“What if Mary was in the club / ’fore she met Joseph around hella thugs?”

Before Kanye released The Life Of Pablo, he gave an unexpected assessment of what fans should expect from his seventh solo LP. “This is a gospel album,” he told Big Boy’s Neighborhood. “A whole lot of cursing on it, but it’s still a gospel album.”

While TLOP would be the first gospel album to allude to anal bleaching, the project has several religious themes. Genius dug in to explore the album’s spiritual side, compiling five points that prove Yeezy wasn’t just genre trolling.

1. The Album Title Refers To Paul The Apostle

In Christian tradition, the title of Apostle is reserved for the 12 disciples who knew Jesus personally. The term is a Greek word meaning “messenger” or “ambassador.” Paul lived around 30-60 A.D. and even though he did not live or walk with Jesus, he is honored with the title of Apostle because of his influence in the early church, and his supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ.

By choosing to name this album after Saint Paul the Apostle (or San Pablo in Spanish), Kanye draws direct parallels with his own life. He views Paul as a revolutionary thinker and identifies with his position of power and influence, and probably expects humanity to continue consuming his own lyrics 2,000 years later, just as we do with Paul’s writings today.

2. “Ultralight Beam” Is Pure Gospel

With its gospel choir, organs and sample of a viral Instagram clip of four-year-old Natalie Green praying for “no devils in this house,” TLOP’s opening track has all the hallmarks of a church service. But “Ultralight Beam” isn’t just aesthetically spiritual. The song’s title is a reference to God’s influence in our everyday lives.

In Paul’s origin story, he was on the road to Damascus to persecute Christians as Saul the Pharisee. God appeared to him in a vision—see: “This is a God dream”—a transformative moment in his life. From then on, instead of working against the church, he became an influential teacher and missionary.

Guest gospel legend Kirk Franklin introduces the album’s thesis via his mini sermon: God is present even when human behavior isn’t “good enough.”

3. There Are Direct References To The Holy Bible

Kanye captures the tension of the superstar rap lifestyle with the life of a Christian family man on “Wolves” by name dropping biblical figures. Critiquing Christian judgmentalism, he asks, “What if Mary was in the club / ‘fore she met Joseph around hella thugs?” Chance The Rapper goes even deeper on “Ultralight Beam,” alluding to the “pillar of salt” from Genesis 19:26.

4. “Saint Pablo” References A Popular Christian Poem

Although Yeezy released “Saint Pablo” in March, more than a month after The Life Of Pablo dropped, the song thematically connects to the album. It’s like a belated bonus track on the ever-evolving LP. On the song, Kanye references a popular modern Christian poem “Footprints,” which echoes a sentiment that Paul the Apostle preached:

5. Kanye Depicts A Classic Biblical Struggle

Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is an crucial piece of literature in forming Christianity’s foundational doctrines. In it, he explains the struggle between living with the temptations of this earth, while trying to maintain integrity as a man of God—the battle between flesh (earthly desires) and spirit (heavenly matters).

Kanye explores a similar inner conflict on The Life Of Pablo. On “Father, Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” he prays to both his biological and heavenly fathers before bragging about his sexual conquests. The album artwork juxtaposes an photo of a traditional family wedding outside of a church with a glamour model wearing a bikini—the words “which one” are stacked on the cover.

On the chorus of “FML,” the Weeknd sings, “Even though I always fuck my life up / Only I can mention me,” a sentiment that’s reminiscent of Paul’s own reflection:

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” —Romans 7:15