Baptism of the Holy Spirit according to Martin Lloyd Jones' "Joy Unspeakable"

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Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones was a minister under a congregationalist background. Basically these churches are non-denominational in that they believe each congregation is its own independent denomination. They have their roots and beliefs in line with the reformed puritans such as John Owen. Therefore they are generally staunchly Calvinistic and conservative.

However Lloyd-Jones particular views on the Holy Spirit are slightly unique. For example, although very similar to John Owen's, he had a slightly higher expectation that God could pour out extra-ordinary gifts during an outpouring or revival. His emphasis was in the same vein of the puritans, is was not like the Pentecostal or other charismatic movements which put experience above God's word. On the contrary Lloyd-Jones was a through-and-through puritanical, conservative, cross-only preacher who emphasized the objective truth of scripture above experience.

This made Lloyd-Jones a leader among conservative evangelicals who though not necessarily interested in speaking on tongues, were still feeling like their was more inner renewal and power to be had in the Christian life than offered by tradition based churches that were becoming more and more liberal and ecumenical at that time.

This may seem odd, but being very familiar with Lloyd-Jone's theology and having myself been a member of various evangelical churches including, Non-denominational, Apostolic (Calvinistic Pentecostal), Christian Missionary Alliance, Baptist, Independent Evangelical and now Anglican (in that order) - due to my need to frequently relocate to other cities, I would say there are no denominations (that I am aware of) that hold the same view as Lloyd-Jone's on the holy Spirit except individual independent evangelical churches and the Christian Missionary Alliance. The reason why it is the same as Christian Missionary Alliance is because A. W. Tozer partly founded that denomination. Tozer and Lloyd-Jones were two very different men but had a similar conservative (anti liberal) emphasis on the Holy Spirit while retaining standard old school Christ centered gospel preaching.

I guess it is safe to say they were the most balanced leaders in their day among conservative evangelicals that only partially rejected the overall charismatic movement. Lloyd-Jones specifically opposed the Pentecostal movement as it was against Calvinism and that 'speaking in tongues' as the evidence of 'baptism in the Spirit' was simply unbiblical.

Note: As far as resources go for a more in-depth understanding of the Spirit in the tradition of Lloyd-Jones I would actually turn to John Owen or even J.I. Packer. This is really more in the with Lloyd-Jones than any charismatic writer. You will notice the forward of many of Lloyd-Jone's book are by Packer because they are actually very similar. The thing that slightly confuses things is that in my view Lloyd-Jones confused a term, he identified 'sealing' with 'assurance of salvation' - this was his small mistake, but everything else is really standard reformed views according to Owen. Actually for his wedding anniversary present he requested the works of John Owen. I think that's really the place to go.

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