1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [ἀπολογία apologia] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Some of us may have never heard of the term “apologetics” as mentioned in the title of this article, and that’s okay. It does not affect our salvation.

So, what is Christian Apologetics?

Put simply, it is the intellectual defence of the truth of the Christian religion. Now, as soon as we read the definition, we might think, “This is not for me, it’s for the professors who study theology”. Peter wrote his first letter not to the theology professors, but to ordinary Christians.

The word “apologetics” comes from the Greek word in the our bible text above apologia, which simply means an answer given in reply. Think of this less as a debate and more like telling your friend about this buried chest you’ve found. You’re convinced the chest holds an infinitely invaluable treasure, but your friend has some questions.

The goal of apologetics is not to win a debate, but to lead an unbeliever one step closer to know Jesus by “tearing down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

What intrigues unbelievers about the hope that is in us that makes them ask us?

When they see that Christians live differently: “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” (1 Pet. 3:9).

To be able to explain the reason for our hope, we need to be equipped with faith foundation classes, which in our church is called KOM.

The purpose of these classes is so we know what we believe and why we believe it, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:14).

We need to know our Bibles in order to provide reason for our faith: “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.” (Acts 18:4, 28).

Peter says in the text above that we should do apologetics with gentleness and respect. Practically, instead of shooting arguments, we might start a dialog with an unbeliever trying to understand their point of view.

We have much to learn from the late Pastor Timothy Keller on this. In particular, his book Making Sense of God is a good example of apologetics (challenging secularism by comparing it to the Christian faith) with gentleness and respect.

Near the end of his life, Paul advises the young timothy that the servant of the Lord “must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,” (2 Tim. 2:24 – 25).

In this year of harvest, I pray that all of us may be grounded in the truth of God’s word, and be able to live a Christ-like life, so when our unbelieving friends / families ask about our faith, we may be able to give a reason to our faith. Amen.