What is Apologetics?

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” –C. S. Lewis

The other day someone said to me that apologetics is a hobby. Is that correct? Is apologetics just a hobby? I have also had someone tell me once that apologetics is not necessary. This was after I had told him that I had a degree in apologetics. Did I spend ten + years of my life on something unnecessary? Many people have the assumption that apologetics is merely arguing with a Mormon or a Jehovah’s Witness or even a Buddhist. But realistically, when one thinks that, he or she is revealing his or her ignorance on apologetics.

Apologetics (Ἀπολογία) is the act of replying with a defense against charges presumed to be false. It is a branch of philosophy which seeks to defend the Christian faith. Some have borrowed the word apologetics in order to explain that they are defending their own religion, such as Islamic apologetics, etc., but we can all agree that apologetics is more than just an answer, as some Bible translations like to put it but it is in fact a defense. So what are we defending? We will get to that in a moment.

One thing we must remember is that apologetics focuses on the person and not simply the argument. We are not getting into a debate in order for debate. That might actually be a hobby, but when apologetics is taken seriously, there is a higher purpose: to reveal the truth. In 1 Timothy, Paul explains to Timothy why he is writing: “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15; emphasis mine). If 1 Timothy is the blueprint for the church and the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth, then we can conclude that the church should therefore, defend the truth (John 14:6), which is that the gospel is exactly what the Bible says it is. In other words, Timothy is told to “guard the deposit” in 1 Tim. 6:20, which means that he is to protect the precious cargo of the gospel against any type of reduction or mislabeling. The value of the deposit must not change in any way, because it has infinite and priceless value.

If we do not stand guard and oppose the enemy, then we are allowing the enemy to essentially change the truth (which is literally impossible, I know). This is why we fight back with reason and in defense and show people why, for instance, homosexuality and idolatry are moral failures. This is why we reason with other people who try to manipulate the truth of the gospel, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons and Scientologists and Christian Scientists, etc.

But if we do not stand up for the truth as Paul so urgently directed Timothy, then what we have built will crumble around us. Think of the theology of the 1950’s for a moment. Not many thought that it was ok to be a homosexual. Why? Because they upheld the understanding of biology and that truth was not what we made it but it was something that we discovered. We discovered for years and years and years that only a male and a female can reproduce, and not two males. But this knowledge was not protected as it should have been. Look where we are today. The truth has not been defended.

Imagine a Christian grandfather in the 50’s from a small town in Minnesota traveling through time and landing in San Francisco in the present year. He would wonder where humanity went wrong! We went wrong in not defending the faith… we went wrong in not guarding the deposit. We built things on foundations other than on Christ (1 Corinthians 3). This is why they crumbled. We need the solid foundation of Christ, the strong foundation of Christ. And in order for that to happen, we need to have a certain amount of knowledge to build.

The point is, people will have itching ears for what they want to hear. Paul addresses this with Timothy as well in his second letter to Timothy (Chapter 4).

Apologetics is necessary in our world. The Millennial generation and those following are generations which continue to ask the questions “Why?” and “How?” As in, “why do we do things the way we do, and why is Christianity the one true religion? Why can’t there be more than one truth? How are people saved who have never even heard of Jesus?”

Apologetics provides evidence for believing the answers to these questions.  In a book Norman Geisler co-authored, he writes, “While evidence itself does not bring about anyone’s salvation, it can be a means through which the efficient work of the Holy Spirit produces salvation in a person’s life.”  Knowing this, then isn’t it of great importance to have apologetic in our armory? If you tell a person who requires evidence in order to believe something to simply have faith, what is that going to do?

I recommend a book by Donald J. Johnson, titled, “How to talk to a Skeptic.” In it, the author explains that the Bible is full of evidenced based faith and once you have the idea that he lays down, it is easy for the reader who is well versed in the Bible to see that no faith in the Bible is something that God simply requires of us through a “blind trust,” as Richard Dawkins, the face of modern atheism, put it. The skeptics and atheists today seem to have more of a blind faith than Christians, simply because there is so much evidence piling up in favor of Christianity.

Johnson explains, for instance, that David goes up against the giant because he already killed a lion and a bear and that the giant Philistine would be no different. David had evidence that he could take the giant down. There is no blind trust involved.

The same thing goes for Christianity. We believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead and performed all of these miracles because of the men who died because of their testimony about Him.

Think of this… if you were driving along and you saw a road-killed animal on the side of the road and for some reason you wanted to pull over and examine the animal and all of the sudden, “there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And [you] looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them… and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet…” (Ezekiel 37:7-8, 10). Imagine what that would do to your life! You saw old beaten up, smelly roadkill come to life! It would absolutely change your world. In fact, you would be so changed that even after you were in a padded institution for 12 years, you still would not be able to stop talking about what you witnessed with your own eyes.

This is what happened with the Disciples of Christ. They saw Him be beaten and murdered and then they witnessed Him resurrected. They couldn’t stop talking about it. Not only that, they talked about it so much that they were murdered themselves. The Disciples of Christ took this truth to their graves. If it were all the biggest prank in the history of the world, they would have confessed at the threat of their death. No one dies without real meaning. We know this. Either people are killed by their own hand because of depression or some other negative reason, or they die of a disease or an accident. No one dies from old age, there is always a reason for death. In any event, there is always a good reason for death. It is never a joke.

Without apologetics, these things would not be understood as they should be. The evidence would not be examined and people would believe through blind trust. In the gospel of John, Jesus is asked by the Pharisees to provide a miracle for them to prove that Jesus was who He showed He was. But the problem with their reasoning in this passage is that Jesus already provided them with proof that He was God. He already gave them bread from heaven by multiplying the loaves and the fish earlier, which is recorded in the same chapter!

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  –John 6:26-34

Apologetics is necessary for pastors, for lay leaders, and for anyone who calls him or herself a Christian, whether they have been a Christian for a day or for ten thousand days. It will help one have confidence in time of doubt, It will help one be a better evangelist, it will help one think critically, and ultimately, it will bring glory to God.

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  –Matthew 22:36-37


Written by Nace Howell through the grace of the Lord Jesus

 © Nace Howell, 2022