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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John Gill expounds on 1 John 5:8, emphasizing the three witnesses on earth that testify to the truth of Christ's sonship: the Spirit, the water, and the blood. He clarifies that the Spirit refers to the Gospel and the Holy Spirit's work in believers, while the water symbolizes baptism as a public declaration of faith, and the blood represents the Lord's Supper and the martyrdom of believers. These witnesses collectively affirm the truth of Christ's divine sonship and are unified in their testimony. Gill illustrates the harmony between the Gospel and the ordinances, highlighting their central focus on Christ.
1 John 5:8
Ver. 8. And there are three that bear witness on earth,.... To the same truth of the sonship of Christ: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; by the "Spirit" is not meant the human Spirit or soul of Christ; for however that may be a witness of the truth of his human nature, yet not of his divine sonship: and moreover cannot be said to be a witness in earth; rather the Gospel, called the Spirit, which is a testimony of Christ's person, office, and graces and is preached by men on earth; or else the gifts of the Spirit bestowed on men on earth, both in an extraordinary and ordinary way, by which they have been qualified to bear witness to this truth; or it may be the Holy Spirit itself is intended, as he is in the hearts of his people here on earth, where he not only witnesses to the truth of their sonship, but also of the sonship of Christ, and is that witness a believer has within himself of it, mentioned in 1Jo 5:10. By water is designed, not internal sanctification, which though an evidence of regeneration and adoption, yet not of Christ's sonship; but water baptism, as administered on earth in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and which is a noble and standing testimony to the proper, natural, and eternal sonship of Christ: and by "blood" is intended, not justification by the blood of Christ, but rather the blood of the saints, the martyrs of Jesus, who have shed it on earth, in testimony of their faith in the Son of God, and thereby sealing the truth of it; or rather the ordinance of the Lord's supper, which is the communion of the blood of Christ; and represents that blood which was shed for the remission of sins, and has a continual virtue to cleanse from all sin, which is owing to his being the Son of God. The three witnesses on earth seem therefore to be the Gospel, attended with the Spirit and power of God, and the two ordinances of baptism, and the Lord's supper: and these agree in one; in their testimony of Christ, the word and ordinances agree together; and the sum and substance of them is Christ; they come from him, and centre in him; they are like the cherubim over the mercy seat, that looked to one another, and to that; and the two ordinances are the church's two breasts, which are equal, and like to one another; there is a great agreement between them, they are like to two young roes that are twins.
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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.