The long eighteenth century brought unprecedented doubt and confusion to the doctrine of the Trinity. Anti-trinitarians sought to discredit the doctrine of the Trinity through historical, philosophical, and biblical arguments. In answer, the Reformed Orthodox sought to defend the doctrine of the Trinity on the same fronts. According to Richard Muller, though their historical and philosophical efforts were noteworthy, their most important contribution was to dedicate their efforts to ground “the formulae and the traditional language more completely and explicitly on Scripture than had been done for centuries.”
This paper will argue that John Gill defended the doctrine of the Trinity with this same Reformed Orthodox imperative: to ground the traditional language explicitly on Scripture. This paper will show, that while Gill used extensive quotations from church history as witnesses to the doctrine of the Trinity, his main defense of the Trinity was biblical. He grounded the core Nicene doctrines (simplicity, consubstantiality, and eternal generation) in scripture, seeking to counter the growing threat of anti-trinitarian rational hermeneutics.
This understanding of Gill’s defense of the Trinity will provide further evidence to the growing scholarly consensus that John Gill should be considered as a Reformed Orthodox theologian. Further, this paper will show that Gill employed the church fathers as hermeneutical allies, adopting their methods of interpretation to defend the traditional doctrine of the Trinity and ground it in Scripture.