Introduction to Apologetics

What is Apologetics?

Derives from the Greek word "apologia", or defense. Apologetics is the science and art of crafting and presenting reasonable defenses for the truth of Christianity.

The Biblical Case for Apologetics

"But sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense [apologia] to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." (1 Peter 3:15)

In addition to the above passage in 1 Peter, the Bible commands us elsewhere to apologetics:

  • "He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it." (Titus 1:9)
  • "I urge you to contend for the faith." (Jude 3)
  • "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
  • "Whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me." (Philippians 1:7)

Apologetics was a common practice that accompanied the proclamation of the Gospel in the New Testament:

  • Jesus used testimony and evidences (miracles and fulfilled prophecy) to confirm His identity (Matthew 4:23, 11:5, Luke 24:25-27,  John 5:31-36, John 10:37-38, John 14:11, John 20:30-31)
  • Paul routinely reasoned from the perspective of the audience (Acts 9:22, 14:15-17, 17:2-4, 17:16-32, 19:8, 26:25-29, 28:23-24, Romans 1:18-2:16, 1 Corinthians 9:20-23)
  • Paul includes a strong apologetic with his clearest explanation, that is definition, of the gospel in the New Testament—1 Corinthians 15:1-11.
  • Luke insists that the truth of his account was verified by "many infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3)
  • A model apologetic for Jews is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. In verse 22 he appeals to Jesus' miracles. In verses 25-31 he appeals to fulfilled prophecy. In verse 32 he appeals to Christ's resurrection. By means of these arguments the apostles sought to show Jews that Christianity is true.

Faith vs. Reason

  • Thanks to sin, human wisdom has become entangled with pride. As a result, "not many who are wise" are among the believers in the gospel (1 Corinthians 1:21), which demands humility. Men "suppress the truth" (Romans 1:18-32) and are "blinded" to justifiy their unrighteousness (Ephesians 4:17-18; Romans 3:10-11; 2 Corinthians 4:4)
  • Faith is equally available to all. Unlike knowledge of, say, quantum physics or classical Chinese, faith requires no special intellectual gifts. "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes." (Matthew 11:25)
  • When Paul condemns human "wisdom" and "philosophy," or Luther condemns "reason," it is not the gift of reasoning and knowledge that is being condemned, but only its abuse, as twisted by pride and sin. (Isaiah 29:13-14,  1 Corinthians 1:18-21, 1:27-29, 2:1-5, 2:13-14, 3:18-20, Colossians 2:8, 23,  1 Timothy 6:20, James 3:15-17)
  • Jesus instructed us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind." (emphasis added, Mat. 22:37)
  • Luther's famous Diet of Worms proclamation in 1521: "Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything. Here I stand, I can do no other!"

Role of the Holy Spirit

We know that the Holy Spirit is actively engaged in regenerating a person and bringing him to faith. In fact, without the role of the Holy Spirit nobody would be saved. See Christian Cram Course. But this does not mean that we should not use apologetics. As put by William Lane Craig in his book Reasonable Faith, "When one presents reasons for his faith, one is not working apart from or against the Holy Spirit." Craig argues that it is indeed uscriptural to refuse to reason with an unbeliever.

While there may be times when it is inappropriate to use apologetics in our witnessing, it is correct to say that the Holy Spirit oftens uses our apologetic arguments to bring people to faith. We must always be prepared to give an answer to the hope that we have (1 Peter 3:15).

We recommend that Christians study and memorize answer the two dozen or so basic question of skeptics: Tough Questions.