Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 29:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Martyn Lloyd-Jones And The Doctrine Of The Trinity
Author: Kirk Wellum

Martyn Lloyd-Jones And The Doctrine Of The Trinity

Kirk M. Wellum

Kirk M. Wellum is Principal of Toronto Baptist Seminary, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he also holds the T. T. Shields Chair of Systematic Theology. He earned his MDiv from Toronto Baptist Seminary, and he has served as a pastor in a number of local churches in southern Ontario. He is married to Debbie and they have four adult children.

It has been 1700 years since the writing of the Nicene Creed, which, among other things, set forth what the church believed the scriptures taught about the trinitarian nature of God. In this article, my focus is on the teaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, an extraordinary Welsh preacher and Christian leader (1899–1981), on the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. Although Lloyd-Jones affirms the doctrine of the Trinity as articulated in church creeds, such as the Nicene Creed, his approach to teaching on this subject differs from that of many theologians, apologists, and preachers; for this reason, it warrants reconsideration.

Lloyd-Jones’ ministry and his desire to communicate critical biblical truths in a way that his listeners could grasp, regardless of their background, did not happen by accident. Having started out in medicine before turning to Christian ministry at the age of 27, he took a deeply pastoral approach to theology. He knew that he was not preaching and writing for the academic theological or philosophical world, but as a Christian pastor and evangelist seeking to win the lost and edify the church of Christ.1 His ministry spanned 40 years, first at the Calvinist Methodist Mission Church in Aberavon, South Wales, and then at Westminster Chapel in London, England. Some criticized his move from medicine to ministry, but Lloyd-Jones said, “I gave up nothing. I received everything. I count it the highest honour God can confer on any man to call him to be a herald of the gospel.”2 This sense of the privilege and nature of the Christian ministry shaped his years of service.

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His preaching was a great blessing and continues to edify the church through his published works and the ministry of the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust.3

This mindset and conviction are particularly evident in Lloyd-Jones’ three-volume work, Great Doctrines of the Bible, which is a written record of a series of Friday night lectures that he delivered on biblical doctrine between 1952 and 1955.4 In the opening chapter, he describes his purpose and method: to study what the Bible teaches about itself, God, man, Ch...