Martyn Lloyd-Jones

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The Reverend
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Born(1899-12-20)20 December 1899
Cardiff, Wales
Died1 March 1981(1981-03-01) (aged 81)
London, England
NationalityWelsh
Alma materUniversity of London
Occupations
  • Christian minister
  • physician
  • author
Spouse
Bethan Phillips
​
(m. 1927)​
ReligionChristian (
Congregationalist
, 1939–1968)
Websitewww.mljtrust.org

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (20 December 1899 – 1 March 1981) was a Welsh

evangelical movement in the 20th century. For almost 30 years, he was the minister of Westminster Chapel in London
.

Biography

Early life and ministry

Lloyd-Jones was born in

Member of the Royal College of Physicians.[2] After struggling for two years over what he sensed was a calling to preach, in 1927 Lloyd-Jones returned to Wales, having married Bethan Phillips (with whom he later had two children, Elizabeth and Ann), accepting an invitation to minister at a church in Aberavon (Port Talbot
).

Westminster Chapel

Westminster Chapel as of 2009

After a decade ministering in Aberavon, in 1939 he went back to London, where he had been appointed as associate pastor of

Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship. During the war he and his family moved to Haslemere
, Surrey. In 1943 Morgan retired, leaving Lloyd-Jones as the sole Pastor of Westminster Chapel.

Lloyd-Jones was strongly opposed to

Anglicans
) to leave their existing denominations. He believed that true Christian fellowship was possible only among those who shared common convictions regarding the nature of the faith.

Lloyd-Jones was well known for his style of

sermons
in the same style. He would take many months, even years, to expound a chapter of the Bible verse by verse. His sermons would often be around fifty minutes to an hour in length, attracting many students from universities and colleges in London. His sermons were also transcribed and printed (virtually verbatim) in the weekly Westminster Record.

Evangelical controversy

Lloyd-Jones provoked a major dispute in 1966 when, at the National Assembly of Evangelicals organised by the Evangelical Alliance, he called on evangelicals to withdraw from denominations in which they were "united with the people who deny and are opposed to the essential matters of salvation."[3] This was interpreted as referring primarily to evangelicals within the Church of England, although there is disagreement over whether this was his intention as there were other denominations with liberal wings. There was also disagreement as to what the new ecclesiology he was proposing would look like in practice, although he spoke of “a fellowship, or an association, of evangelical churches.”[4]

However, Lloyd-Jones was criticised by the leading Anglican evangelical

the Bible.[4] This open clash between the two elder statesmen of British evangelicalism was widely reported in the Christian press and caused considerable controversy. Stott later apologised to Lloyd-Jones for abusing his position as chairman, and he greatly admired Lloyd-Jones's work, often quoting him in his own books.[5]

Yet the disagreement remained and the following year saw the first National Evangelical Anglican Congress, which was held at Keele University. At this conference, largely due to Stott's influence, evangelical Anglicans committed themselves to full participation in the Church of England, rejecting the separationist approach proposed by Lloyd-Jones.[6]

These two conferences effectively fixed the direction of a large part of the British evangelical community. Although there is an ongoing debate as to the exact nature of Lloyd-Jones's views, they undoubtedly caused the two groupings to adopt diametrically opposed positions. These positions, and the resulting split, continued largely unchanged, at least through 1996.[7]

Later life

Lloyd-Jones retired from his ministry at Westminster Chapel in 1968. He spoke of a belief that God had stopped him from continuing to preach through the

Bible study exposition because he did not personally know enough about "joy in the Holy Spirit", which was to be his next sermon (based on Romans 14:17).[citation needed] For the rest of his life, he concentrated on editing his sermons to be published, counselling other ministers, answering letters and attending conferences.[citation needed] Perhaps his most famous publication is a 14 volume series of commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans, the first volume of which was published in 1970.[citation needed
]

Despite spending most of his life living and ministering in England, Lloyd-Jones was proud of his roots in Wales. He best expressed his concern for his home country through his support of the Evangelical Movement of Wales: he was a regular speaker at their conferences,[8] preaching in both English and Welsh.[citation needed] Since his death, the movement has published various books, in English and Welsh, bringing together selections of his sermons and articles.[citation needed]

Lloyd-Jones preached for the last time on 8 June 1980 at

St David's Day.[citation needed] He was buried at Newcastle Emlyn, near Cardigan, west Wales.[citation needed] A well-attended thanksgiving service was held at Westminster Chapel on 6 April.[citation needed
]

Since his death, there have been various publications regarding Lloyd-Jones and his work, most popularly a biography in two volumes by Iain Murray.[citation needed]

Legacy

Martyn Lloyd-Jones's daughter Elizabeth and her husband, MEP and Christian writer Fred Catherwood, at Eden Baptist Church, Cambridge, 2012.

Charismatic Movement

Martyn Lloyd-Jones has admirers from many different denominations in the Christian Church today. One much-discussed aspect of his legacy is his relationship to the

Ephesians 6:10–13, published in 1976, he says:

Do you know anything of this fire? If you do not, confess it to God and acknowledge it. Repent, and ask Him to send the Spirit and His love into you until you are melted and moved, until you are filled with his love divine, and know His love to you, and rejoice in it as his child, and look forward to the hope of the coming glory. "Quench not the Spirit", but rather "be filled with the Spirit" and "rejoice in Christ Jesus".[10]

Part of Lloyd-Jones's stress of the Christian's need of the baptism with the Holy Spirit was due to his belief that this provides an overwhelming assurance of God's love to the Christian, and thereby enables him to boldly witness for Christ to an unbelieving world.[9]

Aside from his insistence that the baptism with the Spirit is a work of

cessationism, claiming that the doctrine is not founded upon Scripture. In fact, he requested that Banner of Truth Trust, the publishing company he co-founded, publish his works on the subject only after his death.[9] Lloyd-Jones continued to proclaim the necessity of the active working of God in the world, and the need for God to miraculously demonstrate His power so that Christian preachers and others witnessing for Christ might otherwise gain a hearing in a contemporary world that is hostile to Christianity.[8]
In Lloyd-Jones's words,

I think it is quite without scriptural warrant to say all these gifts ended with the apostles or the apostolic era. I believe there have been undoubted miracles since then. At the same time most of the claimed miracles by the Pentecostalists and others certainly do not belong to that category and can be explained psychologically or in other ways. I am also of the opinion that most, if not all, of the people claiming to speak in tongues at the present time are certainly under a psychological rather than a spiritual influence. But again I would not dare to say that "tongues" are impossible at the present time.[11][full citation needed]

Preaching

Lloyd-Jones seldom agreed to preach live on television – the exact number of occasions is not known, but it was most likely only once or twice.[12] His reasoning behind this decision was that this type of "controlled" preaching, preaching that is constrained by time limits, "militates against the freedom of the Spirit."[12] In other words, he believed that the preacher should be free to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit concerning the length of time in which he is allowed to preach. He recorded that he once asked a television executive who wanted him to preach on television, "What would happen to your programmes if the Holy Spirit suddenly descended upon the preacher and possessed him; what would happen to your programmes?"[12]

Perhaps the greatest aspect of Lloyd-Jones's legacy has to do with his preaching. Lloyd-Jones was one of the most influential preachers of the twentieth century.[13] Many volumes of his sermons have been published by Banner of Truth, as well as other publishing companies. In his book Preaching and Preachers, Zondervan, 1971, Lloyd-Jones describes his views on preaching, or what might be called his doctrine of homiletics. In this book, he defines preaching as "Logic on fire." The meaning of this definition is demonstrated throughout the book in which he describes his own preaching style that had developed over his many years of ministry.

His preaching style may be summarised as "logic on fire" for several reasons. First, he believed that the use of

topical" preaching.[15]

Lloyd-Jones's preaching style was therefore set apart by his sound exposition of biblical doctrine and his fire and passion in its delivery. He is thereby known as a preacher who continued in the

Puritan tradition of experimental preaching.[9] A famous quote on the effects of Lloyd-Jones's preaching is given by theologian and preacher J. I. Packer, who wrote that he had "never heard such preaching." It came to him "with the force of electric shock, bringing to at least one of his listeners more of a sense of God than any other man".[9]

Once, while unfolding to his congregation the internal work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian, Lloyd-Jones marvelled at his experience preaching.

I say it again to the glory of God, this pulpit is the most romantic place in the universe as far as I'm concerned, and for this reason, that I never know what's going to happen when I get here. Never. My anticipations are often falsified on both sides. This is wonderful. The temptation for the preacher, you see, is to think that if he has prepared what he regards as a good sermon, it's going to be a wonderful service, and it sometimes can be a very bad one. On the other hand, the poor man may have had a very difficult and a trying week. He may have been very ill, a thousand and one things may have happened to him, and he may go into the pulpit with fear and trembling, feeling that he hasn't done his work; he's got nothing. And it may be one of the most glorious services he has ever had the privilege of conducting. Why? Because he doesn't control the power [within of the Holy Spirit]. It varies. And not only in preaching but in daily life and experience. It is the well of water that is within us and we don't control it. It controls us.[16]

Lloyd-Jones was also an avid supporter of the Evangelical Library in London.[17]

Recordings Trust

Shortly after his death, a charitable trust was established to continue Lloyd-Jones's ministry by making recordings of his sermons available. The organisation currently has 1,600 sermons available and also produces a weekly radio programme using this material.[18]

Works

References

  1. ^ Eveson 2004, pp. 7–8.
  2. ^ Eveson 2004, p. 41.
  3. ^ Davies, Guy (13 December 2005). "Martyn Lloyd-Jones - 1966 and all that". Exiled Preacher. Retrieved 22 February 2019. You and I are evangelicals. We are agreed about these essentials of the faith and yet we are divided from one another…we spend most of our time apart from one another, and joined to and united with the people who deny and are opposed to the essential matters of salvation. We have our visible unity with them. Now, I say, that is sinful.
  4. ^ a b Justin Taylor (18 October 2016). "50 Years Ago Today: The Split Between John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones". TGC: The Global Coalition. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  5. ^ For instance, Stott 1992, p. 60.
  6. ^ Cook, Paul (February 2007). "Evangelicalism in the UK". Evangelical Times. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  7. ^ Gibson, Alan (October 1996). "Thirty Years of Hurt?". Evangelicals Now. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
  8. ^ a b "The Living God", The Evangelical Magazine of Wales, April 1981, archived from the original on 8 July 2008; editor's note confirms regular attendance at Ministers' Conferences
  9. ^
    Desiring God (ministry)
  10. ^ Lloyd‐Jones 1976, p. 275.
  11. ^ Letter to Dr. Gerald Golden (letter), September 1969[full citation needed]
  12. ^ a b c Lloyd‐Jones 1971, p. 248.
  13. ^ Duduit, Michael (5 January 2003), "The Ten Greatest Preachers of The Twentieth Century", Preaching Magazine (republished by John Mark Ministries).
  14. ^ Lloyd‐Jones 1971, pp. 304–25.
  15. ^ Lloyd‐Jones 1971, pp. 64–80.
  16. ^ Lloyd-Jones The Power Within.
  17. ^ Murray, Iain H (1990), D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, pp. 81–86, 93–97
  18. ^ Martyn Lloyd‐Jones, UK

Bibliography

External links
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