Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Well of Living Water: Questions and Answers

What is the main difference between religion and true Christianity according to Lloyd-Jones?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the fundamental difference between mere religion and true Christianity is that religion is primarily about our activity and external conformity, while Christianity is about God's power working within us. In religion, "it is our activity that counts the whole time," with people performing mechanical and ritualistic actions. He says: "Think of it in Muhammadanism at given ours, how they drop down and say their prayers. Think of it as you get it in Roman Catholicism, the mechanical aspect of it. But it's equally true of much of Protestant Israel, our activity." In contrast, Christianity is characterized by "a power that is acting within us" - an inner well of living water that springs up from within.

What does Lloyd-Jones mean by "a well of water springing up" in the Christian life?

Lloyd-Jones explains that Christ's reference to "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" describes the dynamic, living power of the Holy Spirit within the believer. Unlike external water that requires repeatedly going to its source, this well is internal and self-generating. He states: "It's living. What a difference there is between a well and a trough with Water in it or a system with water in it. There's no life there. But here there is an activity springing up. There's a power, there's a dynamic, there's a force." This internal fountain represents the Holy Spirit's active, continuous work in the believer's life that produces spiritual growth and vitality without external manipulation.

How does Lloyd-Jones explain the relationship between God's work and our work in the Christian life?

Lloyd-Jones uses Philippians 2:12-13 to explain this relationship: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." He emphasizes that our activities as Christians are always the result of God's prior activity within us. "The Christian acts because he is made to act. His action, his activity, is the result of this other activity that is anterior to and comes before all his activity." Our work flows from God's work in us; we don't work to make God work. He states, "We move because we are moved. We act because of the stimulus that has come apart from ourselves." This divine initiative is what distinguishes true Christianity from religious self-effort.

Why does Lloyd-Jones believe many apparent Christians fall away after leaving university?

Lloyd-Jones observes that many students who appeared to be "wonderful Christians" during university fall away completely after graduation. He attributes this to the fact that their faith was based on external influences rather than the internal well of living water. He explains: "What was happening to them was this... in their student days, when they were members of Christian unions and carried along by the momentum and the excitement and the movement and the activity of that, appear to be wonderful Christians. They leave the university... And once they've lost all this that was round and about them, they have nothing." He concludes they were conforming to a society rather than experiencing God working in them "both to will and to do."

According to Lloyd-Jones, how can a Christian know they truly have God's life within them?

Lloyd-Jones provides a powerful and perhaps surprising test - the internal conflict experienced when trying to return to sin. He says that even in a backsliding condition, when a person wants to revert to worldly living, the presence of an internal struggle indicates God's life is there: "You may want to go with your old friends and find all this interesting and attractive once more... But this other thing is there inside you and working in you, and you're annoyed. You wished you'd never known anything about it." He references Galatians 5:16-17 about the Spirit lusting against the flesh to explain this conflict. The true Christian cannot permanently return to a sinful lifestyle because "his seed remaineth in him" (1 John 3:9). This internal resistance to sin, even when we desire it, proves God's life is within us.

How does Lloyd-Jones describe the power of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life?

Lloyd-Jones describes the Holy Spirit's power in a believer as dynamic, variable, and beyond human control. He uses several biblical examples to illustrate its intensity: Peter declaring "We cannot but speak" despite threats; Paul saying "the love of Christ constraineth me" and "Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel"; and Paul's testimony of "his working, which worketh in me mightily." Lloyd-Jones compares it to "a fire within him" and "like a volcano." This power varies between different Christians and even within the same Christian at different times. He states that a Christian "is not at the central control" of this power - it's not mechanistic or predictable, which is why he calls the pulpit "the most romantic place in the universe" since he never knows "what's going to happen."

What does Lloyd-Jones identify as the greatest sin of Christian people today?

Lloyd-Jones identifies "the greatest sin of Christian people at the present time" as "the sin of reducing this glorious gospel to the level and the measure of our own understanding and still more of our own experience." He observes a stark "contrast between what is offered here and what so currently and frequently passes as the Christian life and the Christian experience." He warns against comparing ourselves only with non-Christians and instead urges comparison "with what we find here [in Scripture], but with what we can also find in the literature of the history of the church and of God's people." This reduction of Christianity to fit our limited experience prevents us from experiencing the fullness of the "well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Why does Lloyd-Jones say a person with God's life cannot continue in sin?

Referencing 1 John 3:8-9, Lloyd-Jones explains that a person truly born of God cannot continue in a lifestyle of sin because God's seed (or life) remains in them. He clarifies this doesn't mean a Christian never commits individual acts of sin, but rather "he doesn't go on sinning. It's the contrast with the unbeliever. The unbeliever lives a life of sin. The believer does not live a life of sin." This is because the new nature within the believer makes continued sinful living impossible: "This remains in him, this seed, this life of God." He adds that when a Christian does sin, they become miserable: "When the Christian goes back to sin, he's a miserable wretch and he'll continue like that. He will not be allowed to enjoy it." This internal resistance to sin is evidence of God's life working within.