Basic Principles
A Sermon on Ephesians 5:22-23
Originally preached Jan. 24, 1960
Scripture
22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Sermon Description
The most important principle for understanding the apostle Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5:22–23 is his command that all “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” In this sermon on Ephesians 5:22–23 titled “Basic Principles,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones notes that all relationships and all that the Christian does must be done out of love of God and love of neighbor. There is no place for self-centered and self-serving attitudes in the Christian life. When people do not have this principle as the guide to relationships, things go wrong. Much of modern society is a testament to this fact in the commonness of divorce. This is because people have rejected God’s way and set up their own. As all Christians know, belief and practice cannot be separated from one another. But this is precisely what happens in modern society when people do not have the proper understanding of marriage. They say it is simply a human contract that can be broken any time by anyone. This rejection of the Christian view of marriage is a testament to what happens when people reject God’s word as the only sure and true foundation for human life and practice.
Sermon Breakdown
- Becoming a Christian does not mean we will automatically be right in all we think and do. There are new problems to confront.
- Christianity speaks to all of life. There should be no compartments.
- Christian teaching does not contradict fundamental biblical teaching. The NT supplements but does not contradict the OT.
- The NT always gives reasons for its teaching. It does not just issue rules but explains why.
- Doctrine and practice cannot be separated. Each helps and illustrates the other.
- When confronting any problem, do not approach it directly. Move from the general to the particular. Apply principles.
- The spirit in which we approach issues is vital. We must do all in submission to the Lord.
- The Christian view of marriage is unique, found only in Scripture. It is not the common view of marriage as only physical or a human arrangement.
The Book of Ephesians
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.