What is Apologetics?

Hi, my name is Elias Ayala, and I welcome anyone who will be viewing these videos, I welcome you to this kind of a class of sorts on Christian apologetics. And so it is my great pleasure to be teaching people what Christian apologetics is and exploring a little bit about why the church needs it and why we should be doing it.

1 Peter 3:15 and the Call to Make a Defense

And so if you are joining us here now and you have your Bible in front of you, I'd like to encourage you to turn to 1 Peter 3 .15, 1 Peter 3 .15. Now if you were to buy a book on Christian apologetics, every single book out there on Christian apologetics really starts with 1 Peter 3 .15.

It's the verse where we get the word apologia, or to make a defense, where we get our English word apologetics. This is where we get it from, and it's used in other portions of Scripture as well. But this is kind of the charter verse for Christian apologetics.

And what I want to do in this video here is to read through the passage and kind of explain what apologetics is, why we are to do it, and explain kind of how this passage gives us kind of the prerequisites necessary for engaging in what we call the defense of the faith, or apologetics.

All right? So let us begin in 1 Peter 3 .15, which says, "...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.".

Okay? And clearly you can see from this passage it is a, really it's a command, a mandate to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that's in us, to make a defense, if you will. And that word, to make a defense, is where we get the word apologetics from in our English.

Now, it's very fascinating to read many books on Christian apologetics, and there is often a great emphasis on the portion of this verse which focuses on always being ready to give a reason for the hope, or always being ready to make a defense to everyone.

And then there is this encouragement to, you know, be ready and study and show yourself approved and things like that. But, I want to point out a portion of the text that often gets overlooked, and I think it's important to kind of focus on, because right here at the beginning of verse 15, we're given the prerequisite, the thing which comes before we actually engage in the always be ready to make a defense part, okay?

And that is the first portion here where it says, "...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.". Okay? So let's read the passage again. "...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that's in you, yet with gentleness and respect.

But sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart.". Now, to sanctify means to set apart, and we are setting apart Christ as what? As Lord. He is the sovereign ruler of our, what does the verse say? Our hearts.

"...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.". Now, it is very easy to make the mistake of equating the word heart with our emotions, but very rarely does the Bible use the term heart to refer to emotions.

Oftentimes, the heart refers to the very essence of one's being, the seat of the will, if you will. The seat of the will, that intellectual capacity that goes into decision making, right? It's the very center of our being.

And so before we engage in the always being ready, we are to set Christ apart as Lord. Jesus Christ is to be Lord over our hearts, which in essence I think is a reference also to the mind. Christ should be the Lord of our thinking, right?

We are to think God's thoughts after Him and be completely committed to Jesus Christ before we even engage in the practice of apologetics. And this is very important because within the context of defending the faith, what we have in our society today, and oftentimes within the church, is that the Christian apologist will often grant far too much to the unbeliever, so much so that in the very method of defending the faith, they actually are not being faithful to their Lord.

They are granting far too much to the unbeliever, which causes the Christian apologist to really not think in Christian categories. And this is often done in the name of neutrality, right? As Christians, we don't want to assume that the Bible is true, and so let us assume that, you know, for all we know, the Bible could be false, but let us follow the evidence where it goes.

And you have this kind of mindset when people are engaging in apologetics. But as you read in Scripture, I think the Bible gives a very strong indication that there really is no neutrality. There is no sitting on the fence, if you will.

For example, Jesus says, if you are not gathering with me, you scatter, right? You're either with me or you're against me, right? This is very important. In like fashion, if Christ is Lord over every facet of our being, every facet of our thinking, then there is no room for neutral thinking, for our hearts and our minds are fully committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and what he taught regarding the Scriptures and things like that.

And so, that's very, very important. As a prerequisite for defending the faith, we want to make sure that our minds are being ruled by the Lordship of Christ over every area of thought, and that's a very important element.

The Defensibility of the Christian Faith

Now, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks, okay? This is really important because there's so much we can focus on just in this passage, okay?

First, the command to defend the faith presupposes that the faith itself is defensible. I'll say that again. The command to defend the Christian faith presupposes the defensibility of the Christian faith.

And this is important because many Christians tend to look at the Christian faith as just that. It is the Christian faith. This is something we just believe, right? It's just on faith, right? There might not be evidence for it.

There may not be good arguments for the Christian faith, but God has moved so strongly in my heart that I believe it's true. And so, you just need to have faith. And this is often kind of, on a popular level, what people kind of appeal to.

And this really isn't in line with biblical thinking, okay? It says here, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense. So, we're called to defend the faith, right?

What is the faith? Well, the faith is the body of Christian truth. Everything that is contained in Scripture, the worldview that is put forth in Scripture, we are called to defend that. By various means, by the utilization of logic and rationality and things like that, all of these play a very important role in defending the faith, especially logical thinking, right?

If God is, in essence, a logical being, right? We believe that God thinks logically all the time, and we are created in the image of God, then we're called to think God's thoughts after Him. It is an expression of loving the Lord your God with all of your mind when we purposefully and skillfully think logically and rationally.

And so, Christians are called to defend the faith in a rational fashion, in a logical fashion. And so, this is another important point to keep in mind. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense.

Always Being Ready to Give a Reason

Always being ready. This is another important feature of apologetics. We are to be so familiar with the Scriptures, so familiar with the Christian worldview, that at a moment's notice, we are ready to give a reason, as it says here, the reason for the hope that is in us.

And this really is not only an encouragement to believers to stand up for the faith, but it is also an implicit command to constantly be studying the content of our faith. For you cannot adequately defend that which you do not know or understand.

And so, the Christian apologist must be someone who is constantly engaged in studying the Word of God and putting into practice the Word of God. So there's that practical aspect, too. We don't just defend the faith with rational argumentation and logic, but there is also kind of an existential way in which we could defend the faith, and that deals with living our lives in a way that reflects the worldview that we are defending.

If we say something to the effect that, you know, when we encounter Christ, many people say something to this effect, when we encounter Christ, it is as though one is getting hit by a truck and survives.

If you were to get hit by a truck and survive, you would never be the same again. And so people say, when you confront Jesus and you have a relationship with Jesus, you're never the same. Your life is transformed, and we can go into all those wonderful details of conversion and one moving from a place of being an enemy of God to a friend of God, and we can talk about all of those wonderful things that relate to that.

But if our lives are not reflecting that transformation, then we can use all of the logical and rational argumentation in the world in favor of the Christian position, and our lives would, in essence, kind of fight against those arguments.

On the one hand, we talk about the transforming power of Christ, and on the other hand, we're not living as though Christ has transformed us. So there is that rational side and that existential side that I think is important to keep in mind, but in regards to the passage I just read, we are always to be ready.

We're ready in season and out of season. We are constantly studying the scriptures. We are constantly putting ourselves in a position in which we are engaging unbelievers and family members that might need to hear the gospel or things like that.

So we're always being ready to give a reason. Now let us consider further what the verse says. It says, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to, keyword, everyone, everyone who asks you to give and account for the hope that is in you.

And so not only are we to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts, not only are we to always be ready to make a defense, but we have to be ready to make a defense to everyone and anyone. That is to say that whether it's a family member at the dinner table, in the living room somewhere, or maybe a barbecue or something like that, or if it's in the context of the university.

You're sitting in a class and you're hearing an atheist philosopher professor saying things against the Christian faith. Even within those contexts, we need to be ready to give a reason, give an answer to anyone and everyone.

And so if the Bible commands us to defend the faith, not only does that presuppose that the faith is defensible, but the command is also to be ready to give a reason to anyone and everyone. And so the Bible is commanding us to engage in a defense to everyone who asks.

That really will intimidate a lot of people. But again, it's further encouragement to always be ready, that we need to continually be students of the master. Now another important part here is what often people forget, especially within the context of arguing and things like that.

And just a real quick point aside here, when we speak about arguing for the Christian faith, I'm not talking about bickering, right? Like arguing, yelling back and forth. When we argue for the Christian faith, what that means, I really mean it in the philosophical sense that we are building a rational case to reach a conclusion or whatever the case may be.

That's the kind of argumentation that I'm speaking about. However, the last part of the verse here is often neglected. Let's read the whole thing again. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and respect.

Okay? Now this is an important aspect of apologetics, alright? Because even though we are speaking the truth and we desire to speak the truth and we desire to think rationally and logically, if you speak the truth but you're a jerk, then you're really not going to get very far.

And to be a jerk, to not be gentle, to not be respectful, is actually to dishonor your Lord. Remember, just as much as defending the faith is a command in Scripture, the command to be gentle and respectful is also itself, it's a command.

And so it is possible to defend the faith in a way that is dishonoring to God. And so I think this passage here in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 is a great summary, not only of the setting apart Christ as Lord, not only the part where it speaks of always being ready, and not only the part of being ready to give an answer to anyone, but it's a good reminder in regards to the conduct with which we are to confront unbelievers as we engage in the defense of the faith, alright?

So 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 in and of itself is a great place to start when learning what apologetics is and the method that we are to use when engaging in the defense of the faith. One more passage I want to turn with you to is in the book of Jude, in the book of Jude, we have Jude chapter 1 verse 3 and 4, okay?

And then after this verse, we will wrap things up. Just real quick, all this to say, not only does 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 call us all to always be ready to give a reason for the hope that's in us, but we see commands and examples of defending the faith all throughout Scripture.

The Apostle Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogues trying to prove from Scripture that Jesus was to suffer and die and things like that. So in other words, to kind of summarize before I kind of cover this last passage, the Bible teaches us that apologetics is something we need to be doing.

Contending Earnestly for the Faith in Jude

But be that as it may, Jude chapter 1 verses 3 through 4, okay? Here's what it says here. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Let's pick this verse apart quickly here. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity. So apologetics is not merely a suggestion, right? Well, guys, you really should defend the faith because that's the right thing to do.

Actually, in the book of Jude, we're told that Jude found it necessary. It was necessary to contend earnestly, not just to contend generically for the faith, but to contend earnestly. And so this is something that's urgent.

It's a necessity for the Christian, right? And why is it necessary according to Jude? He says, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Why? For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Notice what's implicit here. Not only do we have the necessity of apologetics, but we also have one of the reasons that apologetics is not something that's merely aimed at unbelievers and threats outside of the church, but Jude saw threats within the church, which encompasses, apologetics is kind of encompassed within that.

We're not only defending the faith against unbelievers outside the church, but apologetics also helps us within the body because people can slip in, as it says here, for certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long before long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness.

People corrupt biblical theology, and so the Christian apologist is to know solid Orthodox Christian theology and respond to errors when they creep in. Alright, well, we have 1 Peter 3, verse 15, and we have Jude 1, verses 3 through 4, which give us two solid foundations biblically for defending the faith, setting apart Christ as Lord and contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered.

That body of Christian truth kind of reminds us that we are to know the Christian faith, all of what God has revealed. We are to work towards mastering that material and sharing it and proclaiming it and defending it with love to a world that needs Jesus Christ.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this video, and I look forward to joining you guys, or you guys joining me next time when we kind of expand on our topic of apologetics. Thank you, and God bless. Bye-bye.