Gib's action in forming the Antiburgher Synod led, after prolonged litigation, to his exclusion from the building in Bristo Street where his congregation had met.
When in 1747 "the Associate Synod," by a narrow majority, decided not to give full immediate effect to a judgment which had been passed in the previous year against the lawfulness of the "Burgess Oath," Gib led the protesting minority, who separated from their brethren and formed the Antiburgher Synod (April loth) in his own house in Edinburgh.
His dogmatic and fearless attitude in controversy earned for him the nickname "Pope Gib."
The common gamer term "gib" (derived from giblet, the dense gizzard organ you find in some table fowl) was born in these games - an enthusiastic word for the bloody chunks that go flying when you shoot an opponent.