JOHN GILL ON THE USE OF
MEANS
IN THE NEW BIRTH [03/04--2006]
The following is an
abridgment of Chapter 7 in my series of articles entitled, THE HISTORY AND
HERESIES OF HARDSHELLISM. A list of all the articles is at the end. -- Bob
L. Ross
QUOTATIONS FROM DR. JOHN GILL, (1697-1771)
Famous Baptist
Pastor, Scholar, and Commentator
Who Lived Before the "Primitive Baptist
Church" Originated
Dr. Gill pastored in London at
the church later pastored by C. H. Spurgeon. He is one of the most famous
Baptists in English history. His massive works are on the Internet at --
John
Gill Archive
>>http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/gills_archive.htm<<
Some few men have made comments about Dr. Gill which we believe are
unjustified. Some have claimed that he advocated "Hardshell" theology, or
"Hyper-Calvinism." In fact, one brother published a paper in which he said
that Gill "might well be called the father of that anti-missionary movement
which we sometimes term hardshellism." But this is not the
case.
Some Hardshells think they find Hardshellism in
Gill's writings, but such thinking is the same as that which thinks it finds
Hardshellism in the Bible. If they read Gill in a piece-meal manner, as
they read the Bible, then those who believe Hardshellism may find something with
which they can agree. But on occasions, I have had the opportunity to
"chase" Hardshells away from Dr. Gill. The do not appreciate his "means"
doctrine on the subject of the new birth.
John Gill
was a Confessional Calvinist, not a Hardshell. Hardshells deny that the Gospel
has anything to do with calling sinners unto salvation. They say that the
Gospel is to be preached to those already "regenerated" for the purpose of
"saving their lives," or to give them "direction," and not to sinners in order
to bring them to Christ. Hardshellism teaches that men are regenerated by
the Spirit in a "direct operation," apart from the preaching of the Word of God
and before faith in Christ.
Confessional Calvinists on
the other hand teach that the Gospel is the "means" used of God in calling
sinners to salvation and the new birth. 2 Thessalonians 2:14 states that
those chosen are "called by the Gospel." It is the Spirit alone who
is the "efficient cause," yes; but the Bible teaches that the preaching of the
Gospel is used of the Spirit in performing His work.
This is what John Gill taught. And to vindicate Gill of erroneous charges,
I have selected a few comments from Gill's works to show his true
position. These quotations have to do with the place of the gospel and
ministers in bringing lost souls to be born again, or saved. I hope the
quotations are free of copyist mistakes.
.
It will be
seen from these quotations that Gill, and the Baptists of his time, were not of
the "Primitive Baptist order." He uses "regeneration" and "conversion" in
referring to the new birth, not to two distinct experiences.
From Gill's Commentary
Commenting on
Proverbs 11:30:
Again Christ's ministers are called
'fishers' of men, and are said to 'catch' men, Matt. 4:19, Luke 4:10; and which
they do by casting and spreading the net of the Gospel; the Gospel is the net;
the world is the sea into which it is cast: where natural men are in their
element, as fishes in the sea; the casting of the net is the preaching of the
Gospel; and by means of this souls are caught and gathered in to Christ and his
churches, Matt. 13:47 (Volume 3, page 28).
Commenting on Mark 16:16:
'To every creature,' that is, to
every man; and particularly the Gentiles, as distinguished from the Jews, are
often intended by this phase . . . Now to these, Christ would have the Gospel
preached, as well as to the Jews; even to all, without distinction of people,
Jews and Gentiles, Barbarians, Scythians, bond and free, male and female, rich
and poor, greater or lesser sinners, even to all mankind (Volume 5, page
401).
Romans 1:16:
It (the
gospel) is the power of God organically or instrumentally; as it is a
means made use of by God in quickening dead sinners, enlightening blind
eyes, unstopping deaf ears, softening hard hearts, and making of enemies friends
(Volume 6, pages 5, 6).
Romans
10:14:
On this passage, Gill says that "it was
absolutely necessary that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles,
as well as to the Jews." He goes on to say, "There is no hearing of
Christ, and salvation by him, without the preaching of the Gospel; the usual and
ordinary way of hearing from God, and of Christ, is by the ministry of the
word: this shows not only the necessity and usefulness of the Gospel
ministry, but also points out the subject-matter of it, which is Christ, and
him crucified" (Vol. 6, page 90).
Romans
10:17:
'So then faith cometh by hearing' & c.
That is, by preaching; for the word hearing is used in the same sense as in the
preceding verse; and designs the report of the Gospel, or the preaching of the
word, which is the means God makes use of to convey faith into the hearts of
his people; for preachers are ministers, or instruments, by whom others believe
(Vol. 6, p. 9).
I Corinthians
1:18:
'It (the Gospel) is the power of God;' organically
or instrumentally; it being the means of quickening them when dead in
sin, of enlightening their dark minds, or unstopping their deaf ears, of
softening their hard hearts, and of enemies making them friends to God, Christ,
and his people: and it is likewise so declaratively, there being a
wonderful display of the power of God in the ministration of it; as may be seen
when observed who were the first preachers of it, men of no figure in life, of
no education, illiterate mechanics, very mean and abject; into these earthen
vessels were put the treasure of the Gospel, that the excellency of the power
might appear to be of God, and not man (Volume 6, page
155).
I Corinthians 4:15:
'For
in Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the Gospel;' which is to be
understood of regeneration, a being born again, and from above; of being
quickened when dead in trespasses and sins; of having Christ formed in the
soul; of being made a partaker of the Divine nature, and a new creature:
which the apostle ascribes to himself, not as the efficient cause thereof, for
regeneration is not of men but of God; not of the will of the flesh, of a man's
own free-will and power, nor of the will of any other man, or minister; but of
the sovereign will, grace, and mercy of God, Father, Son, and
Spirit.
The Father of Christ begets us again according to
his abundant mercy; and the Son quickens whom he will; and we are born again of
water and of the Spirit, of the grace of the Spirit; hence the washing of
regeneration, and renewing work, are ascribed to him; but the apostle speaks
this of himself, only as the instrument or means, which God made use of
in doing this work upon the hearts of his people; and which the other phrases
show; for he is said to do it 'in Christ;' he preached Christ unto them, and
salvation by him, and the necessity of faith in him; he directed them to him to
believe in him, and was the means of bringing of them to the faith of
Christ:
And it was the power and grace of Christ
accompanying his ministry, which made it an effectual means of their
regeneration and conversion; and which were brought about 'through the
Gospel;' not through the preaching of the law; for though by that is the
knowledge of sin, and convictions may be wrought by such means; yet these leave
nothing but a sense of wrath and damnation; nor is the law any other than a
killing letter; no regeneration, no quickening grace, no faith nor holiness come
this way, but through the preaching the Gospel; in and through which,
as a vehicle, the Spirit of God conveys himself into the heart, as a Spirit of
regeneration and faith; and God of his own will and rich mercy, by the word
of truth, by the Gospel of grace and truth, which came by Christ, so
called in distinction from the law which came by Moses, begets us again as
his new creatures; which shows the usefulness of the Gospel ministry, and in
what account Gospel ministers are to be had, who are spiritual fathers, or
the instruments of the conversion of men (Volume 6, page
174).
I Corinthians 1:21:
This
(preaching), through efficacious grace, becomes the means of regenerating and
quickening men, showing them their need of salvation, and where it is, and
of working faith in them to look to Christ for it (Vol. 6, p.
156).
I Corinthians 4:20:
Gill
says that the "power" spoken of in this verse has reference to "the powerful
efficacy of the Spirit, attending the preaching of the Gospel to the
quickening of dead sinners, the enlightening of blind eyes, and unstopping
of deaf ears; the softening of hard hearts, the delivering of persons from the
slavery of sin and Satan, the transforming and renewing of them both inwardly
and outwardly (Vol. 6, p. 176).
I Corinthians 9:22:
'That I might by all means save some;' that is, that he
might be the means of saving some of Jews and Gentiles, and of all sorts of men;
by preaching the Gospel of salvation to them, and by directing them to
Christ, the only Saviour of lost sinners; thus he explains what he means by so
often saying that he might 'gain' them (Volume 6, page
208).
I Corinthians 15:2:
It
(the Gospel) was the means of their salvation, and had been made the
power of God unto salvation to them. Salvation is inseparably connected
with true faith in Christ as a Saviour, etc. (Volume 6, page
255).
II Corinthians 3:6:
It
(the Gospel) is a means in the hand of the Spirit of God, of
quickening dead sinners, of healing the deadly wounds of sin, of showing
the way of life by Christ, and of working faith in the soul, to look to
him, and live upon him; etc. (Vol. 6, p. 293).
II Corinthians 10:16:
'To preach
the Gospel in the regions beyond you,' etc. Here the apostle clearly
expresses what he hoped for, and explains what he meant by being enlarged
according to rule; namely, that he should be at liberty to preach the Gospel
elsewhere; and hoped he should be directed by the providence of God, to carry it
into the more remote and distant parts of the world, where as yet Christ had not
been named," etc. (Volume 6, page 336).
Galatians
4:13:
'I preached the Gospel unto you at the first;' not
the law, but the Gospel; and this he did at his first entrance among them, and
was the first that preached it to them; and was the means of their
conversion: and therefore, being their spiritual father, they ought to
be as he was, and follow him as they had for an example (Volume 6, page
394).
James 1:18:
Gill says that
"the Word of truth" of this passage means "The Gospel, which is the word of
truth, and truth itself, and contains nothing but truth; and by this souls
are begotten and born again; see Eph. 1:13, I Pet. 1:23; and hence ministers
of it are accounted spiritual fathers. Faith, and every other grace in
regeneration, and even the Spirit himself, the Regenerator, come this way
(Volume 6, page 783).
I Peter
1:23:
Gill says that "the word of God" of this verse is
"the Gospel, the word of truth, which is made use of as a means of begetting
souls again (Volume 6, page 783).
From Other
Works
On page 372 of Gill's Body of
Divinity, in his discussion of the Gospel, the third point of his outline
is, "The effects of the gospel when attended with the power and Spirit of
God." Under this point, Gill says:
1. The
regeneration of men, who are said to be born again by the word of
God, and to be begotten again with the word of truth, I Pet. 1:23,
James 1:18; hence ministers of the gospel are represented as spiritual fathers,
I Cor. 4:15.
2. As in regeneration, souls are
quickened by the Spirit and grace of God, this is ascribed to the gospel as an
instrument, hence it is called the Spirit which giveth like, and said to be
the saviour of life unto life, 2 Cor. 2:16 and 3:6.
3. The gospel is frequently spoken of as a light, a great light, a
glorious light; and so is in the hands of the Spirit a means of enlightening
the dark minds of men into the mysteries of grace, and the method of
salvation; 'the entrance of thy word giveth light, it giveth
understanding unto the simple,' Psalm 119:130. The Spirit of God gives
the gospel an entrance into the heart, being opened by him to attend unto
it; and when it has an entrance, it gives light into a man's self, his state and
condition, and into the way of life by Christ; it is a glass in which the glory
of Christ, and of the riches of his grace, may be
seen.
In his discussion of effectual calling
(Body of Divinity, page 539), Gill clearly states that the ministry of the Word
and the call by it "have to do with unregenerate sinners." He
explains this is as follows:
They may, and should be
called upon to attend the outward means of grace, and to make use of them; to
read the holy scriptures, which have been the means of conversion of some; to
hear the word, and wait on the ministry of it, which may be blessed unto them,
for the effectual calling of them. And it is a part of the ministry of the
word to lay before men their fallen, miserable, lost, and undone estate by
nature; to open to them the nature of sin, its pollution and guilt, and the sad
consequences of it; to inform them of their incapacity to make atonement for it;
and of their impotence and inability to do what is spiritually good; and of the
insufficiency of their own righteousness to justify them in the sight of God;
and they are to be made acquainted, that salvation is alone by Christ, and not
other ways; and the fullness, freeness, and suitableness of this salvation, are
to be preached before them; and the whole to be left to the Spirit of God, to
make application of it as he shall think fit.
In his
article on the public ministry of the Word (Body of Divinity, page 926),
Gill states:
This (the ministry) is not a device of
men for sinister ends, and with selfish and lucrative views; but is by the
appointment of Christ, who ordered his disciples, that what they heard in the
ear, they should 'preach upon the housetops;' that is, in the most public
manner; and therefore sent them into all the world, to preach the gospel to
every creature under heaven; and accordingly the apostle Paul, that eminent
minister of the word, preached it publicly, as well as from house to house, and
even from Jerusalem about to Illyricum.
In this same
article, on page 931, Gill makes this strong statement as to the ministry of the
Word:
2. The ministry of the word is for the
conversion of sinners; without which churches would not be increased nor
supported, and must in course fail, and come to nothing: but the hand of the
Lord being with his ministers, many in every age believe and turn to the Lord,
and are added to the churches; by which means they are kept up and
preserved: and hence it is necessary in the ministers of the word, to set
forth the lost and miserable estate and condition of men by nature, the danger
they are in, the necessity of regeneration and repentance, and of a better
righteousness than their own, and of faith in Christ; which things are
blessed for the turning of men from darkness to light, and from the power of
Satan unto God.
On pages 533 and 534 of his
Body of Divinity, this mighty writer, dealing with the subject of
regeneration, says:
Fourthly, The
instrumental cause of regeneration, if it may be so called, are the
word of God, and the ministers of it; hence regenerate persons are said to
be 'born again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever,' I
Pet. 1:23; and again, 'of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth,' Jam. 1:18 . . . ministers of the gospel are not only represented as
ministers and instruments by whom others believe, but as spiritual fathers;
'though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ,' says the apostle to the
Corinthians, I Cor. 4:15, 'yet have ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus
I have begotten you through the gospel.'
This
refutes the Hardshell distinction between "regeneration" and "conversion."
Gill's view makes both terms apply to the "new birth."
Under the discussion entitled, "Of Faith in God and in Christ," our worthy
author, referring to faith in God the Father as the one who chose His people to
salvation, says:
This election of God is to be known
by the gospel coming not in word only, but in power, by being effectually
called, for 'whom he did predestinate, them he also called,' and by their
having the faith of God's elect, for 'as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed,' Rom. 8:30, Act 13:48 (page 733).
On page
741 of the same chapter, Gill makes the following
remark:
'The belief of the truth,' of Christ, who is
the truth, and of the gospel of truth, that comes by him, is the means
through which God has chosen men to salvation.
Again, in the same chapter, on page 743:
Thirdly, the
Word and ministers of it are the usual means and instruments of faith in
the hand of God, and are used by him; the end of the word being written is, that
men 'might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.' John 20:31;
and the word preached is, 'the word of faith;' and so called, with other
reasons, because faith comes by it, Rom. 10:8, 17; this has often been the
effect and consequence of hearing the word preached, Acts 17:4 and 18:8, and the
ministers of it are the instruments by whom and through whose word, doctrine,
and ministry, others believe, John 1:17, 20, I Cor. 3:5, but this is only when
it is attended with the power and Spirit of God, I Cor. 2:4,
5.
On page 871, Gill refers to the ministry of the
word or preaching of the Gospel as "the means appointed of God for the gathering
in his elect ones, for the number of them in conversion."
In his answer to the Arminian Whitby (Cause of God and Truth, page 87), this
notable advocate of Calvinism, remarks on a statement by the champion of
free-willism:
Which observations are very just; but
are so far from militating against the doctrine of absolute election, that they
establish it; since according to them, not only the end but the means, the death
of Christ, the preaching of the gospel, and calling men by it, are appointed and
fixed, which infallibly succeed to bring about the end, eternal
salvation.
These quotations make it quite clear that
Gill's position regarding the place of the gospel and the gospel ministry is not
the position taken by the "Primitive Baptist" denomination, nor the view of
those today who teach "pre-faith regeneration."
Articles in
This Series:
#1 - "Hardshellism" - A Modern Cult and an Enemy of the
Gospel
of
Christ
#2 - Which Primitive Baptist Faction is the "Original Church"?
#3 -
The Original Issue in the Anti-Missionism Movement Was
on
Methods, Not
Theology
#4 - The "Old Baptists" and the Old Baptist Faith
#5 - The
Hardshells and the Baptist Confession of Faith
#6 - Hardshell Doctrine is
Pelagianism/Arminianism in a
19th
Century
"Package"
#7 - John Gill - Not a Hardshell
#8 - "Elementary, My Deat
Watson" (by John H. Watson)
#9 - Regeneration in Relation to Faith in
Calvinist Theology
For copies of these articles postpaid, send
$10.00.
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