Onward Christian Soldiers
When Sabine Baring Gould wrote this classic hymn, it was for his children's church kids to march to! Some have seen it as a call to arms, but what was he really writing about?
This classic hymn is a bit of a controversial one. Some hate the song because they see it as a militaristic call to arms. Others see it as a song of spiritual significance. But others don't like it because it was originally a children's song—they say children have no business singing words like this.
Whatever your opinion, it's a fascinating song and one of the all-time favourites for the church: Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war.
Do you have any memories of the song? When was the first time you remember singing it? We didn't sing this one growing up in our church, so I had to learn it this week even though I've always known about it. But it's actually a great song for various reasons, so let's look at where it came from.
The Story Behind "Onward Christian Soldiers"
The words of this famous hymn were written by an Anglican minister named Sabine Baring-Gould in 1864. He was born in 1834 and was really a remarkable person. Not only was he ordained as an Anglican minister, but he was a prolific writer. He wrote books on all sorts of topics: religion, travel, history, biography, fiction. In fact, it's been said that the British Museum contains more books by him than any other writer in that period.
He was prolific as a writer, yet strangely he's most remembered for a little children's poem that he wrote which became the basis for this hymn.
It was 1864, the day after Pentecost, and the tradition in the town was for the children of their church to march to the next town's church for them to do some things together. Can you picture them marching—these little children with their banners held high—from one town to the next?
Baring-Gould wanted them to sing as they marched. He said this: "I wanted the children to sing when marching from one village to another, but I couldn't think of anything quite suitable, so I sat up at night resolved to write something myself. Onward Christian Soldiers was the result. It was written in great haste."
The children went off marching as they always did, but this time singing a great song about the faith. Soon enough, the song captured people's attention. It was published in a local Christian magazine, and before long it had spread far and wide.
Interestingly, it caught the attention of a Mr Arthur Sullivan. Some of you will know the name Arthur Sullivan because he was one half of the famous opera-writing duo Gilbert and Sullivan. But he was a terrific composer in his own right. He wrote many amazing pieces, and in fact, in my own family he has a place of significance because my uncle, who works at the Royal Opera House in London, is a big Arthur Sullivan fan. He heads up the Arthur Sullivan Society and spends a lot of his time taking Sullivan's music and republishing it for use today. So I was very chuffed when I discovered that the song was written by Sullivan.
Sullivan found these words to Onward Christian Soldiers and decided to write his own tune for them. He wrote the now-famous tune that we sing it to. He named the tune "Saint Gertrude," and his excellent composition has surely contributed to the ongoing popularity of this hymn. It's a very compelling tune, and we still sing it today.
Now Baring-Gould was never quite happy with his words. He always thought that he'd done it too hastily and that the rhymes weren't that great and that some of the words were not too well thought out. But nonetheless, he was happy that the song became as popular as it did.
The Salvation Army adopted the song as their own theme song, and through the years the song's been published in hundreds of hymnals. Until a couple of decades ago in the 1970s, some theologians and compilers started to think that the words were a bit too militaristic and spoke about taking up arms and going to war.
So is it a song about going to war, or is it a song about spiritual warfare? Well, let's have a look at the lyrics and decide for ourselves.
What Do the Lyrics of "Onward Christian Soldiers" Mean?
Verse 1
The first verse says this: Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ the royal Master leads against the foe; forward into battle, see His banner go.
Now some people believe that the author was advocating Christians waging war in this world—that he was saying let's go conquer nations with the cross of Jesus leading the way, taking out people wherever we go. I suppose it's easy to see why you might think that. In the Old Testament, God's people often did that. They went on militaristic campaigns and wiped out entire nations—frightening stuff.
But then Jesus came, and everything changed.
Jesus spoke about spirituality, not political kingdoms. He came to set up a spiritual kingdom, and He didn't use violence to spread His message. He changed everything. The Christian way is spreading the good news through love, through teaching, through compassion—not by going and taking people out and scaring them into the kingdom.
The words of this first verse seem to be referencing the words of Paul when he told the early Christians that they were in a battle, but not against flesh and blood. He said not against people, but we're fighting a war against principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness, forces of evil. He said spiritual war.
So when we sing this, we see ourselves as Christian soldiers, not taking up swords to go hurt anybody. We see ourselves as people fighting spiritual battles with forces of darkness trying to take us out. But we have the cross of Jesus going on before us and leading us against the enemy.
On we go, holding our banners of faith with the name of Jesus flying high. Let's go forward into battle every day and fight the fight of faith.
The refrain—the chorus—repeats the opening words of that verse: Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before, reinforcing the theme that we are to move forward, that we are to move onward, that we're not to be sitting on our laurels as Christians doing nothing. We move forward boldly, going where God has called us to go.
Verse 2
Verse 2 says: At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee; on, then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise; brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
I love this. When we are strong in Christ, when we are walking triumphantly in faith with Him, the enemy flees and hell's foundations shake. I love that. This is true.
It reminds me of the verse that says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." If we resist him with triumphant and joyful faith, he's defeated and he goes away.
Don't forget the power of praise when it comes to spiritual warfare. Singing God's songs and lifting up His name in song is not just a church tradition that we do because it's what we've always done. There is power in praise. There is great victory that we find when we are praising God together as a people. There's power that can break the enemy's chains when we are singing God's praise.
The enemy flees when he hears the heartfelt songs of God's people. Let's go into our days and sing God's praise and have the enemy flee from us because God is triumphantly walking with us.
Verse 3
Verse 3 says: Like a mighty army moves the Church of God; brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
Here Baring-Gould reminds us of our call to Christian unity. Notice how his words, by the way, are always talking about groups. He's not saying one soldier—he's saying we as soldiers are fighting this battle. It's always a group thing for him. "Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod." Of course, in those days he wouldn't have said brothers and sisters—it just wasn't the cultural norm—but of course today we would. It's not just a male thing. It's everybody who is in God's family that gets to partake in this great lifestyle.
We need to be together if we have any hope of Christian victory. If we try to just live our faith by ourselves, nothing happens. It doesn't work. It soon implodes.
But if we are uniting with Christian brothers and sisters, if we are united and walking together with them, we find new strength. There is certainly strength and power in unity. You don't find that sort of power and protection when you're by yourself trying to live your Christian life by yourself. You need to be in community.
It's essential that we church people stick together, that we be undivided as he said, that we be one body. That's what Jesus desired. In the latter half of John's Gospel, He speaks a lot about His people being one and undivided. Let's be one, even with the Christians we don't quite agree with on certain issues. Let's be stronger because we are together.
Notice the second line that says we are treading where the saints have trod. Did you see that? We're walking the same spiritual ground as thousands—millions—of Christians from centuries past.
Hebrews 11 talks about how all the saints of the past are watching: we have a great cloud of witnesses watching us. On we go in faith with their support.
Verse 4
Verse 4: Again we find that word "onward." Onward, let's do this, let's go, let's move. Onward, then, ye people, join our happy throng, blend with ours your voices in the triumph song. Glory, laud, and honour, unto Christ the King; this through countless ages men and angels sing.
There's an appeal here for others to join.
I wonder if we Christians are a picture of a happy throng, as he wrote there. People wouldn't want to join us if we're a bunch of miserable, horrible people. But when people see the joy that Christ brings to our lives, when people see how we joyously serve in this army and find great peace and satisfaction, of course they're going to want to join.
There's a feeling of recruitment here—recruiting people for the Christian army. That's what evangelism is, in a sense: inviting people to join the greatest army in the world.
You know what? We're not a violent army. We don't hurt anybody. We don't go out of our way to abuse anybody—of course not. But together we fight the spiritual forces of the world, doing good in the name of Jesus, loving, sharing God's compassion with people, and resisting the enemy who's trying to break our work down.
When we do that, we give Him glory. We give Him glory and honour. Through countless ages His name is lifted high when the Christian soldiers do what they're called to do.
What do you think? Is it appropriate for children to march singing this, saying, "This is who we are—we're children of God, standing up against evil and doing good"?
I don't think there's anything militaristic about this in terms of hurting anybody. If you know Christian theology, if you know what the Bible is about, you can't think that this is advocating violence. It's all about spiritual warfare against evil and doing good in the name of God.
Conclusion
Onward Christian Soldiers remains a powerful hymn that calls believers to spiritual battle, unity, and joyful service. Whether sung by children marching between villages in 1864 or by congregations today, its message endures: we are soldiers in God's army, fighting not with weapons of war but with faith, love, and the banner of Christ going before us.
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References
Baring-Gould, Sabine. "Onward Christian Soldiers" (1864)
Sullivan, Arthur. "Saint Gertrude" (tune for Onward Christian Soldiers)
Ephesians 6:12 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world"
James 4:7 - "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"
Hebrews 11 - The great cloud of witnesses
