Gill may be one the greatest and one of the most spiritual Christian giants coming close to the strength and Christian maturity of John Calvin. Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire England, he was raised in a Godly Calvinistic home. His father belonged to a dissenting Baptist church congregation that was resisting the control of the established Church of England over all Christian institutions of the country at that time. The churches that were resisting so strongly were the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists. Young John early on showed a propensity to spirituality and had a mental quickness that surpassed most of his seniors.
At the age of eleven John had mastered the Latin classics and had become proficient in Greek. He came to Christ at about the age of twelve, was baptized in a river, and became a church member on November 1, 1716. He accepted the call to preach and was ordained to the gospel ministry on March 22, 1720. He mastered Hebrew and then Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaic, Persiac, and other oriental languages. He studied philosophy, logic, rhetoric, ethics, physics, and metaphysics, and read from Plato, the Stoics, Herodotus, Pausanias, Livy, Sallust, etc.
In my opinion what set John apart was his detailed mastery of the Rabbinical writings. He read the Jewish Targums, the Misnah, the two Talmuds, both Babylonian and Jerusalem. He also read the Jewish Midrashim, the Zohar, and other more modern Jewish volumes. For his work he received an MA and a DD in theology. He became the pastor of the most prestigious Baptist church in London. His systematic theology is a classic that should be read by any man going into the ministry. It is clear, deep, and extremely spiritual work—and it is huge in size! How he had time to write it, plus the many, many volumes that constitute his whole Bible commentary, is a mystery!
Two things set John Gill apart: (1) his mastery of the ancient Jewish writings. This made him a premillennialist, a literalist, and a futurist. He observed the spiritual and linguistic depth of the Rabbis and realized that the amillennial church of his day had destroyed the Jewishness of the Scriptures. In his commentary he quotes the Rabbis probably on an average of ten times per page. (2) his premillennial understanding of the Word of God. Gill, though influenced by Covenant theology, was moving forward in his premillennial understanding of the return of Christ to rule on earth. While I may not agree with some of his confusing comments on the coming Davidic millennial reign, I give it to Gill that he was beginning to see the light.
Besides his voluminous Bible commentary, and his very detailed systematic theology, he wrote many other stand-alone works. His writings all together total more than ten thousand pages. They were all originally written in his own hand, all corrected, and passed through the printing presses by himself alone.
When he died on October 14, 1771, a vast train of carriages with mourning and weeping people, some on foot, followed his casket to the cemetery at Bunhill Fields. A Dr. Stennett wrote in Latin a tribute to Gill, translated here below:
Professor of sacred Theology A man of unblemished reputation, A sincere disciple of Jesus, An excellent preacher of the gospel, A courageous defender of the Christian faith; Who, adorned with piety, learning, and skill, Was unwearied in works of prodigious labor, For more than fifty years. To obey the commands of his great Master, To advance the interests of the church, To promote the salvation of men, Impelled with unabated ardour, He put forth all his strength. He placidly fell asleep in Christ, The fourteenth day of October, In the year of our Lord, 1771, In the seventy-fourth year of his age.
His systematic theology, A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, may be ordered from The Baptist Standard Bearer, Paris, AK.
At the age of eleven John had mastered the Latin classics and had become proficient in Greek. He came to Christ at about the age of twelve, was baptized in a river, and became a church member on November 1, 1716. He accepted the call to preach and was ordained to the gospel ministry on March 22, 1720. He mastered Hebrew and then Arabic, Syriac, Chaldaic, Persiac, and other oriental languages. He studied philosophy, logic, rhetoric, ethics, physics, and metaphysics, and read from Plato, the Stoics, Herodotus, Pausanias, Livy, Sallust, etc.
In my opinion what set John apart was his detailed mastery of the Rabbinical writings. He read the Jewish Targums, the Misnah, the two Talmuds, both Babylonian and Jerusalem. He also read the Jewish Midrashim, the Zohar, and other more modern Jewish volumes. For his work he received an MA and a DD in theology. He became the pastor of the most prestigious Baptist church in London. His systematic theology is a classic that should be read by any man going into the ministry. It is clear, deep, and extremely spiritual work—and it is huge in size! How he had time to write it, plus the many, many volumes that constitute his whole Bible commentary, is a mystery!
Two things set John Gill apart: (1) his mastery of the ancient Jewish writings. This made him a premillennialist, a literalist, and a futurist. He observed the spiritual and linguistic depth of the Rabbis and realized that the amillennial church of his day had destroyed the Jewishness of the Scriptures. In his commentary he quotes the Rabbis probably on an average of ten times per page. (2) his premillennial understanding of the Word of God. Gill, though influenced by Covenant theology, was moving forward in his premillennial understanding of the return of Christ to rule on earth. While I may not agree with some of his confusing comments on the coming Davidic millennial reign, I give it to Gill that he was beginning to see the light.
Besides his voluminous Bible commentary, and his very detailed systematic theology, he wrote many other stand-alone works. His writings all together total more than ten thousand pages. They were all originally written in his own hand, all corrected, and passed through the printing presses by himself alone.
When he died on October 14, 1771, a vast train of carriages with mourning and weeping people, some on foot, followed his casket to the cemetery at Bunhill Fields. A Dr. Stennett wrote in Latin a tribute to Gill, translated here below:
Professor of sacred Theology A man of unblemished reputation, A sincere disciple of Jesus, An excellent preacher of the gospel, A courageous defender of the Christian faith; Who, adorned with piety, learning, and skill, Was unwearied in works of prodigious labor, For more than fifty years. To obey the commands of his great Master, To advance the interests of the church, To promote the salvation of men, Impelled with unabated ardour, He put forth all his strength. He placidly fell asleep in Christ, The fourteenth day of October, In the year of our Lord, 1771, In the seventy-fourth year of his age.
His systematic theology, A Complete Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, may be ordered from The Baptist Standard Bearer, Paris, AK.
