“… but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence…”
1 Peter 3:15
This passage in 1 Peter is the mantra of apologetics. The source of where we apologists get the divine command, via special revelation, to do our jobs. What is it and what is its purpose? This article is aimed at directly giving an answer to those questions. Something that we need to keep in mind is that not everyone is meant to be a professional apologist. Just like every Christian is to be a theologian, everyone is, in my opinion, meant to be an apologist or at the very least engage with some material. You may be asking, “What do you mean?” And for that I applaud you, because you are already one step closer to being a good apologist. This article is geared specifically at giving a concise apologetic for apologetics and for why you should care about apologetics.
Christian apologetics can be defined by a simple two word definition: Christian defense. If we are to expand this definition, we could say that apologetics deals with objections to the Christian faith and takes either an explicit defensive position (answering skeptics questions) or an offensive position (giving positive reasons for Christianity as an evangelical tool).[1] If I am to be honest here, we could leave it at that, but there is no intention on being that succinct seeing that the discipline deserves a nuanced treatment.
To start, let’s get a bit of a etymology of the word. The word “apologetic” comes from the Greek word apologia. Quite simply it means “defense account.” Unlike many words in Christianese, apologia is found in non-Christian texts. Socrates used it in Ancient Greece when he was giving a defense at the court of Athens. Its use within the ancient world was pretty widespread giving us a good way to adjudicate on what is meant by the word in various contexts. It seems that in every context it is used in conjunction with legal terms to give it a bit more weight. This makes a great deal of sense when we think about when apologetics is utilized. As stated in the definition above, apologetics is typically utilized for answering questions from skeptics (the most popular use) and for giving positive reasons for belief. Both of those instances have a sense of legality to them, meaning that there is a weighing of the available and known evidence before a verdict of Christianity’s truth or falsity can be handed down.
In my work on social media as well as in in-person interactions with people in the church, I get told that apologetics is essentially useless in some way, shape, or form. When that happens, I just simply ask, “Why?” If they answer that giving me reasons then they just violated their own claim that apologetics is useless because they gave a defense for their position.[2] By this example, which does not happen extremely often, we can see that even when we do not think about it, every time we give reasons why we hold to a belief, we are engaging in apologetics. Quite literally, we cannot get around it.
Paul in Colossians 2:8 does render us a warning to not get swept up by the traditions of men and their vain philosophy. I humbly agree with Paul here! However sometimes within the church, apologists get berated with this verse because apologetics very much uses philosophy as well as science and history. All three of those can be considered “traditions of men.” When we look at the verse thoroughly, we get a different feel so if you would, open your Bible and read it out loud to yourself. Quickly, you will see that the “traditions of men (or however your version translates it)” is a qualifier for the philosophy used. At the end of the verse, which is typically disregarded because it does not suit the person’s point, it says “traditions of Christ.” Just like “traditions of men” this is a qualifier for the type of philosophy, and by extension science and history, is to be used. This verse and specifically Paul is in favor of apologetics for if he was not in favor of it, it would be a contradiction to 1 Peter 3:15, Hebrews 11:1, and 1 Thessalonians 2:21. A contradiction like this would severely diminish the authority of Paul’s apostleship and writings, something no historical Christian would want to do. The bottom line is, the Bible is in favor of doing apologetics.
Since we have a good understanding of the Bible’s affirmation of doing apologetics there is the next logical question of: What then, is the purpose of apologetics? This is part of the reason why I said above that the definition provided was enough, it answers the what and why of apologetics. The why is the purpose and its purpose is to answer objections and give reasons. Answering objections is a strictly defensive way of doing apologetics and what most people think of when they think of apologetics. The goal here is to show that the objector’s arguments against Christianity are false. As an evangelistic tool, apologetics then is to give reasons why you have faith in the God of the Bible. One thing to mention here is that at times, the line between where an apologist switches from answering objections to give in reasons is blurred, if not non-existent. The caveat is, however, that as an evangelistic tool, apologetics does not always seek to get a conversion. It is just that, a tool for a heart to be softened for the gospel.
What does it do for a Christian though? Does it do anything other than ward off objections or help people come to know Jesus? Within the Christian life, apologetics’ purpose is to not just equip the believer to answer questions and evangelize better, but it also aids in strengthening the faith of the believer. Let’s think about it in terms of the resurrection. If you are a Christian, you are already aware of and believe that Jesus rose from the dead 3 days after being crucified by Pilate for your sins. How much stronger would your faith be if you could not just verify it by religious experience but also by historical fact? Doing some research into what non-Christians of the 1st and 2nd century wrote about the crucifixion and resurrection is eye-opening, confirming to be true everything that the Bible said about the events. It moves the believer from being a believer because of a familial tie or pure religious experience to being a believer because it is true.
Apologetics is one of the most useful disciplines you could become involved in. Plus, we are called to do it in our daily lives, even if that means never becoming a professional apologist. Looking back on starting the Brewed Up Apologetics blog, I should have written this and thought about this more rigorously and made that the opening and first blog you see when you hit the site. I guess hindsight really is 20/20, but it is better to be late to the party than never show up!