Love So Pure

Kim Burrell's “Love So Pure” begins with a paraphrase of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son,” and then makes it personal: “I'm so glad he loved me that way.” The second line of the verse carries the resolve behind the song, “I'll let nothing separate me from his love / It's what keeps me from day to day.”

The chorus is built from three short descriptions, “Love so pure, love so kind / Your love is everlasting, divine,” and Burrell lets the ad-libs stretch each one, so “pure” and “divine” turn into held notes the backing voices answer. The middle section moves into direct address, “I don't know where I would be without you,” then “Now that I have found you / Oh, what peace of mind,” which describes love as arrival after searching. It ends with a quiet line, “I will always love you / Because I know you love me too.”

The vow that nothing will separate the singer from God's love is Romans 8:38-39 in everyday language, where neither death nor life nor anything else can do so. The opening is John 3:16 almost word for word.