For
over 40 years I have been an avid reader of DMLJ, and I will be
eternally grateful to the Banner for making so many of his books and
sermons available to a wider reading Christian public.
In my reading, I have noticed something to which I wish to draw your attention. First,
when reading through his sermons, he always quoted frequently from the
hymns of the great hymn-writers of the past, and used these to
illustrate some point he was making. This practice gave me a greater
appreciation of Christian hymnody, and saw how hymns could be used to
light up a text of Scripture or some truth that was being
expounded.
However, when I turned to his sermons on Ephesians,
I discovered either that he deliberately skipped that portion (5:19,
20) which is most unlikely, given the Doctor's concern to deal
exhaustively with his text; or else someone else made the decision to
delete his exposition of these verses for some other reason. If the
reason is the former, then that's one thing, however unlikely it might
be, but if it is the latter, then someone has decided to distort the
Doctor's theology and practice by removing these sermons for the
published series. In this series, as in all his preaching, he deals
thoroughly with every text, so it is most strange that he skipped over
these two verses and proceeded on to v.21.
Two very interesting questions!
ReplyDeleteI heard DMLJ's exposition of Eph 5:18, but do not recall him venturing into Vs 19-20. It was a long time ago so I may be mistaken.
If he did do not do so, then that raises intriguing questions as to why not.
He was nothing if not very thorough and therefore he would, in characteristic style have opened up the verses in the light of the rest of NT teaching.
This in turn must needs have drawn attention to the very many "one another" references (58 or so in the NT) and mentioned in v21.
At the very least I think, it wouold also entail a reference to the obvious parallel verse in Col.3:16.
Both passages touch on the familiar teaching of Paul in the NT about mutual ministries amongst the saints when gathered - which would have been difficult to open up fully without drawing out the obvious discrepancies between such teaching and the traditional "worship service" which permeated the whole of evangelicalism then, and up to the present, including and at the time W. Chapel also.
That is not to say that DMLJ disbelieved in such ministry, as at one point he drew attention to, and as I recall, something of the principle of mutual ministry in the small book 'The Experience Meeting', by Willian Williams, for which he wrote an introduction.
As I say, intriguing, for to my knowledge DMLJ did not venture into 1 Cor. 12-14 - but I may be mistaken on that.
As to his sermon on Roman Catholicism. It is interesting to speculate why the BOT omitted this from the published book. The reason could be that the sermon was published prior to the BOT's edition of Eph. by Evangelical Press. (of which I have a copy). Again, pure speculation on my part.
Graham
Thank you, Graham, for your 'insider' information about DMLJ and Eph.5:19, 20. If your memory serves you well, than that explains why there were no sermons on these two verses in the book.
ReplyDeleteIf you are mistaken, it certainly provokes intriguing questions for the publishers to answer.
On his sermon on R.C'ism, I would have thought that for the sake of completeness, BOT ought to have included it in his sermons in that series. I sometimes wonder what is really going on within reformed evangelicalism at times, and this is one area where answers are required.
It must have been an enormous privilege to have sat under the Doctor's preaching in WCL. I only had the opportunity to hear him once - in Leeds while I was a student there in 1972.
Blessings be upon you, Graham.