This semester I am studying the theology of the Holy Spirit and came across this quote by D.M. Lloyd-Jones who was a well-known preacher in London, retiring in 1968. This quote must have been radical in his day and in his sphere of influence. It’s a pretty radical thought even today…
“A certain teaching tells us to ‘take it by faith’ and not to worry about feelings. ‘You may feel nothing at all,’ it says, ‘but if you believe this Word and its teaching you can take the Holy Spirit by faith irrespective of any feeling.’ The whole of the New Testament teaches the opposite. So does the subsequent history of the Christian Church … You cannot be baptized or filled with the Spirit without knowing it. It is the greatest experience one can ever know. The teaching that assures us that we may feel nothing at all runs entirely contrary not only to the teaching of the Scripture but to the recorded experiences of countless Christians throughout the centuries.”
*Lloyd-Jones, D.M. (1974) Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 8:5-17: The Sons Of God. London: Banner of Truth.
