Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Why Grace and Truth Had to Come Through Jesus Christ

Why did grace and truth have to come specifically through Jesus Christ?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, grace and truth had to come through Jesus Christ because the law demanded it. He explains: "The law, by revealing our state and condition and needs, shows that nothing but the incarnation and all that followed it would suffice." The law exposes our sinfulness and helplessness, thus demanding the God-man—the incarnation and everything that followed.

What is the difference between how the law came and how grace and truth came?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones highlights a crucial distinction: "Moses was not really essential to the law. The law was given through Moses, but it could have been given through many others." In contrast, "grace and truth could only come through [Jesus Christ], and in the particular and precise way and manner in which they came." Jesus Christ was absolutely essential, whereas Moses was merely a vehicle or channel used by God.

Why couldn't God simply reveal the truth about Himself directly to humanity?

Lloyd-Jones explains that we cannot directly encounter God in His full glory: "We are told in the Old Testament that no man can see God and live." Therefore, a problem arises: "God alone can reveal God, but man can't look upon God and still go on living." The incarnation provides the solution—"Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail incarnate deity." Through the incarnation, there is "at one and the same time a revealing and a veiling" that makes it possible for us to know God without being destroyed by His glory.

Why did our representative have to be human?

Our representative had to be human for several essential reasons: 1. "It is man who has fallen. It is man who has become sinful." 2. "The law rightly demands the punishment of man." 3. To silence the devil's taunts about God's failure in creating mankind. 4. "If he is to do a work for us to satisfy God on our behalf, he's got to be one of us."

As Lloyd-Jones explains: "He had to be made of a woman and become flesh because we are human."

Why did Jesus need to be divine as well as human?

According to Lloyd-Jones, our representative had to be God as well as man because: 1. "If he had not been God as well as men, he would not have saved us even though he had died upon the cross." 2. "The guilt and the weight of our sins and all attached to them would have crushed him" if he were merely human. 3. Only as God could he have power over death: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." 4. As Peter proclaimed, "it was not possible that he should be holden of death" because he is "the holy one."

How does Jesus' being both God and man enable our salvation?

Lloyd-Jones explains that Jesus being both God and man enables our salvation in several ways: 1. He is "the beginner and the originator of a new humanity." 2. Through him, we "become partakers of a divine nature." 3. We can be joined to him as "members" to the "head." 4. The same Spirit that was in him without measure is given to us in measure. 5. He can be our sympathetic high priest: "We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities."

Why is it important to understand the incarnation at Christmas time?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones laments that Christmas often becomes sentimentalized, saying: "This is a time for thinking even before singing. There's no value in your singing unless it's thoughtful." Understanding the incarnation is essential because "you can't sing unless you understand. And if our singing isn't the result of our understanding, it is almost a mockery." The incarnation is "the only way in which we can ever know grace and its blessings and ever come to know God and to rejoice in him and to glorify him forever."