Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s Warning About ‘Dead Orthodoxy’

I posted on X this past week that the greatest danger to the modern evangelical church is to drift into progressivism. Here’s the full post: 

The greatest threat to the modern church: progressivism. But the answer is not conservatism, though we should be “conservatives” in the best sense. But often, the conservatism of today was the progressivism of yesterday. The answer is the full counsel of God’s Word.

When you survey the landscape of modern evangelicalism it is certainly true that wokeness, feminism, communism/socialism, and other progressive ideologies have invaded the broader evangelical church at nearly every level. From churches to para-church ministries, many have drifted into worldly ideologies. I heard someone say recently that if you are not intentionally trying to conserve biblical convictions and values, your organization or church will drift in the progressive tide. I certainly think that is true. The writer of Hebrews warns us that we must be vigilant to stand against doctrinal and ethical drift: “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1). I believe that this is the main danger of the modern church.

There is Another Danger 

But for those of us who are striving to hold the line of doctrinal fidelity and ethical righteousness, there is another danger that we must be watchful of. Perhaps this danger is even more subtle than liberal drift because it has the outer form of true Christianity but without the life. The danger I am speaking of is what is called ‘dead orthodoxy.’ Dead orthodoxy is truth without grace (John 1:14). It is the letter without the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:4-6). It is doctrine without love (John 13:34, 35). It is the rules without the Ruler (Matt. 11:28-30). It is formalism without substance. It is Christianity without Christ.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones warned the church of “dead orthodoxy” nearly seventy-five years ago, and we would do well to heed his warning. He described dead orthodoxy in the church this way:

Their position is that everything is perfectly controlled, everything is nice, orderly, correct, formal, and above all respectable. If you take certain churches and consider them in the light of the New Testament epistles, you will see the difference. They do not need whole tracts of the New Testament because their churches are in this formal, dead, and utterly respectable position. It is very interesting to observe certain things from the historical standpoint. You will always observe that when forms of service become formal, the Spirit is less in evidence, and you move further away from the New Testament. The very characteristic of the New Testament Church was this spontaneity, this life, this living quality, this vivacity. But, as you fall away from the Spirit and his influence, everything becomes formal. So you have forms of service. You will find that the Church in every period of declension becomes much more formal in her services, she adopts forms of service and she tends to turn to liturgy, and to ritual. All this is a part of formal religion. (Revival, 76)

He goes on to say:

But, on the other hand, every time you get a revival you find all that kind of thing stopping. You come back to the simplicity of the New Testament. The contrast, if I may put it without being at all offensive, is between a cathedral service and a service with the Lord Jesus Christ sitting in a boat by the lakeside, or these people meeting in one another’s houses in Corinth, Thessalonica, Rome, and everywhere else. That is the contrast. No pomp, no ceremony, no ritual, no processions, no vestments, no dressing up. No, but a freedom of the Spirit and things happening. And the people singing out of their hearts. That is what you get in every period of awakening and of revival. When the church is not in revival there is an emphasis upon choirs, and not merely choirs, but paid choirs, and paid quartets and soloists in the choirs. And the congregation just sits, or stands and listens, and the choir even does the singing for them. This is quenching the Spirit. There is no need to say to such people, ‘Let everything be done decently and in order.’ That is their one concern. (Revival, 77)

Clearly, this is a danger for churches that prize sound doctrine. How easy it is to focus on the doctrines and forget our first love, Jesus Christ (Rev. 2:4, 5). Before we know it our spiritual lives and churches are lifeless.

How to Avoid the Ditch of Dead Orthodoxy

So what is the remedy? I think the answer is quite simple. Humility. It is humility before a holy God. It is not allowing ourselves to become puffed up as theological egg heads, but rather constantly setting our gaze upon Christ (2 Cor. 3:18). It is humbly coming before the Word of God every day (Matt. 4:4). It is resolutely walking in obedience to the truth (Eph. 4:1). It is prayer without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). People who are dependent on the Spirit’s power and life don’t become dead. It is when we think we can pull off Christianity in our own strength that we become lifeless and void (Eph. 5:18). In other words, Spirit-filled Christianity occurs when we walk acknowledging our need for God’s strength and power. We are indeed only earthen vessels in which the greatness of the Spirit lies (2 Cor. 4:6-8).

As Lloyd-Jones implores us, we, who are orthodox, must “examine ourselves”:

May God give us grace to examine ourselves. And be honest with ourselves. Do we realize the difference between the Church, as she is depicted in the New Testament, and ourselves? Do we realise that God’s displeasure is upon the Church? Why has there been such a long interval since last God came down amongst his people in revival? Why this appalling long period? Why are things as they are? Why is the Church counting for so little? Why is she so ineffective? Why is it that men and women are living in sin, as they are, and things are going from bad to worse? My dear friends, the first step is that you and I have to realise these things. We have to be pulled up by them, to begin to think about them, to become concerned about them and have a deep awareness of the position as it. (Revival, 155)