Truly Man. Truly God
A Sermon on John 1:16
Originally preached Oct. 13, 1963
Scripture
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Sermon Description
In this sermon on John 1:16 titled “Truly Man Truly God,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones touches on the importance of receiving Christ’s fullness and understanding Christ’s nature for the life of a believer. The Scripture tells the Christian to receive Christ’s fullness, but how are Christians supposed to do this? First, Dr. Lloyd-Jones says that the Christian is to spend time meditating on Him and His fullness. Second, the Christian must move from thinking about this fullness merely as a theological concept, and instead see it as deeply personal. Dr. Lloyd-Jones states that moving from the intellectual perspective to a more personal one is the end goal of looking at Christian doctrine— it is a means of learning about the Lord so He can be known better. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also preaches on what Scripture means when it says that He is both fully God and fully man, and the questions regarding whether Jesus emptied himself of his deity completely, or is there some other possibility. Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains the nature of this topic and answers common questions and provides an encouragement that it is okay to admit that some things about God’s nature are a mystery and are hard to understand.
Sermon Breakdown
- The Christian life can only be explained in terms of our relationship to Jesus Christ.
- All of God's dealings with humanity are through Jesus Christ alone. He is the sole channel of God's grace.
- Jesus Christ is the head of a new humanity. The first humanity failed in Adam, the second humanity finds salvation in Christ.
- Jesus Christ has an essential, inherent fullness as the eternal Son of God. He is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father.
- Jesus Christ's fullness is also seen in his role as our representative. The eternal Son of God had to become incarnate in order to save humanity.
- The incarnation was absolutely necessary for salvation. God the Son could not deliver us if he remained only divine. A man was needed to redeem mankind.
- Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. These two natures are joined in one person. He is the God-man.
- The virgin birth was necessary to produce a sinless human nature in Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin.
- In Christ "all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily." Though he became poor, he remained eternally God.
- We receive grace upon grace from Christ's fullness. We must know the truth about Christ and what is available to us in him.
- We must not start with ourselves and our needs but with Christ and his fullness. We go to him, not ourselves, for all we need.
- The incarnation, virgin birth, and full deity and humanity of Christ are essential to our salvation. We must believe these truths to receive of his fullness.
Sermon Q&A
What Does Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Teach About Christ's Fullness in John 1:16?
What is the central message of John 1:16 according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, John 1:16 ("Of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace") contains "the essence and the fullness of the Christian salvation." He describes it as the "charter of Christian people at all times and in all places." The central message is that Christians receive everything they need from Christ's fullness, and this relationship with Christ is what defines authentic Christianity.
Why do some Christians fail to experience Christ's fullness?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies two main reasons why Christians fail to experience Christ's fullness:
- "Some failure somewhere or another to realize the truth about him" - an inadequate understanding of who Christ truly is
- "Our failure to realize what is available to us or possible to us in him and through him and from him" - not grasping what Christ offers
As he explains, "This is the whole problem of the Christian life."
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones describe Christ's essential fullness?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones describes Christ's essential fullness in these terms: - Christ is "co-equal, co-eternal with the Father" - He is "God the Son, he is God, the eternal expression of the Father, the word" - He is "light," He is "life" - He possesses the "inherent and essential fullness" of God - "God is fullness, God is glory, God is light, God is life"
He emphasizes that we must start with Christ's divine nature, not merely with "Jesus of Nazareth" or "the babe of Bethlehem."
Why was the incarnation necessary according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones argues that the incarnation was absolutely necessary for our salvation:
- "God the Son, in all his inherent and essential and eternal fullness, could not deliver us and save us if he had remained that."
- "It was man who failed and it is man alone who therefore can redeem."
- "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead."
- We as humans "cannot be joined to God" directly - we needed Christ to become human.
As he puts it, "If he'd remained there [in heaven], we couldn't have received of it. We'd be incapable of receiving of it."
What does Dr. Lloyd-Jones teach about Christ's two natures?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that Christ has two complete natures in one person:
- He is "perfect God" - "He remained perfect God as he walked through this world and did everything he did. He was perfect God as he was dying upon the cross."
- He is "perfect man" - "He was given a human soul, a body... He had the faculties and the propensities made in all points like as we are."
These two natures are united in one person: "He wasn't two persons. He was only one person. But in this one person there were these two natures." Lloyd-Jones stresses that these two natures remain distinct with "no admixture of the natures."
Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones believe in the virgin birth?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones teaches that the virgin birth was essential because:
- Christ needed to be a perfect man, unlike fallen humans
- "He came to start a new humanity"
- "The Holy Ghost cleansed this bit of fallen humanity until it was entirely free from sin"
- It allowed Christ to be born without the sinful nature transmitted through natural generation
He states, "That is why we must believe in the virgin birth. That is why we say he was not produced by natural generation."
How should Christians approach receiving Christ's fullness?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones offers this practical advice for receiving Christ's fullness:
- Start with Christ, not with yourself: "If the whole secret of the Christian life is to receive of his fullness, well then obviously the first thing to do is to consider him and his fullness."
- Understand Christian doctrine: "You can never have the fullness of the Christian life unless you know something about Christian doctrine."
- Don't try to understand everything: "Don't try to understand it, my dear friend, but marvel in it."
- Study why the incarnation was necessary: "Go back to the gospel with this tremendous beginning, this great doctrine of the incarnation and the virgin birth. Dwell upon it, ask questions, say, why did he do that?"
The key is to focus on Christ rather than on one's own subjective experiences.
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.