An Apology for Apologetics
“Apologetics doesn’t work”. This was the statement made to me by one of my friends at a recent bible study. His reason for this claim being; “you can’t win someone to Christ by arguing with them”. Now, I have heard this statement before and I’m sure it will not be the last time; it is a common objection to this field of ministry, but it is also, I believe, a misconception of what apologetics is and why it is useful.
First, let us be clear on the matter; The English word apology has a different meaning from how we are using it here. It comes from the Greek word apologia meaning ‘to give a defense for’. So when we give an apology for Christian truth claims it does not mean we are saying sorry for being Christians, but rather we are explaining why we believe as we do. Now, does this involve “arguments”? Yes, it does, but not the type of which I think my friend was referring to, such as two hot-headed combatants entrenched in verbal warfare with the goal of making the other feel inferior. Certainly, this would be a poor display of Christ’s love. Actually, apologia can be viewed as a legal term referring to a defense made in a court of law. So when we speak of an “argument” we are speaking of a rational, thought out defense for our case where all the evidence is carefully weighed out and a logical decision can be made, and as Christians this must always be done in love in accordance to the will of the Lord.
Now, when someone says, ‘apologetics won’t get anybody saved’, I completely agree, but I want to be perfectly clear on this point; apologetics will not save a single soul, but neither will fire and brimstone preaching, seeker sensitivity, handing out tracts, or giving alter calls at the end of our sermons. Why do I say this? Simply because it is not our job to save others, for we cannot even save ourselves, it is only God who is capable of this through the redeeming grace of our Lord Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Do not get me wrong, I do not say these things to mean that our ministerial actions are useless, not at all! I am simply trying to get to the misconception that some people hold towards apologetics when it comes to evangelizing, and that is simply this: As followers of Christ we are in the business of planting seeds. Some of us also get to water those seeds, but none of us get to make those seeds grow, for that is God’s work (1 Corinthians 3:6).
So, apologetics, in terms of reaching unbelievers, is another form of planting seeds and watering them. Intellectual arguments, no matter how good they are, should not be expected to bestow faith. For if some irrefutable proof for the Christian claim could be made by them what would be the point of faith? But the work of an apologetic can most certainly be a road or a building block to faith and can also strengthen those already in the church. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit this field of ministry has great potential to bring people into a setting where a choice to follow Christ is a reasonable, logical and intellectually valid choice. There are many today who see Christianity, the Bible, or just religion in general, as nothing more than myth; archaic fairy tales to either scare you into submission or to give you warm fuzzy feelings as you go to bed. There are many who live and die for quite different truth claims and view Christianity as an enemy. There are those who, by means of scripture twisting and forming new doctrines, claim that their sect or organization is the only way to God. There are even those among us who cause division within the body of Christ and cause their brothers to stumble. The world gives us plenty of opportunities to defend the faith, and if we can offer sound reasons for our belief while also giving a strong, logical defense to the attacks on Christian truth claims, then apologetics has served a purpose.
We are told to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1), so let us look at how scripture sets a biblical precedent for the work of the apologetic.
1 Peter 3:15
…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have…
Peter does not address this letter to any single person. It is not meant to be read only by church leaders, but is addressed to all of “God’s elect” who are scattered throughout the known world (1:1). So we see here that all Christians are expected to be able to give a reason for their hope. It should be noted that this is a very practical thing to do. Apologetics is not reserved for only the intellectual elite who sit in ivory towers. Anyone who chooses to adhere to a certain belief should be able to give an answer when asked why they have chosen such a belief.
Jude 3
…I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Jude here was writing to believers about “godless men” (v.4) that had slipped in among them. These men were practicing and teaching things that strayed from the truth of the gospel. The apostle John also deals with a similar subject in all three of his epistles. Not much has changed since then, and today we still find this sort of thing happening all the time from the outside as well as within the church body. It is all too easy to stray from the straight and narrow path, and we know that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), that is why it is vitally important to always be testing and discerning the spirits. Now, of course, it is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth and teaches us all things (John 14:26), and the inner witness of the Spirit is more important than our own intellectual ventures, but one of the ways God speaks to us is through his word, and Scripture tells us to be very careful of how we live-not as unwise but as wise (Ephesians 5:15). We are told that the Bereans were of noble character because they examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11). In the same way we should be measuring everything up to the word of God so that we may “contend for the faith” whenever the truth comes into question.
Acts 17:2-3
As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving to them that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead…
These verses, in my opinion, are the clearest examples of what we call apologetics today being put into practice in the early church. We read here that it was Paul’s custom to reason with others to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and we have examples of both Paul and Barnabas using this method throughout the book of Acts, not to mention the defenses made in many of Paul’s letters. For instance, in his letter to the Romans (ch.1 starting at verse 18), Paul appeals to the entirety of creation itself as an argument for the existence of God (and apologetics still use this argument today).
Certainly, Paul had a specific calling that differed from most and, as an apostle, was given far greater responsibility than others, but by no means was it his job alone to defend the claims of the early church. Aside from Peter and Jude’s instructions to all their readers, we read that Stephan gave a lengthy defense to the Sanhedrin after his arrest (Acts 7), that Jewish and Gentile believers debated on the subject of circumcision (Acts 15) and John’s epistles all seem to deal with combating an early form of Gnosticism. In fact, between vicious Roman oppression, unbelieving Jews, heretical teachings, and internal disputes within the church, the early Christians had so mush adversity to contend with that it is hard to imagine that any of them could escape the responsibility of defending the faith.
When I look around today, I do not see any less of a need for this field of ministry. The early church was trying to show the world the truthfulness of their radical, new belief in Jesus of Nazareth, where as I see the modern church trying to show the world that nearly 2,000 years later the Son of God is still “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
The work of apologetics is extremely important not only to those who might be reached by it, but also as a strengthening tool for believers. It’s just common sense that anyone spreading the word of the gospel can benefit by having good reasons to back it up. It is also important to me on a personal level, for I myself am one who was reached by it while I was still lost. I grew up as a skeptic and an antagonist who questioned everything. It was not until I did the research and weighed the evidence out for myself that I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Now, when I think back, I don’t know how I ever lived without Him.
I know there are many more out there like me and that is one of the reasons this work is important on a personal level. The Lord called me to Him through this kind of work and I pray everyday that he will use me as an instrument for His glory. In my future posts I will do my best to bring to the table the evidence I have found in my studies that helped me through my own search for truth, and in doing so I pray that I may be able to help others.
As for those who tell me apologetics don’t work, I usually just smile to myself and try to politely explain that I am living proof that it does.
-Brian Rizzardi-
First, let us be clear on the matter; The English word apology has a different meaning from how we are using it here. It comes from the Greek word apologia meaning ‘to give a defense for’. So when we give an apology for Christian truth claims it does not mean we are saying sorry for being Christians, but rather we are explaining why we believe as we do. Now, does this involve “arguments”? Yes, it does, but not the type of which I think my friend was referring to, such as two hot-headed combatants entrenched in verbal warfare with the goal of making the other feel inferior. Certainly, this would be a poor display of Christ’s love. Actually, apologia can be viewed as a legal term referring to a defense made in a court of law. So when we speak of an “argument” we are speaking of a rational, thought out defense for our case where all the evidence is carefully weighed out and a logical decision can be made, and as Christians this must always be done in love in accordance to the will of the Lord.
Now, when someone says, ‘apologetics won’t get anybody saved’, I completely agree, but I want to be perfectly clear on this point; apologetics will not save a single soul, but neither will fire and brimstone preaching, seeker sensitivity, handing out tracts, or giving alter calls at the end of our sermons. Why do I say this? Simply because it is not our job to save others, for we cannot even save ourselves, it is only God who is capable of this through the redeeming grace of our Lord Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Do not get me wrong, I do not say these things to mean that our ministerial actions are useless, not at all! I am simply trying to get to the misconception that some people hold towards apologetics when it comes to evangelizing, and that is simply this: As followers of Christ we are in the business of planting seeds. Some of us also get to water those seeds, but none of us get to make those seeds grow, for that is God’s work (1 Corinthians 3:6).
So, apologetics, in terms of reaching unbelievers, is another form of planting seeds and watering them. Intellectual arguments, no matter how good they are, should not be expected to bestow faith. For if some irrefutable proof for the Christian claim could be made by them what would be the point of faith? But the work of an apologetic can most certainly be a road or a building block to faith and can also strengthen those already in the church. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit this field of ministry has great potential to bring people into a setting where a choice to follow Christ is a reasonable, logical and intellectually valid choice. There are many today who see Christianity, the Bible, or just religion in general, as nothing more than myth; archaic fairy tales to either scare you into submission or to give you warm fuzzy feelings as you go to bed. There are many who live and die for quite different truth claims and view Christianity as an enemy. There are those who, by means of scripture twisting and forming new doctrines, claim that their sect or organization is the only way to God. There are even those among us who cause division within the body of Christ and cause their brothers to stumble. The world gives us plenty of opportunities to defend the faith, and if we can offer sound reasons for our belief while also giving a strong, logical defense to the attacks on Christian truth claims, then apologetics has served a purpose.
We are told to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1), so let us look at how scripture sets a biblical precedent for the work of the apologetic.
1 Peter 3:15
…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have…
Peter does not address this letter to any single person. It is not meant to be read only by church leaders, but is addressed to all of “God’s elect” who are scattered throughout the known world (1:1). So we see here that all Christians are expected to be able to give a reason for their hope. It should be noted that this is a very practical thing to do. Apologetics is not reserved for only the intellectual elite who sit in ivory towers. Anyone who chooses to adhere to a certain belief should be able to give an answer when asked why they have chosen such a belief.
Jude 3
…I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
Jude here was writing to believers about “godless men” (v.4) that had slipped in among them. These men were practicing and teaching things that strayed from the truth of the gospel. The apostle John also deals with a similar subject in all three of his epistles. Not much has changed since then, and today we still find this sort of thing happening all the time from the outside as well as within the church body. It is all too easy to stray from the straight and narrow path, and we know that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), that is why it is vitally important to always be testing and discerning the spirits. Now, of course, it is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth and teaches us all things (John 14:26), and the inner witness of the Spirit is more important than our own intellectual ventures, but one of the ways God speaks to us is through his word, and Scripture tells us to be very careful of how we live-not as unwise but as wise (Ephesians 5:15). We are told that the Bereans were of noble character because they examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11). In the same way we should be measuring everything up to the word of God so that we may “contend for the faith” whenever the truth comes into question.
Acts 17:2-3
As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving to them that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead…
These verses, in my opinion, are the clearest examples of what we call apologetics today being put into practice in the early church. We read here that it was Paul’s custom to reason with others to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and we have examples of both Paul and Barnabas using this method throughout the book of Acts, not to mention the defenses made in many of Paul’s letters. For instance, in his letter to the Romans (ch.1 starting at verse 18), Paul appeals to the entirety of creation itself as an argument for the existence of God (and apologetics still use this argument today).
Certainly, Paul had a specific calling that differed from most and, as an apostle, was given far greater responsibility than others, but by no means was it his job alone to defend the claims of the early church. Aside from Peter and Jude’s instructions to all their readers, we read that Stephan gave a lengthy defense to the Sanhedrin after his arrest (Acts 7), that Jewish and Gentile believers debated on the subject of circumcision (Acts 15) and John’s epistles all seem to deal with combating an early form of Gnosticism. In fact, between vicious Roman oppression, unbelieving Jews, heretical teachings, and internal disputes within the church, the early Christians had so mush adversity to contend with that it is hard to imagine that any of them could escape the responsibility of defending the faith.
When I look around today, I do not see any less of a need for this field of ministry. The early church was trying to show the world the truthfulness of their radical, new belief in Jesus of Nazareth, where as I see the modern church trying to show the world that nearly 2,000 years later the Son of God is still “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
The work of apologetics is extremely important not only to those who might be reached by it, but also as a strengthening tool for believers. It’s just common sense that anyone spreading the word of the gospel can benefit by having good reasons to back it up. It is also important to me on a personal level, for I myself am one who was reached by it while I was still lost. I grew up as a skeptic and an antagonist who questioned everything. It was not until I did the research and weighed the evidence out for myself that I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Now, when I think back, I don’t know how I ever lived without Him.
I know there are many more out there like me and that is one of the reasons this work is important on a personal level. The Lord called me to Him through this kind of work and I pray everyday that he will use me as an instrument for His glory. In my future posts I will do my best to bring to the table the evidence I have found in my studies that helped me through my own search for truth, and in doing so I pray that I may be able to help others.
As for those who tell me apologetics don’t work, I usually just smile to myself and try to politely explain that I am living proof that it does.
-Brian Rizzardi-
Labels: apologetics, Christianity, defense, God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit
posted by Brian Rizzardi | 5:42 PM
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