Situations constantly arise which provide occasion for the Christian to defend his faith. Opposition to biblical Christ ianity comes to practical expression in a great variety of ways: popular media and enter tain ment, propaganda from cults and false reli gions, teaching in schools and colleges, remarks made by colleagues, neighbors, and friends, not to mention modern trends in psychol- ogy, politics, medicine, society—and the list could be easily multiplied. The opinions, assump tions, and behavior of the people who come into contact with our lives are for the most part grounded in hostility (active and passive) to the teaching of Scripture. The believer is apologetically challenged on ev- ery side. Of course, his need to defend his beliefs is greatly increased to the extent that he initiates an evangelistic witness with those around him. Thus, there is no lack of opportu nity to engage in apologetics.
Nor is there a shortage of the kinds of criticisms and problems encoun- tered by the Christian apologist. First, there are direct attacks on Christian te-
nets. Some reject God (atheists, agnostics, skeptics). Some reject the possibility
of revela tion; others reject the Bible as being God’s revelation. The latter group
allegedly base their response on logic (supposing to find contradictions in the
Bible’s system of doctrine or between its recorded accounts), or factual matters
(rejecting the textual accuracy, the historical veracity, or possibility of miracles
in Scrip ture), or ethical concerns (critici zing God’s actions or command ments), or
finally on personal considerations (saying the Bible is not to their liking, does not
meet their needs, or being indifferent and relativistic). Secondly, there are systems
in competition with evangeli cal Christian ity. Some accept the wrong god (deism,
84 Effectively Encountering the Varieties of Opposition (internal intuition or personal feeling, social opinion or human tradition, or other sacred writings). And others accept the wrong interpretation or improperly
understand the Bible (as less than it claims for itself—modern unorthodoxy,
or as teaching an incorrect theology and soteriology—the cults).
Therefore, opposition to biblical Christ ianity is of many kinds and comes in many ways. When you stand back and get an idea of the intensity and scope of
the attacks on the Christian world and life view, you could easily be tempted to give up all hope of being an effective apolo gist, exclaiming “who is sufficient for these things?”—especially if you do not have advanced training in these matters. However, such a despairing attitude, such a lack of confi dence, would tend wrongly to release you from your clear and unavoidable responsi bility to
be prepared to give an answer to any man who asks for a reasoned defense of
the hope (confi dence) that is in you (1 Peter 3:15). Well, then, how can any Christian fulfill this apologe tical task?
The answer lies in recognizing that, despite the variety of criticisms and the many modes in which they are expressed, there is a common, basic, set of circum stances and principles that are embodied in each and every apologetic encounter. All critics have a fundamental and identical problem; Christianity is always and only the answer to this problem. That is why the preceding studies in this series have focused on central themes and general guidelines for apologe tics.
If the believer can penetrate to the heart of the matter and grasp the basic principles that come to play in apologetic interac tion, he will be prepared for every sort of chal lenge to the faith. At bottom, the issue is always a matter of recognizing the sovereign Creator who has clearly revealed Himself, as well as your total dependence on Him even in the realm of thought and knowledge. The previous parts of this series have elabo rated and built upon these points. A quick synopsis of those studies will hopefully bring everything together in capsulat ed form. We began with the funda mental principle which must guide all thinking: the lordship of Christ in the realm of knowledge. God speaks
with self-attesting authority, and His revelation is the necessary foundation of man’s knowl edge. The attempt to take a neutral stance with respect to God’s revelation, then, is immoral and unavoidably leads (in prin ciple) to the disin- tegration of knowledge. Consequently, the Bible charac terizes the unbeliever’s thoughts as vain and foolish, and it requires the believer (who is renewed in mind) to be set apart from the world by submission to Christ’s word of truth as the ultimate authority. The Christian, then, is rescued from epistemic futility by presup pos ing God’s word over all contrary claims.
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The Conditions Necessary for Apologetic Success
Certain conditions were then seen to characterize apologetical situations and make fruitful argumentation (in humble boldness) possible with the unbeliever.
Due to God’s inescapable revelation every unbeliever nevertheless knows God and thereby (contrary to his espoused prin ciples) knows himself and the world in some measure; knowing God, all men are then without an apologetic for their rebellion against His truth. The whole created realm constantly reveals the living and true God, thus providing abundant common ground between the believer and unbeliever. Since the latter is always the image of God, and since he possesses the truth of God (though suppressed), the apologist always has a point of contact with him.
How should the Christian go about defend ing the faith, given the above truths?
First, he must firmly acknowledge that unbelief results in intellectual foolish- ness. Given that conviction and under standing, the believer can repudiate the unbeliever’s presupposi tions, present the absolute claims of Christ (even in the realm of thought), and do an internal critique of the unbeliever’s thought— showing him where its assumptions inevita bly lead. The unbeliever must be shown that he actually opposes himself. This presup positional approach is required since two full world views are being set against each other—not simply a few alleged facts and applica tions of logic. The very possibility of knowledge outside of God’s revelation (savingly presented in Christ) must be undermined. Since all argumenta tion over fundamental issues of life and belief reduce to a question of one’s starting point, the Christian apologist must stand firmly on the word of God, setting forth its self-attest ing nature over against the destructive assumptions of unbelief for epis temology.
By understanding and operating upon these central principles, the apolo- gist can have full confidence in his ability to answer all varieties of opposition to Chris tianity. Finally, then, the condi tions of a success ful apologetic treatment of
unbelief can be rehearsed. First, the apologist must be true to his presupposi- tions and remember the nature of saving faith; working toward uncondi tional submission to the word of God on its own merits, the believer will not move to a neutral position or give the deceptive impres sion that autonomy can lead to meaningful and true conclusions. Second, the unbeliever must see that belief is the foundation of understanding; submission to Christ must ground one’s use of reasoning. Finally, success is possible only if God himself sovereignly grants the unbeliever an understanding of the truth, enlighten ing his mind, convert ing his heart, and giving him the gift of faith.
86 Effectively Encountering the Varieties of Opposition all opposi tion to the faith, ir respective of the form or circumstance in which it appears. Every apologe tical situation is character ized by these facts: God’s revelation is at base necessary for knowledge of any kind, all unbelievers are without excuse since they possess and suppress the knowledge of God, and the Christian is charac terized by uncondition al surrender to Christ in all things. These facts not only guide us as to how we should defend the faith, they also
guarantee that we can drive to the heart of any variety of opposition, unmask
it, and set forth the sterling claims of Christ (2 Cor. 10:4-5). With Christ “set apart as Lord in your heart,” the believer is “prepared” for any challenge to the faith; he can have genuine hope or confi dence in looking ahead to the de-
fense of “the hope that is in you.” As Scripture declares, “He that believeth on him shall not be con founded”—will not have occasion to be ashamed of his