What Is Apologetics?
If you’re brand new to Christian apologetics, the word itself—apologetics—may seem rather odd. It sounds a lot like “apologize” which we understand as “to say sorry for something you’ve said or done.” So maybe you’re asking yourself, “Am I supposed to apologize for believing the Bible?” It’s a fair question, so let me start by putting your concerns to rest: “No.”
I made an error on the board. Can you spot it? The answer is below.
If this isn’t your first apologetics rodeo, then you have no doubt read or heard a presentation that brought up what could be considered the cornerstone of Christian apologetics, 1 Peter 3:15. Let’s look at it in a few different versions:
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 fear (LSB)
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, (ESV)
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (NIV)
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (KJV)
I’ve bolded the words “defense” and “answer” because those are how the translators of each respective version render the Greek word ἀπολογία (ἀπολογίαν for the pedantic among us) which, when directly transliterated into English is “apologia.” Hence “apologetics.” See? Greek is easy! (The words in italics, incidentally, are rendered that way to let you know that they do not appear in the Greek—they are added to make English sound like English and not Yoda-speak. See “Are Our Current Bible Translations Reliable?” if you want to learn more.)
Almost every apologist I have ever heard present this passage commits two fairly serious blunders in their explanation of this verse:
They either downplay or skip entirely the first part of the verse, and start their citation with “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” (NIV)
They present the “apologia” or “defense” as the imperative (the command).
Regrettably, for the first I-don’t-know-how-many years of teaching apologetics, I made the exact same two errors. I uncritically took what I was taught and taught that to my students. The first error, I think, naturally follows from the first.
What’s the Imperative Here?
Take a look at 1 Peter 3:15 in an interlinear Bible (one where the original language is right next to the English translation). Here’s how it reads:
[As] Lord however - Christ sanctify in the hearts of you ready always for a defense to everyone - asking you an account concerning the in you hope yet with gentleness and fear
There are only two verbs in this verse: “sanctify” and “asking.” The latter is a present participle, but the former (“sanctify”) is the imperative! Note that it’s the only imperative in this verse (keen observers will note that I made an error on this point on the whiteboard in class). The rest of the verse is basically laying out how we’re expected to do this. Let’s break it down in terms of questions and answers:
Q: What are we commanded to do?
A: Set Christ apart as Lord (master, ruler) of our thinking.
Q: How are we to to set Him apart?
A: By always being ready to answer.
Q: What question are we to be ready to answer?
A: The question we’re to answer is, “Why do you maintain your hope?”
Q: How are we to deliver this answer?
A: With gentleness and respect
Please note that it’s really important to realize that we don’t have the full picture here because we’ve not considered this verse in its broader context (we haven’t looked at the verses surrounding this one, nor have we considered the point of the entire epistle). There’s a bit more to this verse that just what I’ve outlined, and we’ll get to that in the coming weeks, Lord willing. For now, though, the important thing that I want to call out is that “defending the faith” is not the imperative (command) in this verse. The command is to set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts and to submit all our thinking to Him and His Word.
I’m honestly not sure what got me to thinking about “proof vs. persuasion,” but I was rapidly approaching the end of the class and I dismissed the class with the following homework assignment. It seems almost a non sequitur, but I don’t want to change it now because I’m not sure everyone will get the message by reading this blog. So, we’ll roll with it and trust that the Holy Spirit put it on my heart for a reason.
Homework
A common error made by budding apologists is confusing proof with persuasion. So, let’s see if we can’t head that off at the pass and get ourselves properly situated. The assignment for next week is three-fold:
Define “proof” and “persuasion.”
Can something be proved without the audience being persuaded? Give an example.
Can someone be persuaded without proof? Give an example.