J.D. Tant (1861-1941) worked tirelessly to preach the gospel throughout his life and was never one to back down or compromise his convictions. However, he eventually began to realize that his brethren were not nearly as willing to stand as firmly as he was. Almost a century ago, he wrote the following observations in the Gospel Advocate, January 5, 1928:
“I find that there are three stages in all religious movements: The first is the fighting stage, when people are few and humble, and lean on God for support. At that stage they all fight and try to overthrow the teachings of men, as the Jews did as recorded in Deut. 7.
“The second stage is the stage of greatness; we become strong and respected and want fine houses and big schools like the sects around us. The Jews reached that stage when they rejected God and wanted a king, to be like other people.
“The third stage is the age of compromise, when we don’t want the differences between the church of Christ and the denominations debated, for fear we will hurt somebody’s feelings. I fear the church of Christ is in the third stage today, and will be followed by spiritual death if some change does not come.” (J.D. Tant: Texas Preacher, p. 413)
When we study the history of the Restoration Movement, we can see what Tant described in these paragraphs. As people started to leave the churches of men in order to simply follow the New Testament, they were very zealous in their efforts to preach the gospel and defend the truth.
Eventually as their numbers (and resources) grew, they began to build bigger and fancier buildings for their churches and put more emphasis and investments into their institutions (missionary societies, schools, etc.). Whenever this happens, aside from questions about whether such things are Scriptural or not, there is a temptation to do almost anything to maintain and grow these institutions. This naturally requires people to be involved and money to be invested. Because brethren value the institutions they have created, they tend to do whatever they need to do to keep the most people happy in order to secure the personnel and finances needed to continue. This inevitably leads to compromise.
This is not necessarily a problem if the institution is purely secular, but when the institution is claiming to facilitate some spiritual work or help Christians develop in the faith, such compromises inevitably lead to brethren being silent about issues in which there is disagreement and tolerating error in order to maintain unity surrounding the institution.
The same principle is carried out with the building of bigger and fancier buildings for the churches to meet. The more money that was used to build and furnish the meetinghouse, the more of an attachment there is to the building and the greater the sense of pride over what “we” were able to provide for the church. Yet these buildings need to be maintained, furnished, and filled with people. So this can also lead to compromise in the same way as it can with the institutions.
We can see this in our history just as Tant saw it in his personal experience. The key is to maintain the spirit of the “fighting stage” – diligently teaching the truth and refuting error while depending on the Lord for our strength – even as our numbers grow and we begin to see some stability.
Why is it so important to maintain the spirit of the “fighting stage”? Consider the militant language found throughout the New Testament:
“Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:10-13).
“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3).
Fighting for the cause of Christ does not mean we are to be quarrelsome or contentious (2 Timothy 2:24-25). Instead, it means we take up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) and contend for the faith without compromising what is true.
When brethren did this two hundred years ago in this country, the gospel was spreading and people were becoming obedient to the truth. The result was the same as it was in the first century when God was “adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Will the same thing happen today? Perhaps. But our focus simply needs to be on planting and watering the seed and allowing God to give the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). Our responsibility has not changed – to contend for the faith, refuse to compromise the truth, and put our trust in God and not in man-made institutions or the size of our meetinghouses.
