Joseph Prince’s Law & Grace Teaching is Massively Contradicted & Demolished by Martyn Lloyd-Jones – By Rev George Ong (Dated 8 Sept 2022)
The Appendix, which contains the many other insightful and more detailed teachings of Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Law and Grace, at the end of the article (following the Afternote), should never be missed.
Also, Joseph Prince’s commendation that Martyn Lloyd-Jones is a great man of God in a one-minute plus video shouldn’t also be missed.
This article is Part 1. Part 2 which focuses on Joseph Prince’s blasphemous teaching that the Ten Commandments, which is given by God, kills and causes our death (which he has deliberately done without careful exegesis and proper explanation in order to deceive) will be featured next week.
Please keep in mind that when I (and Martyn Lloyd-Jones too) talk about the moral law in the Ten Commandments for New Covenant believers, I have always used it in relation to sanctification, not justification.
Joseph Prince, by the use of the straw man argument, would always paint his critics as teaching on the obedience to the law to be justified or for justification. This is nothing but slander. There is no Evangelical Church or Pastor in Singapore that I know who teaches that we are to obey the law to be justified. It is merely a straw man argument that Joseph Prince has cooked up to falsely accuse his critics for his own evil purposes to deceive his audience about our stand.
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
On 2 September 2022, last Friday, I featured the article, coupled with 2 videos, titled (please click below if you wish to read the article),
Did Joseph Prince reply?
Yes, he did in his Sunday sermon on 4 September 2022, 2 days later.
First, Joseph Prince’s reply is contained in a 15-second video; kindly click here to view:
“Imagine, when you are handling social media, you don’t know what is truth. Even some videos are manipulated. Are you listening? And what you hear about this person that person, you do not know whether it is truth!”
Is Joseph Prince saying that the facts stated in the videos and article on 2 September 2022 are manipulated or even fabricated?
If what I had featured were wrong or not based on factual accounts, why didn’t he challenge it specifically?
All Prince could do is to cowardly hide behind his general statement (see above) to slander his critics, by giving no evidence or proof that the videos his critics had put up were manipulated.
Come on, Joseph Prince shouldn’t hide behind generalities (making general statements of slander).
As the saying goes, “He who generalises, generally lies.”
Prince ought to have the guts to state upfront which fact in the videos and article was manipulated or even fabricated, instead of slandering his critics without any proof.
Joseph Prince is indeed a serial-slanderer as this is not the first time he has slandered his critics.
Slandering is such a serious sin that the Apostle Paul even teaches that slanderers will not enter the Kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10).
Second, Joseph Prince’s reply focuses on the statement of Martin Luther which I had quoted in my article.
Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, wrote,
“But Satan, the god of all dissension, stirreth up daily new sects, and last of all, which of all other I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he hath raised up a sect as such as teach that the Ten Commandments ought to be taken out of the church, and that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.”
Martin Luther had clearly stated that Satan was the one who
“hath raised up a sect as such as teach that the Ten Commandments ought to be taken out of the church.”
Martin Luther’s statement is a direct assault on Joseph Prince’s core Antinomian Teaching, which teaches that there is no place for the Ten Commandments for New Covenant believers.
No wonder, Joseph Prince is compelled to reply.
Prince’s reply is contained in a 45-second video; kindly click here to view:
“So it says we are ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit… The context is law and grace. The letter are the Ten Commandments that came on Mount Sinai… The letter kills, the Spirit gives life. Under law it kills, under grace, life is given…. If the ministry of death written and engraved on stone – stop! God calls it a ministry of death. What’s the ministry of death? – written and engraved on stones… The Bible says the ministry of death written and engraved on stones – that’s the Ten Commandments. The only part of the law that is engraved on stones written with the finger of God are the 10 Words (Commandments). And God calls it the ministry of death. We are not under that.”
Joseph Prince’s key argument for using 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 is that since the moral law in the Ten Commandments kills and is called the ministry of death, we must have nothing to do with them as we are under the New Covenant.
By such an argument, Joseph Prince is effectively saying that Martin Luther who wrote that the Antinomian teachings (Prince’s core teachings) that championed the removal of the Ten Commandments and had its origin in Satan himself, is a false teaching.
Luther, as for every Bible teacher, isn’t 100 percent right every time. But on this aspect, no true evangelical preacher would disagree with him.
Yet, Joseph Prince had the audacity to imply that what Luther teaches on Antinomianism as encapsulated in his quote was false.
In his sermon on 4 Sep 2022, last Sunday, Joseph Prince preached with gusto and drama, thinking that this time, he had his critics fixed.
Prince must be thinking that with such a clear and convincing teaching from the word of God in 2 Corinthians 3:6-9 that the law, which refers to the Ten Commandments that kill, there is no way that his critics can mount any credible comeback.
Joseph Prince is only entertaining a hallucination because not only did Martin Luther contradicted Joseph Prince’s Antinomian teachings that the Ten Commandments is not for New Covenant believers, but a seminal figure in Bible exposition who is highly regarded across denominations in Martyn Lloyd-Jones also did.
The late Martyn Lloyd-Jones is a spiritual giant that few could match.
Most Pastors and many older believers would be aware that when it comes to expository preaching, Lloyd-Jones is in a league of his own.
Joseph Prince, too, endears Lloyd-Jones as a great man of God.
But the great irony of it all is that Lloyd Jones, whom Joseph Prince commends as a great man of God, teaches against the bulk of Joseph Prince’s law and grace teachings.
Are you somewhat puzzled by what I have just said?
I’m sure you are.
Well, I’m going to unfold this puzzle for you bit by bit.
In a one-minute plus sermon video, Joseph Prince said, please click here to view:
“And I was kind of discouraged, you know, a number of years ago. And I was browsing through; I was in Gold Coast (Australia), browsing in a Christian bookshop there. It was quite a large Christian bookshop. My wife was somewhere else with my daughter, and I was just browsing in a Christian bookshop. And then I passed by a series of books by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones…”
“… So I was browsing through and I picked up a book at random by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He did a series on Romans. It just happened that I picked up this book. And I flipped it at random as well. And my eyes fell on this: How come, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones who is an English theologian, great man of God. And he said this: ‘How come this accusation that was rallied against Paul is not rallied against us today?’
In Paul’s day and age, they accused Paul of saying, ‘Let us sin more that grace may abound.’ How come today as preachers, they are not accusing us of this? And Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, ‘If you are preaching grace and you are not preaching grace to the point that you are misunderstood, you are not preaching the grace of the Bible.’ Amen! That’s Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
Can you believe it? I’m discouraged. I’m a bit sad. And praise God, it happened in a nation of Australia, the answer came. Hallelujah! I was browsing through (referring to Martyn Lloyd-Jones book). I mean, this is supernatural. God was speaking to me.”
I owned almost all of Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ books, including the whole series of commentary on Romans, comprising eight thick volumes, written by him. I bought most of them from about 40 years ago in the 1980s and have read through most of them, a long time ago.
If my memory didn’t fail me, Martyn Lloyd-Jones did say something in one of his commentaries on Romans along the lines of what Joseph Prince had related in the video.
But while I agree with what Joseph Prince related about what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, I strongly disagree with the conclusion he drew for himself (to justify his teachings) from what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said.
Since my disagreements on this matter are already covered in one of my 10 volumes of ebooks on my website, and since this isn’t my focus in this article, I will just leave it as that.
The main point I wish to cover is to ask the key question: Is Joseph Prince telling the truth in the short video about what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said?
Yes, Prince did tell the truth, but the catch is, it’s only a teeny-weeny part of it.
You must remember that the real false teachers are those who are crafty enough to tell you just a portion of the truth to first win you over.
They can’t be telling you outright lies, can they?
If they foolishly do, even little children could pick them out.
So very often I have naive believers, and unbelievably, even many Pastors, who say to me,
“George, why are you taking issue with Joseph Prince as what he is preaching is the truth?”
But let me ask these people,
“Is it the whole truth or the half-truth or just a tiny part of the truth or is it truth that has been mixed and corrupted with lies?”
“Contained in every heresy are some truths that enticingly appeal and this is what seduces people into its fold.” (George Ong)
“False teachers are identified not by the truth they reveal, but the truth they conceal.” (George Ong)
“The power and lure of deception doesn’t come by telling lies; it comes by telling just a part of the truth.” (George Ong)
By relating what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, Joseph Prince is telling the truth but it is just a tiny part of it.
What Prince didn’t tell you is the much bigger half of the truth (and they are immense as you would discover), which I’m surfacing to you in this article.
What will shock you is that the teachings of Martyn Lloyd-Jones on law and grace massively contradicted that of Joseph Prince:
In a Book, ‘Studies in the Sermon on the Mount’ Volume One by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 197-198, he wrote:
“The whole purpose of grace, in a sense, is just to enable us to keep the law.”
“There is nothing more fatal than to regard holiness and sanctification as experiences to be received. No; holiness means being righteous, and being righteous means keeping the law.”
“What is grace? It is that marvellous gift of God which, having delivered a man from the curse of the law, enables him to keep it and to be righteous as Christ was righteous for He kept the law perfectly.”
“Grace is that which brings me to love God; and if I love God, I long to keep His commandments…He enables us to fulfil the law.”
In a sermon, ‘Not Under Law but under Grace’, based on John 1:17, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:
“Never interpret grace as that which gets rid of the law.”
In a sermon, ‘The Law and Grace’ based on John 1:17, Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:
“That is where this putting of law and grace as complete antithesis is always wrong.”
In a Book, ‘Studies in the Sermon on the Mount’ Volume One by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pages 197-198, he wrote:
“That (Matt 5:19) was not spoken only to the disciples for the three short years they were to be with Christ until He died. It is permanent and everlasting; He enforces it again in Matthew 7:21, where He says, ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’ What is the will of the Father (Matt 7:21)? The Ten Commandments and the moral law. They have never been abrogated.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones defines “the will of my Father” as the Ten Commandments and the moral law.
This means that Joseph Prince who teaches against obeying the Ten Commandments and the moral law as they had gone obsolete, does not do “the will of my Father”.
If Prince does not do “the will of my Father” according to Matthew 7:21, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
If Prince cannot enter the kingdom of God, how can Pastors and even Bishops say he is not a heretic?
Are you shocked by what you read?
I’m sure you are.
The teachings of Martyn Lloyd-Jones on law and grace are the very antithesis of what Joseph Prince teaches.
To shock you more, let me highlight more of Lloyd-Jones’ teachings on law and grace.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“Any teaching concerning salvation which does not express itself in terms of the demands of the law is false teaching.”
(In a sermon, ‘Christ; The End of The Law’ based on Romans 10:4)
By the definition of Lloyd-Jones, Joseph Prince is a false teacher as he teaches the false doctrine that the law has no more demands on New Covenant believers.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“Christ through the Spirit enables us to keep and to fulfill the law. That is the business of grace to enable me to fulfil the law.”
(In a sermon, ‘Not Under Law but under Grace’, based on John 1:17)
But Joseph Prince teaches the reverse of what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said – that with the advent of grace in Christ, Christ has fulfilled all the laws on our behalf.
So, from henceforth, Prince argues, we have nothing to do with the Ten Commandments as it has been completely done away with.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“So there is nothing that is more foolish than to dismiss the law and say we got nothing to do with law – we are under grace – we have finished with the law.”
(In a sermon, ‘He Condemns and Convicts’ based on John 1:17)
According to what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, we can conclude that Joseph Prince is indeed a foolish man for dismissing the law and for holding to the view that we have finished with the law.
How a foolish man could be hailed by the world as the expert on the grace doctrine must make every true teacher of the word stare in utter disbelief!
I would go on to say that that is the joke of the ‘Century’.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“If grace doesn’t enable me to keep and to live the law of God, then it just means that the devil has triumphed over God.”
(In a sermon, ‘Not Under Law but under Grace’, based on John 1:17)
This means that Joseph Prince who teaches against obeying the law, is a tool of the devil.
By his teaching that with the advent of grace, the law is no longer to be obeyed, Prince is helping the devil to triumph over God.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones said,
“Don’t you dismiss what was given through Moses, you will never know much about grace if you do.”
“So you see you will never appreciate grace until you have understood the teaching of the law and to see yourself under the law. So a man who dismisses the law he will never know much about grace and he doesn’t.”
(In a sermon, ‘The Law Given By Moses’ based on John 1:17)
Going by what Lloyd-Jones said, this means that Joseph Prince, who dismisses the law as no longer existent, doesn’t know much about grace.
What is ironic is that Joseph Prince who doesn’t know much about grace became world-famous precisely because he did the opposite – he denigrates and dismisses the law in the Ten Commandments as no longer existent.
Imagine, Joseph Prince, who speaks as though he is an expert on the grace topic, but knows precious little about grace, is preaching grace to the world and is so well received and much adored for it.
This is scandalous!
The massive amount of deception that has permeated the world through the false grace teaching of Joseph Prince is unimaginable!
The fundamental teaching of Joseph Prince is about the obsoleteness and irrelevance of the moral law in the Ten Commandments because we are under the New Covenant of grace.
It is precisely this core teaching of Joseph Prince that Martyn Lloyd-Jones contradicts.
There are few who have influenced the Evangelical Christian Church with their Bible teachings more than Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
And if Lloyd-Jones totally contradicted and discredited the core teachings of Joseph Prince on law and grace, the credibility of Joseph Prince is damaged beyond repair.
Yet, the multitudes have naively and slavishly chosen to follow the teachings of Joseph Prince.
You know what kind of message they are sending?
The message is that Joseph Prince has a greater clout on Bible exposition than Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
This is really a joke as Joseph Prince can’t even get the basics of Bible exegesis right!
One thing is clear – if Joseph Prince is speaking the truth, then Martyn Lloyd-Jones was lying.
There is no way of getting around this – it is either one way or the other.
So, if you insist that Joseph Prince is teaching the true doctrine that the moral laws in the Ten Commandments have become obsolete, you are also saying that Martyn Lloyd-Jones was teaching the false doctrine that these same Ten Commandments are still binding for New Covenant believers.
Are you prepared to suppose that Lloyd-Jones, who is a giant in Bible exposition, is teaching heresies?
If you aren’t prepared to say that, then you must logically conclude that Joseph Prince is a heretic.
If you have read through the above, you would have concluded that the bulk of what Lloyd-Jones said, wrote and taught, directly and massively contradicted the teachings of Joseph Prince.
If you didn’t read through these pages in this article, and you just viewed the short video of what Joseph Prince had related about Martyn Lloyd-Jones, you would be misled into thinking that Martyn Lloyd-Jones is supportive of Joseph Prince’s Grace teachings.
You would reason,
“Since Joseph Prince openly and publicly quoted Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his sermon on video, and even called him ‘a great man of God’, Martyn Lloyd-Jones must have endorsed Joseph Prince’s grace teachings.”
And many have been deluded into thinking that such is the case.
Well, Joseph Prince himself is crafty enough to want to leave that impression in the minds of many.
Joseph Prince had more accolades for Martyn Lloyd-Jones when he wrote in his book, ‘Destined To Reign’, Page 252,
“He (Martyn Lloyd-Jones) was well respected within both the charismatic and non-charismatic circles, and was considered by many as the Charles Spurgeon of the modern church.”
If you have read about this glowing tribute that Joseph Prince paid to Martyn Lloyd-Jones in his book, you would be fooled into thinking that Martyn Lloyd-Jones agrees with much of Joseph Prince’s grace theology and is teaching the same grace doctrine as Joseph Prince does.
But as a matter of fact, the reverse is the truth.
Almost all of what I have featured about Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ teachings in this article, including the numerous pages of notes in the Appendix at the end of this article, go head-on against Joseph Prince’s grace and law teaching.
Imagine the irony – Joseph Prince, who calls Martyn Lloyd-Jones ‘a great man of God’ – and yet this ‘great man of God’ has refuted and demolished much of Joseph Prince’s teachings.
Think with me, would any teacher of the word call a person ‘a great man of God’, if that great man teaches against the bulk of his teachings?
No way!
Then, why did Joseph Prince call Martyn Lloyd-Jones ‘a great man of God’?
It’s all a deceptive ploy of Joseph Prince to give the people the impression that he and Martyn Lloyd-Jones are of the same mind with regards to his grace teaching – and that would give much credence to him as the Grace Teacher.
Finally, let me quote a portion of what Martyn Lloyd-Jones said:
“The Ten Commandments are a (reflection) of God’s holy character…”
“…If you resent the commandments of God, don’t talk to me about heaven. Don’t talk about spending your eternity looking into the face of God.”
(In a sermon, ‘The Gift of Grace’ based on John 1:17)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones is making the point that any person, (such as Joseph Prince), who resents the Ten Commandments of God, which is a reflection of His character, has no saving faith.
What is worse is, Joseph Prince does more than resenting; he demeans the Ten Commandments by teaching that they condemn us, kill us and bring about our death – when sin is the primary and root cause of them all.
Prince has even dismissed God’s holy laws in the Ten Commandments as non-existent, and banished them into the dustbins of history.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones went on to say,
“Therefore, if your so-called grace (which you say you have received) does not make you keep the law, you have not received grace. You may have received a psychological experience, but you have never received the grace of God.”
(In a Book, ‘Studies in the Sermon on the Mount’, Volume One, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Page 197)
By the definition of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joseph Prince is certainly not a believer as he fiercely teaches against the keeping of God’s moral laws because they have all become obsolete.
“The height of self-deception is when, Joseph Prince, the world’s guru of grace, is self-deceived that he has received grace.” (George Ong)
If Joseph Prince has not received grace because he doesn’t keep the law, do you think the masses of people who embrace his grace teachings would?
Yet, unbelievably, the multitudes have continued to play around with their souls by stubbornly choosing to follow the grace teachings of Joseph Prince even though they have been proven by the Lord Jesus in the scriptures, and in particular, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, to be plainly and massively false.
If Joseph Prince, who is teaching grace to the world, has not even received grace because he is against the keeping of the law, how can he not be a heretic?
In summary,
if Martin Luther (who spearheaded the Reformation)
had said that Satan was the one who was behind those who teach about the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Church (which is the core of what Joseph Prince teaches),
and Martyn Lloyd-Jones (a seminal figure in Bible exposition and highly-regarded across denominations),
who massively demolished the law and grace teachings of Joseph Prince,
those who still choose to go along with the teachings of Joseph Prince ‘ought to have their heads shot’ (not literally but spiritually) as it is tantamount to digging their own spiritual graves.
This is no different from committing spiritual suicide with both eyes open.
What is shocking is the fact that Joseph Prince has continued to teach his heresies unrepentantly even though they are blatantly false.
But what is even more shocking is that well-educated people, professionals, Christian leaders, Church Pastors and even Bishops have continued to go along with his teachings.
Rev George Ong
Afternote:
We must expect a reply from Joseph Prince in his Sunday sermon on 18 Sep 2022 (this Sunday, 11 Sep 2022, Prince isn’t preaching but an external speaker would) about the massive amounts of teachings that Martyn Lloyd had marshalled against his heretical Law and Grace Teachings.
If Prince chooses to keep silent then he is a COWARD, who fails to defend his grace doctrine which he so passionately preaches when it comes to the crunch, and especially when his Grace Teaching is under direct and heavy assault.
Appendix:
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 240, said:
“Therefore, John says, ‘We know that we have passed from death unto life’ – in other words, we know that we are children of God – ‘because we love the brethren’ (1 John 3:14), that is, we are like our Father.
Similarly with the commandments; they are God’s commandments, they are an expression of his character and of what he likes, so if you say you are a child of God but you do not keep his commandments, you are contradicting yourself, you are a ‘liar’ (1 John 2:4; 4:20). The child loves the commandments because they are the commandments of the Father.”
George Ong’s Comments: By Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ exposition, Joseph Prince is a liar as he passionately teaches that the Ten Commandments have nothing to do with New Covenant people as they have become obsolete. According to Revelation 21:8, the place for liars is the lake of fire.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 271 & 273 said:
“The Christian says, with the Psalmist, ‘O how love I thy law!’ (Psa. 119:97). There is nothing grievous to Christian men and women about the commandments of God. They see that these commandments are absolutely, essentially right, that they are a reflection of God himself, and Christians want to be like God.”
“You notice how the New Testament writers keep on emphasizing the teaching that they give. They know us so well! It is not enough to tell us a thing once, we will soon forget it.
So in chapter 2 of his first epistle, John repeats the point he has just made: ‘He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him’ (1 John 2:4).
This does not need any demonstration. A man who claims that he is a Christian, that he is changed and is born of God and knows God, yet, at the same time, is not keeping God’s commandments, is just a barefaced liar. There is no truth in him at all.
The devil is clever and he sometimes persuades people that they are Christians. He can give you a bogus experience, he can create feelings within you, he can make you say the right things…
Well, I have anticipated what John says. Listen to this: ‘Little children, let no man deceive you . . .’ (1 John 3:7). There were false teachers deceiving the early Christians. There have always been people who have a scaled-down kind of Christianity, which gives you everything for nothing and makes no demands at all upon you, which is all very nice and happy and comfortable. ‘Let no man deceive you’! There is a false representation of Christianity that has always troubled the church – the short cuts. The cults are experts at it, of course, and it tends to come into the Christian church: everything made easy.
Let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God . . . (1 John 3:7–10).”
George Ong’s comments: Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ portrayal of the scaled-down Christianity, which is cultish as it is a false representation of Christianity, aptly describes the feel-good religion, easy Christianity and cheap-grace doctrine of Joseph Prince.
George Ong’s comments: Both the Apostle John in 1 John 3:7-10 and Martyn Lloyd-Jones contradict Joseph Prince’s teachings that once a believer believes right, everything will fall into place.
The devil also believes in the true God but does that make him righteous? (Jas 2:19)
Of course not!
How does one prove that one is righteous? – Not by chanting “I am the righteousness of God” time and time again that Joseph Prince is falsely teaching but by doing righteousness:
“Let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” (1 Jn 3:7)
Doing righteousness is nothing more than our works. What finally proves the genuineness of our faith is not in what we say but what we do – our works (Jas 2:14-26).
And one who doesn’t have his works (does not do righteousness) to prove the authenticity of his faith isn’t a believer in the first place:
“whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.” (1 Jn 3:10)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 55-56, said:
“Eventually, in terms of sanctification, this misunderstanding of the law works out into what is called ‘antinomianism’, which means that you do not recognize any law at all.
You say, ‘It doesn’t matter very much what I do: I’m under grace. I’m saved. I’m a Christian. I’m all right now. “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law is finished. We don’t talk about law any longer: we’re in the New Testament now. Don’t bring law in again.’
Very many Christians think like that, and act accordingly, so there is a lowering of their lives, a living in a worldly manner. The world enters in and everybody feels it is all right. ‘Grace! We are under grace!’ But that is sheer antinomianism.”
George Ong’s comments: Martyn Lloyd-Jones had accurately described the Antinomian teachings of Joseph Prince.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 144-147, said:
“Christ, through the Spirit, enables us to keep and to fulfil the law, and if you do not regard this truth as being as glorious as the first two, I would suggest to you that there is something wrong with your whole view of salvation… Do we rejoice to know that it is the business of grace to enable us to fulfil the law?
Grace, in other words, must never be thought of in law-less terms. You must never think of the grace of God as just a way of escape, just a way of forgiveness, just that which always sets us free.
… That is antinomianism, which is the greatest curse imaginable. Indeed, let me put it like this to you: If grace does not enable me to keep and to live the law of God, then it means that the devil has triumphed over God!”
“Listen again to the apostle Paul, the great advocate of justification by faith only, the man who tells us we are dead to the law and no longer under it: ‘Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law’ (Rom. 3:31). Never interpret grace as that which gets rid of the law or makes nothing of it or makes it void – never.”
“He (Paul) is writing to Christian believers –
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Rom. 13:7–10).
The Ten Commandments still apply and you and I must keep them. This is an exhortation to Christian believers. Love! Love one another. Why? ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law.’ We are meant to keep all these commandments and grace enables us to do so.”
“I am saying that Christ through the Spirit enables us to fulfil the law. That is Christianity…
And so my last word is this: grace gives us the power to keep the law, and grace alone does that.”
“So we still keep the law but we keep it in a new way. We were trying after the letter, we are now doing it in the spirit.”
“Never think of salvation except fundamentally in terms of law. But then have your right distinctions and you will avoid the twin errors – justification by works, and antinomianism, which brings the grace of God into greater disrepute than perhaps anything else.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 165, said:
“In other words, God is saying: I will write my law in their minds and in their hearts. I will give them a new disposition. I will give them a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone. I will make them desire to keep my law. I will make them love my law. They will no longer hate the law when it condemns them. When they fall into sin and the law condemns, they will say, ‘Absolutely right. I’ve been a fool, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m unworthy – oh, how can God forgive me!’
True Christians never argue with the law when it condemns them. They admit it. They confess it. They humble themselves and repent with a godly repentance. Yes, when men and women are born again, they say, ‘That law of God, of course I will keep it. I will keep it in order to please God.
He sent his only Son from heaven to earth for me. Christ, who was so rich, became poor that I might live, and all I am to do now is show him that I love him and that I want to thank him. How can I do that? By keeping his commandments, by living the life that he wants me to live.’ God says, ‘I will put my laws into their mind, and write [imprint] them in their hearts’ so that they will understand my law and love it and rejoice in keeping it.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 50, said:
“I think that the most common misunderstanding to be found among evangelicals is the view that tells us to dismiss the law, the view that says that we do not want the law, that we should not preach it any longer, because we are in the New Testament and are preachers of grace, preaching Christ only and offering salvation in his name. Let me show you the fallacy there: it is the terrible fallacy of regarding grace as something that dismisses the law altogether.
Grace was never meant to dismiss the law, and it must never be so regarded. Now I have the authority of the great apostle Paul for saying this. If ever there was a preacher of grace it was the apostle Paul, yet this is the great point he makes in the first section of his Epistle to the Romans, especially in the first three chapters, where he deals with the whole problem of the law. He has to deal with it in connection with both the Jews and the Gentiles.
People were getting muddled about law and grace and Paul shows them that they are now saved by grace. He then imagines a Jew saying, ‘Very well, then, you are saying that the law was of no value, that it was a mistake and didn’t do any good.’ And the apostle replies like this: ‘Do we then make void the law through faith?’ And he is horrified at the suggestion. ‘God forbid,’ he says: ‘yea, we establish the law’ (Rom. 3:31).
Let us take that statement in Romans 3:31 in context. After Paul has outlined the great way of salvation, he says:
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law (Rom. 3:27–31).
‘Do not imagine for a moment,’ says the apostle, in effect, ‘that my argument, my reasoning, means that I am making the law void, saying there is nothing in it and it is of no value, that you should forget all about it and dismiss it. Never!’ he says. ‘God forbid! We are establishing the law.’”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 53-54, said:
“Do not dismiss what was given through Moses. You will never know much about grace if you do. To dismiss the law shows a complete misunderstanding of it.
The trouble with us is that we have been healed too quickly, too lightly, we are in too much of a hurry. We want relief and we want peace. No, no! The trouble with us is that we have substituted believism for faith; we have rushed to grace before the law has done its work upon us. We are impatient with the law. We want Christ presented positively. We want to come immediately to the gospel. We do not want introductions. And because we do not want introductions, we have no gospel, finally. No, no! We must be clear about this: there is only one way to know and to appreciate the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and that is to know the depth of iniquity that is brought out by the law given through Moses.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 64, said:
“So what was the purpose of the law? What was its function? Let me subdivide it like this: God first of all gives the revelation of himself so that we may see ourselves in his light and in his sight; then he proceeds to tell us the truth about ourselves. In other words, I am suggesting that one of the greatest needs of the world at this moment is to be introduced to the Ten Commandments in the right order.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 73-75, said:
“There is a false idea that would have us believe that the teaching in the second table only begins at the giving of the law to and through Moses at Mount Sinai. People seem to think that the law only began then. But that is quite wrong.
This law was originally given to man and made a part of his very nature and constitution when God first created him. What happened in the giving of the law on Mount Sinai was that God was reminding his own particular people of this fact and stating it explicitly.
The apostle Paul is so concerned about this point that he devotes a bit of an argument to it in the second chapter of his great Epistle to the Romans, and it is important that we should look at that.
This idea that the law, the Ten Commandments, was only for the children of Israel is, I repeat, a central fallacy, and the apostle here in Romans 2 makes that perfectly clear. He puts it like this:
[God] will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; but glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another) (Rom. 2:6–15).
Here Paul is saying that these Gentiles did not have the law. By this he means that, being Gentiles and not Jews, they did not receive the law as it was given explicitly by God to Moses on Mount Sinai.
But Paul says that this makes no difference because, though they were never given the law on tables of stone, the same law is written in their hearts, and they prove that by their consciences.”
“The law of God is written in the heart of every human being and it is meant to be observed. All that God was doing through Moses at Mount Sinai was reminding his own nation of this. The law was in their hearts, it was in the hearts of Jew and Gentile, but because of sin and evil and because of their turning their backs upon God, they had forgotten it and were negligent. So God said, in effect, ‘I am going to remind you of my law; it is in your hearts, but that is not enough, I am putting it before you.’ He underwrote it, as it were, and held it there before them so that it would be unmistakable.
But, remember, the law is all the time written in the hearts of all people, both Jew and Gentile, and that is why I say that it still holds. It is as obligatory now as it was when man was originally created. It is urgently important for us all to remember and to realize that this law still holds today. We are living in an age when men and women are trying to explain away the law.
They say that they do not believe in discipline and so on; they all do what they like and what they think is right. But that is a violation of this fundamental law of our very being and constitution. ‘Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery . . .’ The commandments are all there, and in our consciences we know they are there. To deny them is to deny our own consciences. When any of us violates any one of these laws, we know we are wrong. We try to explain this psychologically and so on, but that is just our attempt to answer and to silence our consciences: ‘Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.’”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 86-87, said:
“God gave this law through Moses. He had already put his law into the heart of man when he made him but because of the fall and sin and rebellion, men and women forgot the law and wandered away from it, so God explicitly gave it again in the Ten Commandments.
We are therefore trying to see the importance of this law. We have seen that it is very definitely important from the Christian standpoint. Our whole conception of salvation depends upon it. If we have not known some preliminary law- work, then our idea of grace is very defective. It is only those who have seen themselves condemned under the law who rejoice in the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. We have seen, too, that Christians need the law as regards their sanctification. Nothing but the law reveals unto us the depth of sin and unless we know something about that, we cannot possibly appreciate as we should the glories and the wonder of the grace of God. This law-work is essential and we dismiss the law only at our peril.
But now I am anxious to look at this matter with you in a more general manner because this is a message for the whole world as well as for the church. The law of God speaks to the whole of humanity. And never was its message needed more than it is today. What can we do better, therefore, on a day such as this – Remembrance Day – than consider something of what the law of God has to say? I lay down the fundamental proposition that the whole trouble in the world at this moment is due, ultimately, to neglect of the law of God, a neglect sometimes based upon sheer ignorance but at other times due to the arrogance of unbelief and the deliberate rejection of the Bible, which is the Word of God. That neglect is the one single cause of man’s falling away from God and consequent falling away from what he was originally and from what God intended him to be.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 108, said:
“So that is my first principle. The law was never given as a possible means of salvation. Let me press this home particularly to those of us who are evangelical. It is, I repeat, our desire to safeguard the doctrine of justification by faith only that often makes us say that we have nothing to do with the law and preach Christ only. But that is the mistake. We are correcting the fallacy of the Jews in a wrong way. That is to misunderstand the whole object and purpose of the giving of the law.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 113, said:
“My third principle, to which we now turn, is that it was given ‘to lead us to Christ’! Now you see why I am so concerned about this verse of ours: ‘The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’ You understand why I am so anxious to show that we should never dismiss the law or condemn it or ridicule it and say it does not matter and that as Christians we must think nothing of it because we now believe in Christ and grace. You see how wrong that is? The law was given, ultimately, in order that it might bring us to Christ. It was given that we might know our utter helplessness and hopelessness and our ultimate, complete inability to save ourselves.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Page 115, said:
“Therefore we must never dismiss the law. Do not misinterpret John 1:17. Do not kick the law out. Do not depreciate it. That is not John’s purpose at all. He is showing that it was meant to bring us to Christ and to the glories of what Christ has given us. Its purpose was to emphasize the pre-eminence of Christ.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones in the book, ‘Born of God’ (sermons from John Chapter One), Pages 162-163, said:
“I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts (Heb. 8:9–10).
That is a description of Christianity. Christianity does not do away with law – and you see why I have been contending for that all along? The Christian does not say, ‘I’ve nothing to do with law, I’m a Christian now.’ No, what Christianity, what the grace of God, does is put the law of God into your mind and into your heart. This is the difference. The law is now within us and not without us. The law given through Moses was on ‘tables of stone’. It is no longer there; it is inside us. So Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, can put it like this:
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart (2 Cor. 3:2-3).
It is exactly the same truth. The law of Moses was outside us, written on stone. There it was, thundering at us and saying, ‘This do, and thou shalt live’ (Luke 10:28). But it is now inside me. That is the difference between grace and law. And what a wonderful difference this makes.”
“The law, in other words, is now in them, not outside them. This is how Paul puts this in Philippians 2:12–13: ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’ Why? Oh, ‘For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ – to do his commandments, his law. That is it. He enables us to do it by working in us.
Or look at it like this: ‘I will put my laws’, says God, ‘into their mind’ – and this is most wonderful. It means that we understand God’s law. The trouble with people under the law is that they are like children. The child hears the parent saying, ‘You mustn’t do this; you must do that.’ So he does not do this or that, perhaps, but he is resentful. He does not understand the reason. He does not see the purpose of the instruction. He thinks he ought to be allowed to do anything he wants to do. The parent says, ‘No!’ and the child gives obedience, but oftentimes grudgingly and complainingly and feeling it is hard and all wrong. That is men and women under the law.
But the moment the law is written in the mind, one understands. When we get older, we thank our parents for their prohibitions as well as for their encouragement; we thank them for the discipline they exercised, for the things they taught us not to do and the things they taught us to do. ‘When I was a child . . . I thought as a child.’ But not now I have become a man (1 Cor. 13:11).
So the law written in the mind gives us understanding and enables us to see that what matters is not the letter of the law but the spirit. That is a most wonderful discovery. As long as you are looking at the mere letter, you hate it, but once you see the spirit and the object and the purpose, you begin to enjoy it.
‘I will put my laws into their mind’ – why? First, in order that I may understand that God’s laws are quite inevitable because of the character of God. Let me say it with reverence, God had to give the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are a transcript of God’s own holy character. So one is not surprised at them. One does not resent them. One sees that they are what they are because of the character of God; one sees that they are absolutely, essentially right. If the whole world kept the Ten Commandments today, there would be paradise. And it is the law written in the mind that enables me to see that.
Then, second, the law written in the mind enables me to see that therefore I ought to rejoice in these commandments of God. ‘We are his workmanship,’ says Paul in Ephesians 2:10, ‘created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.’ In other words, you have been born again in order that you might live this life. You thank God that it is such a wonderful life. You no longer complain. You say, ‘It’s marvellous that I’m now to live that kind of life!’ You do not resent it; you rejoice in it. We can sum it up like this: ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy’ (1 Pet. 1:16). The moment men and women see that, they no longer resent the law. God is saying: ‘I want you to live like this because this is what I am. I am holy, so be holy.’ So you do not kick against the gospel and say that it is narrow and prohibitive. You say: This is God’s life and I am to live God’s life.”