Southern Seminary Magazine (Vol 90.1) The Light of Truth: Apologetics in the 21st Century

“SURVEYS SHOW THE GREATEST BARRIER TO
CHRISTIANS WITNESSING OF THEIR FAITH
TO UNBELIEVERS IS FEAR. WHILE THE MOST
COMMON FEAR MANY BELIEVERS FACE IS
THAT OF REJECTION BY THE PERSON TO
WHOM THEY ARE WITNESSING, FOR A GREAT
NUMBER OF BELIEVERS THERE ALSO EXISTS
A GREAT FEAR OF BEING ASKED A QUESTION
THEY CANNOT ANSWER.”
way does the readiness to defend conviction imply an arrogant
spirit; rather, the advancement of reasons for hope
should be done winsomely.
I define evangelism as, “The compassionate sharing of
the Good News of Jesus Christ with lost people, in the
power of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of bringing them
to Christ as Savior and Lord, that they in turn might share
Him with others.” Notice that the work of evangelism involves
the verbal witness of the Good News in the power
of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).
Lost people are born again not because of impeccable
argumentation but by the will and power of God working
through the verbal witness (2 Thess. 2:13). Apologetics
serves evangelism. Apologetics may be viewed as a type
of pre-evangelism. If evangelism, narrowly defined, is the
verbal witness to the offer of the gospel, then apologetics
seizes the opportunity to lay the groundwork (pre-evangelism)
that anticipates the sharing of the good news.
Paul’s encounter with the world philosophies of his
day at Mars Hill in Acts 17:22-34 illustrates this kind of
pre-evangelistic apologetics. Paul observes the pagan
trappings of his surroundings and uses that as a bridge
to explain who the one, true, and living God is. He takes
the Athenians’ best philosophical attempt to explain the
world in “an unknown god” and skillfully introduces the
Christian worldview before calling on people to repent.
Essentially, Paul identifies the shortcomings in the Athenian
worldview and shows how the biblical worldview is
coherent. Today’s world is ripe with faulty philosophies
Christians would do well to observe, identify the holes,
and lovingly retell in light of the glorious Christ.
Why Do People Ask Questions?
As we get involved in evangelism, we quickly discover
that good evangelistic conversations are not monologues,
but dialogues, and include persons asking questions.
Why do people ask questions in witnessing situations? I
have observed two main reasons:
1. An unwillingness to forsake sin. The questioner
doesn’t really consider their questions to be serious.
They are simply “playing games.” Their mind is closed.
They are raising questions as a smokescreen to avoid
dealing with their sinfulness.
For example, while I was witnessing on a college
campus a student said to me, “Well, I have a question
for you: where did Cain get his wife?” I sensed that this
wasn’t really this student’s question, so I responded by
saying, “I’ll answer your question if you answer a question
from me first: who was Cain?” The student replied
sheepishly, “I don’t know.” I then asked, “Well if you
don’t know who he was, then why are you concerned
summer 2022
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