Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 25:1 (Spring 2021)
Article: Uninterrupted Union With Christ: John Gill’s Hope At His Daughter’s Funeral
Author: John Gill

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Uninterrupted Union With Christ: John Gill’s Hope At His Daughter’s Funeral

John Gill

John Gill is Associate Professor of Christian Studies at California Baptist University, Riverside, California. He earned his MDiv from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and his PhD in Church History from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. His publications include “Wang Ming-Dao (1900–1991): Faithful amid Political Coercion” (12 Faithful Men: Portraits of Courageous Endurance in Pastoral Ministry [Baker, 2018]), “Calling, Caring, and Connecting: Burnout in Christian Ministry,” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 23 no. 2 2020), and “Stumbling on the Path of the Apostles” (Christianity Today, 2020). Dr. Gill also serves as one of the pastors at Redeemer Baptist Church in Riverside, California. He is married to Jin, and they have three children: Ethan, Ezra, and Elias.

Introduction

The reality of death, especially for a loved one, demands the intersection of theology and pastoral care in the life of the church. John Gill (1697–1771), the renowned English Baptist, was no stranger to preaching funeral sermons or to their pastoral significance. This was especially true of Gill’s funeral sermon, given on June 4, 1738, for his teenage daughter, Elizabeth (March 14, 1725/26–May 30, 1738), which was understandably of much personal import: “You must permit me, this afternoon, to preach rather to myself and family than to you.”1 His sermon was on 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus,

SBJT 25:1 (Spring 2021) p. 120

will God bring with him.” From this passage, Gill shared with believers the hope that Christian union with Christ was a union that was uninterrupted by even death. He sought to establish this thesis by presenting a biblical understanding of death regarding the human body and soul, a Christocentric hope for all true disciples, and how these theological truths should shape human sorrow and grief when loved ones die.

To Be Asleep In Christ

“The representation the Apostle gives of the state and condition of the pious dead, that they are asleep; and asleep in Jesus.”2 Gill focuses on the metaphor of sleep as a vehicle for conveying a biblical understanding of human death in the passage. He notes its use in a variety of cultural...