John Gill, Baptist theologian (1697-1771)

Abstract

John Gill was a Calvinistic Baptist who preached to a London congregation at Horsly-down and Carterlane from 1720 to 1771* He exerted enormous influence over a certain segment of his denomination which became captive to his hyper-Calvinist theology. Despite his lack of a formal education, he established himself as a leader among Parti¬ cular Baptists by publishing scores of pamphlets, books, and sermons which were accepted as oracular by many of his colleagues but which contributed little or nothing toward overcoming the religious apathy of the age.Gill's first ventures in theological writing were polemical. He considered his Calvinistic system to be the only true faith, and he defended it with fervor and dogmatism. At one point or another, he touched upon nearly all of the major theological issues of his day: the Trinitarian Controversy, the Deistic threat, and the dialectical tension between Calvinism, Antinomianism, and Arminianism. His most ambitious polemic was against the Arminianism of Daniel Whitby and John Wesley against whom he argued the doctrines of (1) eternal election and reprobation, (2) the limited atonement, (3) irresistible grace, and (I4.) the perseverance of the saints.The work which made Gill most famous was his nine -volume commentary on the entire Bible. These tomes are virtually valueless today except as an illustration of Gill's approach to Scripture. Ostensibly, he was a Biblical theologian, but actually, he forced Scripture to conform to his pre-conceived doctrines. He was skilful in giving obscure meanings to straightforward verses in order to make them fit into his system.At the close of his life, Gill compiled a three-volume Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity. Throughout his ministry, his theological point of view remained essentially the same, but the long years of doctrinal controversies and extensive Biblical exposition now made him more articulate in expressing his complete creed. Gill considered theology a science on a par with any other area of study, and he believed that the doctrines of the Christian Faith could be proved. The weight of his proof, however, rested upon his basic premise that the Bible is a divinely revealed Book which should be accepted in its entirety without criticism or question.Gill was a Covenant Theologian. His thought varied little from that of the Dutch theologian, Witsius, whose ideas were impressed upon A Gill as a young man through the influence of Joseph Hussev and John Skepp. Like these men, Gill described the relationship between God and man in terms of covenants, the Covenant of the Law which God entered into with Adam in time, and the Covenant of Grace which he made with Christ before the beginning of the world in order to secure the salvation of His Elect. The whole system was evolved in an attempt to uphold God's sovereignty and to reconcile this major premise with man's assurance of salvation. God's eternal decrees destined every man to either salvation or reprobation, and man's highest virtue consisted in willingly submitting to his destiny for the glory of God. Gill's theology posed the insoluble dilemma of having the elect redeemed from eternity and yet condemned within time, and his emphasis upon justification before faith and eternal perseverance left him open to the charge of Antinomianism. His doctrine of the limited Redemption was simply a rationalization of the observed fact that all men are not saved.Another doctrine which Gill never ceased defending was his belief in baptism by adult immersion. His conviction on this matter was his primary grievance against the Established Church. Gill was an uncompromising Dissenter. His objections to the Church of England were many; he believed that the only true relationship between Church and State was complete separation and that the only true form of the visible church was in autonomous congregational churches.Gill distinguished himself more for the quantity of his writing than for the quality of it. He was not a^trustworthy scholar, and his thought was often superficial and frequently colored by an uncontrollable temper. His hyper-Calvinist theology had a withering effect upon his denomination. He paralized the growth of Particular Baptists by his teaching that ministers have no prerogative to offer Christ and His salvation to sinners lest they interfere with the work of God who will save whom He will. The infection of Gill's theology was stubborn in its resistance to the religious awakening initiated by the Methodists, but eventually, his extreme point of view began to be tempered. Gill's star never rose very high on the theological horizon, and in the morning of the new day, he was lost in the light.