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Martyn-Lloyd Jones
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981). Born on December 20, 1899, in Cardiff, Wales, Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a Welsh Protestant minister and physician, renowned as one of the 20th century’s greatest expository preachers. Raised in a Calvinistic Methodist family, he trained at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, earning an MD by 1921 and becoming assistant to royal physician Sir Thomas Horder. Converted in 1926 after wrestling with human nature’s flaws, he left medicine to preach, accepting a call to Bethlehem Forward Movement Mission in Aberavon, Wales, in 1927, where his passionate sermons revitalized the congregation. In 1939, he joined Westminster Chapel, London, serving as co-pastor with G. Campbell Morgan and sole pastor from 1943 until 1968, preaching to thousands through verse-by-verse exposition. A key figure in British evangelicalism, he championed Reformed theology and revival, co-founding the Puritan Conference and Banner of Truth Trust. Lloyd-Jones authored books like Spiritual Depression (1965), Preaching and Preachers (1971), and multi-volume sermon series on Romans and Ephesians. Married to Bethan Phillips in 1927, he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, and died on March 1, 1981, in London. He said, “The business of the preacher is to bring the Bible alive and make it speak to the people of today.”
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Martyn-Lloyd Jones emphasizes that the purpose of the Law is to define and reveal sin, making it clear that humanity is without excuse. The Law serves as a 'school-master' to lead individuals to Christ, highlighting their inability to save themselves and the exceeding sinfulness of sin. By understanding the Law, one recognizes their own sinful nature and helplessness, ultimately pointing to the need for salvation through faith in Jesus. The summary of the Law is to love God and neighbor, a standard that no one can fully meet, reinforcing the necessity of grace for redemption.
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Purpose of the Law
In other words, the whole function of the Law is to define sin, to reveal its nature; and that is why we are without any excuse at all. The law is in our hearts; but that is not clear enough, so God made it explicit. He had defined it, He has underlined it, He has shown it plainly in the written Law give to the Jews. . . . The Law was given to pinpoint sin, to define it, to bring it out of its hiding-place and to show its exceeding sinful character. . . Nothing so shows the exceeding sinfulness of sin as the Law itself does; and once a man has seen the real meaning of the Law he sees the foulness, the vileness of his own nature. . . . The Law was never given to save man, but it was given as a "school-master" to bring him to the Savior. The whole object and purpose of the Law is to show man that he can never save himself. Once he has understood the Law and its spiritual meaning and content he knows that he cannot keep it. He is undone. . . What is the summary of the Law? It is: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Has anyone done that and so kept the Law? No, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." That is what the Law says. It shows us our utter helplessness and hopelessness, and thereby it becomes "our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ," the only One Who by the grace of God can save us, and deliver us, and reconcile us to God, and make us safe for all eternity. Paul glories in the Gospel which proclaims that "the just shall live by faith," because "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, because by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans Exposition Chapters 3:20-4:24, pp 21-22).
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David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981). Born on December 20, 1899, in Cardiff, Wales, Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a Welsh Protestant minister and physician, renowned as one of the 20th century’s greatest expository preachers. Raised in a Calvinistic Methodist family, he trained at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, earning an MD by 1921 and becoming assistant to royal physician Sir Thomas Horder. Converted in 1926 after wrestling with human nature’s flaws, he left medicine to preach, accepting a call to Bethlehem Forward Movement Mission in Aberavon, Wales, in 1927, where his passionate sermons revitalized the congregation. In 1939, he joined Westminster Chapel, London, serving as co-pastor with G. Campbell Morgan and sole pastor from 1943 until 1968, preaching to thousands through verse-by-verse exposition. A key figure in British evangelicalism, he championed Reformed theology and revival, co-founding the Puritan Conference and Banner of Truth Trust. Lloyd-Jones authored books like Spiritual Depression (1965), Preaching and Preachers (1971), and multi-volume sermon series on Romans and Ephesians. Married to Bethan Phillips in 1927, he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, and died on March 1, 1981, in London. He said, “The business of the preacher is to bring the Bible alive and make it speak to the people of today.”