Though it was never meant for publication, it nevertheless found its way into a periodical later that year, and soon it became included in English hymnals around the world. Louis Benson suspects that it caught on in the United States, at least in part, because it tapped into the “soldier-spirit left in the hearts of young and old Americans by the four years of the Civil War” which had just ended.

In 1871 Arthur Sullivan wrote the tune “St. Gertrude” for the hymn, which further popularized the hymn and has ever since been its standard melody.

Due to its militaristic theme and martial melody, the hymn has encountered some resistance in recent years, and some church denominations have removed it from their hymn books entirely. However, it is appropriate to remember that Paul commands Timothy to “share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3), and that he instructs the church to “put on the whole armor of God” because we wrestle against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6).

The words of the hymn make it clear that the focus is on this spiritual battle–that our foe is Satan, not men, and that our King and Commander in Chief is the eternal, omnipotent Christ whose kingdom cannot fail.