George Duffield Jr – Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

American Presbyterian pastor George Duffield Jr was an abolitionist and hymnist.  He graduated from Yale in 1837 and served as a pastor for 20 years, focused on freeing black slaves during the American Civil War.

Duffield is best known as the author of Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, perhaps inspired by friend and fellow abolitionist Rev. Dudley Atkins Tyng. Duffield preached in a sermon, “I caught its inspiration from the dying words of that noble young clergyman, Rev. Dudley Atkins Tyng, rector of the Epiphany Church, Philadelphia, who died about 1854. His last words were, ‘Tell them to stand up for Jesus: now let us sing a hymn.’ As he had been much persecuted in those pro-slavery days for his persistent course in pleading the cause of the oppressed, it was thought that these words had a peculiar significance in his mind; as if he had said, ‘Stand up for Jesus in the person of the downtrodden slave.’ (Luke 5:18)”.

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1. What message does the song communicate?

We are soldiers in God’s army, warring against our fleshy urges for self-protection and call to obey Jesus to fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil.  It will cost us our lives.  Yet, to those who follow Christ’s leadership into battle, whose strength comes from God alone, they will be rewarded with the crown of life and the right to be co-heirs with Christ, reigning eternally.  After all, this war is temporary.  Satan and his army are doomed.  Christ will return and establish His Kingdom.  Until then, we put on the armor of God, prayerfully following God’s command.

Score: 10/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

All of it Biblical.

This song is public domain.

Since there is no Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.

[Stanza 1]

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss:
From vict’ry unto vict’ry, His army shall He lead,
Till ev’ry foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.

2 Timothy 2:3-4 describes Christ-followers as soldiers who are prepared to suffer for their cause.  They are not entangled in the affairs of everyday life but live to serve the one who enlisted them.  In the same way, we follow Jesus completely, prepared to lose our lives (Luke 14:25-33).

We will continue to soldier on until Jesus returns (Matthew 24:43, Acts 1:9-11, 1 Corinthians 11:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 16:15), leading his army (Revelation 19:14-15) to destroy the final foe: new Babylon (Revelation 19:20-21) and Satan, whose end is the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-10).

While I am tempted to ask “isn’t Christ already Lord (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11)?”, this speaks of Jesus’ rule and reign after the new heavens and earth are formed (Revelation 21:1-5).

Finally, the phrase “stand up” comes from Ephesians 6:14, which we’ll explore later when Duffield mentions the armor of God.

[Stanza 2]

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! The trumpet call obey:
Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day;

See commentary in Stanza 1.

Ye that are men now serve Him against unnumbered foes;

We fight against three main groupings of our enemy:

1. The flesh (John 3:6, Romans 8:5, Romans 7:14-25, Romans 8:6-14, Galatians 5:19-25, Philippians 3:18-19, Colossians 3:1-3, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and 2 Peter 2:1-10)
2. The world (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13, John 15:19, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 2:2, Colossians 3:1-2, 1 Timothy 6:10, 1 John 2:15-17, 1 John 3:17, 1 John 4:5, and James 4:4)
3. The Devil (Genesis 3:1-5, Matthew 4:11, Matthew 16:23, Mark 1:12-13, Mark 8:33, Luke 4:1-13, John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 1 John 3:8-10, and Revelation 20:7-10).

The devil rules over this world (John 12:31, John 14:30, 2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:12, and 1 John 5:19), whose children are humans who follow his cause (Acts 13:10, John 8:44, and 1 John 3:8-10).  Satan’s spiritual army consists of demons; one-third of the fallen angels of heaven (Revelation 12:4).  This combined army of the Devil is too numerous to count.

Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.

Stanza 3, line 1, gives us more detail on how we might attain this courage to oppose the three-fold enemy described in line 3.

[Stanza 3]

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! Stand in His strength alone,
The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own;

We cannot trust our flesh (Philippians 3:3-4) because our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked above everything else (Jeremiah 17:9).  Instead, we draw strength from Jesus, whose power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Put on the Gospel armor, each peach put on with pray’r,
Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there!

The “Gospel armor” references Ephesians 6:13-18, which instructs us to put on truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God.  It does not instruct us to unequip our armor or sheath our weapon.

As Christ’s soldiers, though we want not to enter the fray, we prayerfully await His command.  Desiring self-protection, this inner-war begins in the battlefield of the mind (Matthew 4:1-11, Romans 7:14-25, and 2 Corinthians 10:3-5) and ends with obedience (Matthew 25:34-40, John 14:15, John 14:21-24, John 15:10-14, 1 Peter 1:14-15, 1 John 2:3-5, 1 John 4:19-20, 1 John 5:2-3, and 2 John 1:6).

[Stanza 4]

Stand up, stand up for Jesus! the strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song;
To him that overcometh a crown of life shall be;
He with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.

Duffield reminds us that Jesus is coming soon (Revelation 22:12).  To him who overcomes, we will receive the crown of life (James 1:12) and will reign with Jesus forever as His co-heirs (Romans 8:17, Galatians 4:7, Titus 3:7, Hebrews 6:17, and James 2:5).

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

Despite this song’s Ye Olde English Christianese language, unbelievers will understand Duffield’s main message.  Christians serve Jesus as his army, courageously battling all foes until Jesus returns.  There are small things that they may not understand, such as the armor of God and the crown of life that minimally impact their overall interpretation.

Score: 9/10

4. What does this song glorify?

It glorifies Christ that we obey Him, come to Him for strength, obey, and prayerfully await His return.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

George Duffield Jr’s Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus is a great song.  It calls us to take a stand for Jesus as we prayerfully put on God’s armor, depending on Christ for the strength and courage to face the flesh, the world, and the devil.  We await the second coming of Christ, expecting to eternally reign with Him in His new kingdom.  This glorifies God.  Despite its rich, vibrant, Christianese language, those who are not yet Christian will find similar interpretation easy.

I highly recommend this song for corporate worship.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Artist Info

Track: Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus (listen to Fountainview Academy’s version of this song)

Artist: George Duffield Jr

Album: N/A

Genre: Hymn

Release Year: 1859

Duration: N/A

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Updates:

03/24/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.