John Gill

John Gill (1697 - 1771). English Baptist pastor, theologian, and author born in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Self-educated after leaving grammar school at 11 due to nonconformist convictions, he mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and logic by his teens. Converted at 12, he was baptized at 19 and began preaching, becoming pastor of Horsleydown Church in London in 1719, serving 51 years. A leading Particular Baptist, he wrote A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity and a comprehensive Exposition of the Bible, covering every verse, still used by Reformed scholars. Gill published The Cause of God and Truth defended Calvinist theology against Arminianism. He edited Matthew Henry’s Commentary and published hymns. Married to Elizabeth Negus in 1721, they had one daughter. His library of 3,000 books aided his prolific writing, shaping Baptist doctrine. Gill’s works, online at ccel.org, remain influential in Reformed circles despite his hyper-Calvinist leanings.
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Sermon Summary
John Gill emphasizes the profound example set by Jesus in 1 Peter 2:23, illustrating how Christ, when reviled and mistreated, chose not to retaliate but instead responded with patience and grace. He highlights that Jesus endured false accusations and physical abuse without threatening or seeking revenge, ultimately committing His cause to God, the righteous Judge. This act of entrusting Himself to God serves as a powerful lesson for believers to refrain from retaliation and to leave their grievances in God's hands, who will judge righteously.
1 Peter 2:23
Ver. 23. Who when he was reviled, reviled not again,.... When he was reproached as a glutton, a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, all the reply he made was, that Wisdom is justified of her children; and when he was charged with casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, he defended himself, not with bad language, but with strong reasonings; and when he was said to be a Samaritan, and had a devil, his only answer was, that he had not, that he honoured his Father, and they dishonoured him; and when he was reviled on the cross, by those that passed by, by the chief priests, and Scribes, and the thieves that were crucified with him, he made no return, he opened not his mouth, and much less in a recriminating way. When he suffered he threatened not; when he endured buffetings, and scourgings in his body, when the officers in the palace of the high priests spit in his face, buffeted him, and smote him with the palms of their hands, and bid him prophesy who smote him, all which were very provoking; yet he said not one word to them, much less threatened them with what he would do to them for such usage another day, when he would let them know, with vengeance, who it was that smote him; no, he took all patiently from them, and from Pilate, and the Roman soldiers, when scourged by them; he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; and when he suffered crucifixion, and was put to such distressing pains and agonies, he did not threaten his crucifiers with a future judgment, when he would take vengeance, and execute his wrath upon them, but prays to his Father for the forgiveness of their sins: and, as it follows; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously; he commended his Spirit, or soul, to God his Father, and committed his cause to him, to vindicate it in what way he should think fit, who he knew was the Judge of all the earth, that would do right; and so the Syriac version supplies it with hynyd, "his judgment": which he left with God, the righteous Judge, to whom vengeance belongs; and which is an example, and an instruction to the saints to do so likewise; not to render railing for railing, or to seek revenge, but to leave their cause with their God, who will, in his own time, avenge the wrongs and injuries done them. The Vulgate Latin version reads, contrary to all the Greek copies, and other versions, "but delivered himself to him that judgeth unjustly"; the sense of which is, that Christ delivered himself into the hands of Pilate, who unjustly condemned him to death; but is neither the reading, nor sense of the text.
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John Gill (1697 - 1771). English Baptist pastor, theologian, and author born in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Self-educated after leaving grammar school at 11 due to nonconformist convictions, he mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and logic by his teens. Converted at 12, he was baptized at 19 and began preaching, becoming pastor of Horsleydown Church in London in 1719, serving 51 years. A leading Particular Baptist, he wrote A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity and a comprehensive Exposition of the Bible, covering every verse, still used by Reformed scholars. Gill published The Cause of God and Truth defended Calvinist theology against Arminianism. He edited Matthew Henry’s Commentary and published hymns. Married to Elizabeth Negus in 1721, they had one daughter. His library of 3,000 books aided his prolific writing, shaping Baptist doctrine. Gill’s works, online at ccel.org, remain influential in Reformed circles despite his hyper-Calvinist leanings.