“Character or Covenant—Which?”

Although they started with sound Scriptural counsel about the need to be Christlike, the emphasis that some of the early Bible Students gave to “character development,” as they called it, tended to minimize certain aspects of real Christianity. Some of them seemed to be of the opinion that being genteel—always appearing to be kind and good, speaking softly, avoiding any display of anger, reading the Scriptures daily—would guarantee their entrance into heaven. But these lost sight of the fact that Christ had given his followers a work to do.

This problem was firmly addressed in the article “Character or Covenant—Which?” in the May 1, 1926, issue of The Watch Tower.a It showed that efforts to develop a “perfect character” while in the flesh caused some to give up in discouragement, but at the same time, it produced a “more holy than thou” attitude in others and tended to cause them to lose sight of the merit of Christ’s sacrifice. After emphasizing faith in the shed blood of Christ, the article highlighted the importance of ‘doing things’ in the active service of God to give evidence that one was pursuing a course pleasing to God. (2 Pet. 1:5-10) At that time, when much of Christendom still made a pretense of holding to Biblical moral standards, this emphasis on activity strengthened the contrast between Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christendom. The contrast became even more evident as moral issues that were becoming common had to be dealt with by all who professed to be Christians.

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‘Character Development’—The Fruitage Was Not Always Good

A report from Denmark: ‘Many, especially among the older friends, in their sincere efforts to put on a Christian personality, endeavored to avoid everything that had the slightest taint of worldliness and in this way make themselves more worthy of the heavenly Kingdom. Often, it was considered unsuitable to smile during meetings, and many of the older brothers wore only black suits, black shoes, black ties. They were often content to live quiet and peaceful lives in the Lord. They believed it was enough to hold meetings and let the colporteurs do the preaching.’