Lloyd-Jones was more enjoyable than I’d expected. This book is based on three lectures he gave at a conference in 1971. Though there is nothing formally stated about the ecumenical disagreements between MLJ and Stott/Packer, there are echoes of it in statements like this: The greater danger today is not so much the narrow schisms and division over tertiary matters, but the ecumenical spirit of the age (18).

Per the work itself, Lloyd-Jones launches into his lectures from the book of Jude who wrote, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). Lloyd-Jones felt his situation was very similar to that of Jude. An issue of urgency had arisen which compels him to consider the whole of the faith and defend it urgently (8).

In lecture 1, Lloyd-Jones highlights how just because a thing begins right, doesn’t mean it will continue so. Believers ought not give up on unity, but commit to it (John 17), yet without yielding to loose thinking. Change is oftentimes subtle and works from the periphery inward. Institutions that began well often later began to drift, just as men drift in a similar manner. Think of the Ivy League institutions and divinity schools that have nothing left of biblical Christianity beyond their name. “There is a process at work because of sin and evil, which tends to produce not only change but even degeneration” (10).

Ultimately, the Christian should be a person who is careful with the truth and who contends for it so as to win souls out of darkness. ( )

From Daniel Christensen