Dr. Lloyd-Jones on Secondary Truths.

In Dr. Lloyd-Jones' lectures to the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students he outlined several general characteristics of the definition of an evangelical. The following is the last of excerpts regarding foundational and secondary truths necessary in an Evangelical.

SECONDARY TRUTHS NOT ESSENTIAL TO UNITY

That brings me to my next heading. I have been dealing so far with the essentials. I am still left with what I have called the non-essentials.

What do we mean by non-essentials? We are clear about these matters with which we have been dealing. We have been defining our evangelical position. But I have left unmentioned many other things outside our basis. What about them? I put them in the category of non-essentials. When I say that they are not essential, I do not say that they are not important. They are very important, and they must be discussed by evangelical people, but we must discuss them as brethren. As Calvin said, on such matters we ought not to divide but to try to help one another. We recognize our limits, our defects, our ignorance. We believe that promise of Paul's in Philippians 3 that even in these other matters, light will be given to us if we are patient and if we seek it together.

But we call them non-essential because they are not essential to salvation. This seems to be the test. Another reason I give for calling them non-essential is that they cannot be proved one way or the other. I do not say the Scriptures are equivocal, but there are matters upon which the Scriptures are not so clear that you can say this must be believed.

Then there is another reason for calling some of these things non-essential. Sometimes it is a question of understanding or lack of understanding, and we must always remember that we are not saved by our understanding. This is a most important point. Our danger as evangelicals is to fall into the trap of thinking that we are saved by our understanding; but we are not. Thank God, we are saved in spite of ourselves, in spite of our ignorance and everything else that is true of us. And sometimes the difference between evangelical people is entirely due to a difference of understanding. I will give you an illustration of it in a moment.

There is also a difference between a defective understanding and a positive denial of truth by able people. What I mean is this. You may have certain simple Christian people, not over-gifted with intelligence, who find it very difficult to understand some matters, but there are other men, able men, gifted men, highly intelligent men, who deliberately reject the same truths which the first group finds difficult to accept and understand. Those two positions are very different. While we are patient, sympathetic, and lenient with the first, we must condemn and separate ourselves from the second.

Our object in all this, as I say, is to safeguard the gospel, to keep the evangel clear, to be concerned about the salvation of men and women and the spread of the Christian church. Let that be our only motive. Let us have a single eye to the glory of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us realize always that we are all of us saved in spite of ourselves, that none of us is perfect in understanding or in any other respect, that not to be in fellowship with those who are born again is to be guilty of schism, which is sinful, that we are therefore called upon, as the apostle exhorted the Philippians, to stand in rank together, whatever the cost, whatever suffering may be involved, but always with this one idea that God may be over all, that God may be glorified, and that the name of Jesus Christ our Lord may be magnified among the peoples of the earth.

From the book, "What Is An Evangelical" by D.M. Lloyd-Jones, publ by Banner of Truth Trust, 1971.

posted by john d.