What Do You Know About Christian Apologetics?

Oftentimes, we assume that everyone understands what the Christian faith is all about. And that they are very much on the same page with us in terms of religious profession. Lo and Behold! Many good souls, most particularly the sect of the young and intelligent, are leaving the Christian church now more than ever. Because they have been convinced (God knows by what) that all this “Bible stuff” doesn’t make sense after all. And who are we to blame them? Every human has a right to believe whatever they want to believe and to follow whatever path that has convinced them as the right way. Therein comes something called Christian Apologetics. Which, by its term, is nowhere near apologising about Christianity, but it’s derived from the Greek transliteration apologia, which means to reply in defence or to answer back. Christian Apologetics, therefore, is a system of answering the questions that critics pose against Christianity. It is what the good Apostle called believers to do in his 1st Epistle. That is, “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; (1 Pet 3:15).”

Have you noticed that there is always someone, somewhere, who has dedicated themselves to attacking everything about the Christian faith? Some of us are always surprised by such individuals. Somehow, we believe that everyone must always welcome, listen and agree to everything we say about the Gospel of our Lord. That doesn’t happen, in fact, history records that Christianity has always been opposed in virtually every society – vigorously so. One of the fiercest hostilities against this message is found in the book of Acts. Regardless, we found that Apostle Paul was never fazed by this, but he often went into the synagogue and “reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Act 17:2). That is the duty of every believer.

But what is the purpose of it all? Why should we bother giving attention to people who have already made up their minds that they want nothing to do with our God? These are the reasons…

To persuade them

Apologetics is an intellectual reply about the things of God. Naturally, nobody understands the things of the Spirit; is all foolishness from the perspective of the world (1 Cor 2:14). Therefore, as God’s dear children, we must never be put off by sceptics and gainsayers, instead we must sympathise with them and endeavour to explain the reason of our hope. Again, some believe that Christianity is a mindless leap into the dark with no intellectual justification whatsoever. To the contrary, one who believes in Christ does so, having reasoned and considered all the facts. We give ourselves to something factual and reasonable. Therefore, it is the Christian duty to answer back to all the objections about what we believe, to persuade the unbeliever. So that they are without an excuse for not believing.

Such a discipline – without a doubt– requires some kind of wisdom and knowledge about the Christian Faith as a whole. You must know what you are talking about and be able to present sufficient evidence that our God is who He says He is, has done what He said He would and will do what He said He will do. Does that mean then, that Christian Apologetics can only be done by the high spiritual, scholar type kind of a believer, who has memorised the whole Bible and read every other philosophical book ever written? God forbid! I would like to submit to you that the most immature believer among us is still capable of defending their faith. The only “knowledge” you need is the basics of the Gospel that we are all familiar with. I believe any saved individual can articulate who God is and what He has done on the cross and why. That is good enough.

To encourage believers

All of us indeed have insufficient knowledge about many things pertaining to the Christian doctrine. That is why we need Bible teachers, is it not? Which means there are still a lot of questions that even believers struggle with, and would happily join the world of sceptics to ask. For that reason, we need good Christian men and women who are willing to venture into the apologetics ministry to help explain the great doctrines of this Gospel. Such explanations often turn out to be good teaching tools for believers themselves, further edifying their faith. For example, as born again as I am, I may have question marks about the doctrine of the Trinity, just as many doubters do. However, if somebody were to engage those questions expansively, it might turn out to be beneficial to my own soul. The end result is that I get assurance and encouragement that what I believe is relevant and true. Therefore, Christian Apologetics is part of the teaching ministry in the Church.

Let’s summarise this way: As long as you are in Christ, sooner or later, somebody will attack that belief of yours, and you will have no choice but to defend it. Remember this, though: all your arguments against hecklers are always insufficient to convert stony hearts. I mean, it doesn’t matter how well you articulate your points, it does not count how much evidence you present, it is of no use how emotionally collected you are in your answer – as long as that individual has not been convicted by the Spirit of salvation, they would still reject your worldview. I make an example of Agrippa the Roman King, after servant Paul did his all to explain the truth and reality of God, his only response was, “You almost persuade me to be a Christian” (Act 26:28). Well, to be “almost” saved is to be lost. It takes the Spirit of God to work in convicting and converting the individual. Like I hinted above, the idea of Christian apologetics is that unbelievers may have no excuse before God. A good minister put it this way, “The purpose of Apologetics is not to change the unbeliever’s heart, but to silence his mouth.” Therefore, as you attempt to give an answer to the hope that you have, do so with full dependence, not on your intellect or your loud mouth, but on the Spirit that gives life. Who knows, by your response, you might plant a seed of salvation in someone’s heart without knowing. Happy hunting.

Sinothi Ncube

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