Ever since I became a Christian, I’ve always found myself moving towards apologetics. And whenever a Christian finds out that my interest lies in that area of theology, I’m always greeted with a warning. “That’s great, but remember, no one comes to Jesus because of arguments,” or “Oh, that’s nice, but don’t focus on that.”
I understand the warning, and in part, I agree with it. People deeply interested in apologetics need to be careful not to neglect other areas of their walk including worship, prayer, quiet time, and fellowship. It’s also important to take seriously the warning the bible gives when it says that “knowledge puffs up.” And lastly, we should not neglect our own personal testimony in evangelism.
However, the negativity that many Christians have towards apologetics I believe is largely unwarranted. From my experience, many Christians feel like apologetics is a dangerous distraction that is at best, simply unimportant. This attitude I believe is not accurate, not helpful, and not biblical.
In the book “Reasonable Faith”, Dr. William Lane Craig tackles this attitude by expressing three major functions of apologetics. Those are shaping culture, strengthening believers, and evangelizing unbelievers.
Apologetics should be an essential part of the Church because it can help to shape the intellectual climate of society. This is important because in many parts of the world, the gospel is not even seen as an intellectually viable option. To many people, talking to people about Jesus is the equivalent of talking to people about unicorns and elves. And when that’s the case, evangelism becomes exponentially more difficult. In Europe for instance, the soil is so hard that sowing the Word is getting more and more laborious. Today, over 22% of Europe is reported to have no religious affiliation, and the number is growing. The Church needs apologetics to keep the soil soft where it still is, and to move towards softening the ground where it has become hard.
Apologetics is also important because it strengthens believers. When a believer finds out that there is actually strong evidence to believe in a Creator, in the resurrection, and in the historicity of the bible, it just makes their faith more substantive. Many people rely on emotional intimacy to fuel their faith, and while that’s good and necessary, they cannot stand alone. Feelings wane. Reasons remain. And believers need to be strengthened in both the areas of the emotional and the intellectual to be healthy.
Lastly, apologetics is important because of the role it plays in evangelism. It’s funny that many people believe that apologetics doesn’t have a role to play in personal evangelism, when in the book of Acts, the apostles used apologetics over and over again. When talking to Jews, the apostles referred to the fulfillment of prophecy and to the objective miracles of Christ to talk to them about the gospel. When talking to the Greeks, the apostles used natural theology and the proof of the resurrection. These are all examples of apologetic evangelism. While our personal testimony is extremely important and useful, that does not mean that apologetics is unneccessary. The most effective evangelists will always be those who can combine their personal testimonies with a reasonable justification for their beliefs.