tomlin reimagines 1,800-year-old Christian hymn: ‘It connects us to the early church’

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor Thursday, March 19, 2026

When Chris Tomlin first saw a photograph of a fragile scrap of papyrus unearthed in Egypt, a fragment containing what is believed to be the earliest known Christian hymn, the Grammy Award-winning worship leader said he was struck by something deeper than history.

“I was really, really moved by that and thinking, ‘Wow,’” the 53-year-old artist told The Christian Post. “It just feels like such a God story that it was even found in the scrap heap.”

The fragment, discovered among thousands of ancient documents in the ruins of Oxyrhynchus, contains a portion of a hymn dating to the third century. Long preserved in a vault at Oxford University, the text has recently been brought into the spotlight through “The First Hymn,” a feature-length documentary highlighting the journey from the ancient desert to the modern Church.

Tomlin, one of the most widely known worship artists in the world, collaborated with acclaimed Australian songwriter Ben Fielding to reimagine the hymn for contemporary audiences and released the song last year on his album The King Is Still the King.

“Of all the things that were found in this archaeological spot … they find this little piece of a hymn, the earliest known hymn of the Church,” he said. “It’s like God bringing it to the people again.”

The documentary, hosted by historian and singer-songwriter John Dickson, highlights how the fragment offers insight into the theology and worship practices of the early Church. The hymn’s final line reads: “To the only giver of all good gifts.”

“That’s a beautiful line, and we agree with it,” Tomlin said. “But it has a little bit more umph to it when you hear what was going on in the culture of that day.”

In the documentary, Dickson explains that pagan worshipers in the Roman world often used similar language to honor deities like Zeus or even Caesar. For early Christians to adopt and redefine that phrase was, in Tomlin’s words, “right in the face of culture.”

“I love that this little band of Christians … at the very end of their hymn would say, ‘To the only giver of all good gifts, amen,’” he said. “How powerful that is.”

Even more striking, the Texas native noted, is the hymn’s reference to the Trinity: “the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” a formulation that predates its formal articulation at the Council of Nicaea in the fourth century.

“This is the earliest discovery of that written outside of Scripture,” he said. “This is the 200s, and they’re singing it already. There’s so much in these few words. It’s just a piece of papyrus … but it’s like a treasure for us as the Church.”

The project also reaffirmed something Tomlin has long preached: Worship music plays a vital role in shaping theology and spiritual formation.

“What we sing is what gets in us,” he said. “Music is so powerful, it gets inside of us what we know of God.”

From global worship anthems like “How Great Is Our God” and “Holy Forever” to his latest work on “The First Hymn,” Tomlin said he always approaches songwriting with a sense of responsibility, often consulting theologians to ensure his lyrics align with Scripture.

“I don’t want to be throwing heresy to the world,” he said. “I want people to have a right view of God when we sing these songs of worship.”

“This is us coming to the living God and teaching people about God through our songs,” Tomlin said. “So it’s so important that it’s rooted in Scripture.”

The documentary also shows how bringing a third-century hymn into the 21st century came with significant creative challenges. While the original fragment includes musical notation, it reflects an ancient system unfamiliar to modern ears.

“The melody is very foreign,” Tomlin said. “It’s just so interesting to our ears.”

Dickson encouraged Tomlin and Fielding to take creative liberties, noting that what was once a “pop melody of the day” in the third century should be reimagined in a way that feels natural to contemporary listeners.

“That gave us a lot of permission to take it and run with it,” Tomlin said, adding that despite his decades of songwriting experience and more than 30 top 10 hits, he was “intimidated” by the prospect of breathing new life into such a sacred hymn.

Working alongside Fielding, known for co-writing modern worship staples, helped bring the vision to life.

“Ben has such great melodies in his heart,” Tomlin said. “That’s what just kind of came out.”

The documentary culminates in a live worship moment — the first time the newly arranged hymn was performed publicly — captured during a concert in Fort Worth, Texas. Tomlin said he was moved witnessing a modern congregation join in singing words first written nearly 1,800 years ago.

“For me, that was so important,” Tomlin said. “Songs of worship are meant to be sung. They’re not meant to just be listened to.”

“To think that we’re singing something that 1,800 years ago was being sung, it connects us to the early Church,” he said.

Tomlin expressed hope that the song will find a lasting place in churches around the world, not because of his involvement but because of what it represents. The hymn, he said, is a “song of Heaven,” worship that lifts attention away from human needs and toward divine glory.

“This predates denominations,” he said. “There were no Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist — none of that. This is the early Church, and this is what they’re singing. I think that brings us to a pure place.”

“The opening lines: ‘Let all be silent / The shining stars not sound,’ it’s this reverence before God. I love that the earliest known song we have in the Church is not about us. … It lifts our eyes off ourselves and onto the greater story.”

“The First Hymn” will be in theaters nationwide on March 24 and 26.