What Is Apologetics?
The Term Apologetics
The term apologetics has nothing to do with “apologizing” for anything. Typically we think of an apology as an admission of wrongdoing and a request for forgiveness. But presenting an apologetic is almost the very reverse of apologizing. An apologetic is rather a defense of what might appear to be wrong but actually is right. Rather than requesting forgiveness, an apologetic seeks to persuade someone that no forgiveness is needed, despite a wrongful accusation.
The term apologetics is related to the biblical word group apologeomai, apologia, usually translated “defend, defense.” In the NT, the term is used most often by the apostle Paul, when he defends himself against charges brought against him (Acts 22:1; 24:10; 25:8, 16; 26:1–2, 24). To defend himself against these charges, Paul defends the gospel, the good news about Jesus, which is his overall calling, the context of everything he does. Defending his preaching means defending the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why in Philippians 1:7 Paul speaks of his whole apostolic ministry as “the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” It is that defense of the gospel that has landed him in prison (Phil. 1:16).
The Biblical Mandate for Apologetics
Peter generalizes to all believers the obligation to defend the gospel whenever nonbelievers question our faith:
In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [apologia] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Pet. 3:15)
This is the biblical mandate for apologetics. Peter says that all believers should be prepared to make a defense. We should note that he places this in two contexts: the context of Christ’s lordship and the context of the inquirer. The first context tells us that apologetics is an act of worship, not just a human conversation but a way of honoring Jesus as Lord. When we get into a discussion of the gospel with an unbeliever, we are often tempted to set Christ aside and focus on the common ground of reason and evidence. But we must never set Christ aside. Even in apologetics, our first responsibility is to please him.
The second context is also important. We are to defend the faith “with gentleness and respect.” Some Christians are attracted to the work of apologetics out of a desire to win a contest. Their purpose is to defeat unbelievers, to devastate them. God, however, calls us to respect them, to convince them gently, and therefore to love them, as Christ first loved us. In apologetics, we are called to image our Lord, not just to talk about him.
ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible
This expanded edition of the ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible features study notes from the ESV Student Study Bible, over 400 in-text summaries, 25 articles, book introductions, sidebars, and more.
In the light of Peter’s mandate, we can define apologetics as the defense of the faith. As a theological science, it is the discipline by which we learn to give reasons for our hope, always honoring Christ and showing love for inquirers.
As such, apologetics is found throughout the Bible, not just in the relatively few passages that use apologeomai and its derivatives. Think of how often Jesus reasons with his Jewish opponents. The prophets and apostles regularly do the same, emulating him. Indeed, God himself reasons with those who question him: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord” (Isa. 1:18).
So the whole content of the Bible is apologetic, for all Scripture is the speech of God, and throughout the Bible God speaks apologetically: he engages in a rational attempt to change the beliefs and behavior of his readers (2 Tim. 3:16–17). And, in all biblical apologetics, God honors his Son as holy and shows gentleness and respect to his readers.
As we seek to learn, then, the art and science of apologetics, the whole Bible will be our text. We shall try to follow the example, not only of Jesus and Paul as they deal with controversy, but of every part of Scripture as it defends its gospel message.
Scripture’s Approach to Apologetics
The Bible’s own apologetic approach can be conveniently divided into three aspects: (1) setting forth the truth with its rationale, (2) giving direct answers to objections, and (3) showing the foolishness of competing messages. We can distinguish these for convenience, but none of them is complete without the other two.
Setting Forth the Truth
The first of these is by far the most common, in which the Bible in various ways describes its message. What makes this description apologetic is that since the Bible is God’s Word, it always sets forth its message clearly and rationally. The story is believable to those who read it with open minds and hearts. But many readers are not open to what it says. That is part of the story too. Paul in Romans 1:18 tells us that many people “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” So we learn that when people hear the gospel, some reject it, even laugh at it (Acts 17:32). But others find themselves believing it, by a supernatural power (1 Thess. 1:5; 2:13).
Jesus has called us to bring the gospel to people all over the world.
Try this experiment: When Exodus 14:21 tells us that God divided the Red Sea so that Israel could cross through it, do you find that believable? Some people do. They believe in God, and this event, large as it is, easily seems to be the kind of thing God could do. But others find this account unbelievable, because such things “just don’t happen.” This second kind of reader may believe that God’s existence is possible, but he does not allow God to determine what is possible and what is not. Rather, he determines what is possible by making some assessment of “natural laws” or “rational probabilities.” In effect he says, “I will not allow God to determine what is possible; I must do that for myself.” But to take that position is already to take the position of unbelief. And if this passage is true, the unbelieving reader suppresses that truth.
Answering Objections
But there are places where Scripture actually addresses skeptics of this kind, and that leads us to the second aspect of the Bible’s apologetic: its direct answers to objections. Paul’s letter to the Romans, for example, is filled with objections to his gospel: “What advantage has the Jew?” (Rom. 3:1); “What if some were unfaithful?” (Rom. 3:3); “Is [God] unrighteous to inflict wrath on us?” (Rom. 3:5); “Why not do evil that good may come?” (Rom. 3:8); “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). The whole letter to the Romans is a dialogue between Paul and various objectors. In Romans 9:19–25 he confronts the problem of evil: Should we not charge God himself with evil, since he is himself the source of human disbelief?
“You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,
‘Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” (Rom. 9:19–25)
As with Exodus 14:21, some will find this answer credible, while others will not. Some readers will say, “Yes, of course! God has full rights over us, for he is God.” Others, however, will say, “No! God must measure up to my standards of fairness, even when he judges sin and righteousness.” The Christian apologist who enters this discussion will certainly go into much more argumentative detail than Romans 9 provides. But Scripture itself sets forth the basic direction the dialogue will take.
Challenging Competing Messages
This discussion leads us to consider the third of Scripture’s approaches to apologetics: showing the foolishness of competing messages. The Bible does not regard the various forms of unbelief merely as competing worldviews. Rather, it says in Psalm 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” In this verse, atheism is not merely a theoretical position. It determines the atheist’s life choices: “They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.”
So atheism is the whole direction of their lives. That whole complex of beliefs, decisions, and feelings has to change. It is all foolishness.
“The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’“Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (1 Cor. 1:18–21)
The end of the apologetic discussion will not come through compromise. It will not be a mixture of conclusions from two positions. Rather, for the unbelieving position, it will be utter defeat. For God regards it as foolishness, however wise it may appear to the world’s opinion makers. Only a gospel worldview, in the end, will prove rational.
This is the biblical apologetic. The Christian today must follow in its footsteps. Jesus has called us to bring the gospel to people all over the world (Matt. 28:18–20). He has warned us that his gospel will bring opposition (Matt. 10:34–36). In apologetics we seek to overcome that opposition, insofar as God enables us to do so by words. Apologetics is spiritual warfare.
So the apologist’s responsibility is to (1) set forth the biblical story rationally and persuasively, (2) answer the objections inquirers will raise against the truth of this story, and (3) challenge the worldview from which those objections come. In all aspects of our discussion we must keep in mind the antithesis between the two worldviews and the need to avoid compromise. But we must also keep in mind that we are sharing good news with precious human beings in God’s image. We should treat them as we would like them to treat us—with gentleness and respect.
It is sometimes difficult to maintain a soldier’s discipline while speaking with gentleness and respect. Some apologists are known for their arrogance and meanness as they try to be as militant as possible. Others take on a style of being so meek and nice that they fail to draw sharply enough the antithesis between belief and unbelief. Both types of apologists need to remind themselves of Jesus, who brought a message of love while making clear how radical that love was. That love was the love that entered the world of sin and hatred and changed people in their very hearts. That love was the love by which Jesus died for the sins of his people, was raised, and then began in them a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) that one day will fill the heavens and the earth (Rev. 21:1). There can be no greater love than this, and there can be no sharper antithesis than that between this love and the worldview that would reduce this love to matter, motion, and chance.
This article is by John M. Frame and is adapted from the ESV Systematic Theology Study Bible.
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