Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Diagnosing the Human Soul
Martyn Lloyd-Jones started his medical career with unprecedented promise. Before he turned 22, he was the assistant to the Royal Physician. Whenever the Sovereign of the land needed medical help, the Royal Physician was there to assist, and the one assisting the Royal Physician was none other than a young Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He became a master at diagnosing the human body.
As a doctor, it didn’t take long for Lloyd-Jones to notice his patients getting worse despite his prescriptions. The failure of some treatments was not the fault of his medical expertise. Rather, he realized that medicine failed when the root problems of his patients’ ailments were wrongly diagnosed. Some were not merely medical issues in the first place. Lloyd-Jones realized that beneath a person’s physical well-being was a deeper reality, a spiritual one that could not be healed by a pill or scalpel. Therefore, to help his patients comprehensively, he needed to become something more than a master in the medical field. He needed to become a master at diagnosing the human soul.
The Diagnosis
Whenever there is a problem, insightful eyes are needed to diagnose the root of the problem. The word “diagnosis” comes from the Greek, and it essentially means “to distinguish” (literally, “to know apart”). Diagnosing a problem correctly is a matter of seeing clearly, distinguishing between what is right and what is wrong.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones believed that there was something deeply wrong with the human soul, and what he saw in the souls around him was a problem that held eternal consequences. He became a preacher not long after he began to realize these things. The career change was a drastic one, and it turned a lot of heads, but he had to share his diagnosis with the world.
Many times, and in many places, he offered a diagnosis like this: We are spiritually dead. On a grand scale, we are the problem, not a bacteria, virus, or some other outside force. We are spiritually dead, and it is our sins that do us in. Our sin makes us slaves to the devil and deserving of the wrath of God. Here is a full quote from Lloyd-Jones that paints the picture in terms of satanic power and divine wrath:
Man is dead spiritually; he is governed by the devil, who operates through the mighty spiritual forces under his command, which in turn produce and control the mind and the outlook of the world. That is the position of man. And the result is that man, dominated but that evil power, lives a life of trespasses and sins; indeed he has been born in such a way, as the result of his descent from Adam, that his very nature is fallen. He starts with a polluted nature. And finally he is under the wrath of God.[1]
Why it Matters
I recently heard about a church near me that intentionally refuses to talk about hell. I suppose sinful hearts dislike hearing about their sinfulness, so this church decided they’d rather not offend. This is a tragedy. To a biblically trained ear, refusing to mention hell is like a doctor refusing to mention a fatal prognosis. Either the doctor is ignorant or has decided to lie to his patient. In either case, you should find a new doctor, and the old doctor ought to lose his medical license.
Those of us regenerated by the Holy Spirit have a much different reaction whenever we are told about our sinfulness. We have ears to hear the call to repentance. The call to repentance for us is like honey.
A short time ago, a colleague of mine preached a sermon where he called out the hypocrisy that Christians have and must admit to in order to accept the grace of Christ. The message was cutting, but it had a profoundly positive effect on my spiritual life. In fact, I went up to him afterward to express my gratitude for pointing out my hypocrisy. I was glad to hear this convicting message this because it reminded me to focus my hope on Christ.
When we hear bad news, we long for good news. Until we recognize we are dead in our sins, we won’t see what is good about the good news of Jesus Christ. Therefore, if the bad news is true, it is good to share.
Conclusion
Martyn Lloyd-Jones didn’t come up with his diagnosis of the human problem; he discovered it. Sin is the diagnosis found in the Holy Scriptures. The good doctor did, however, masterfully teach and preach God’s Word in a way that reverberates in our hearts even today. He never did become a Royal Physician for the British Crown. Instead, the true Sovereign, the King of Kings, called him to be a physician of the human soul. He didn’t offer medical advice to an earthly king, but he preached saving truth to the King’s people. He told the world the most helpful and most true diagnosis. Only in light of this diagnosis can we hold out a cure. We need it to be preached more in our world today.
[1] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God’s Way of Reconciliation: Studies in Ephesians Chapter 2 (Baker Book House: Grand Rapids:1972), page 61.
