What Is Christian apologetics?

G’day everyone, Dave Deane here, and our question for the week is: What is Christian apologetics?

The word “apologetics” is the English translation of the Greek word “apologia”. It’s an unfortunate translation in the English, because “apologetics” is the same root as “apology” or “apologising” – saying “sorry” for something you’ve done – but that is not the meaning of the Greek “apologia” which essentially means “giving a reason” or an “argument” for the Christian faith. That’s why the word is sometimes directly translated “defence”, as in 1 Peter 3:15 “in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence [ἀπολογίαν] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”

In this verse there are for points that unpack this idea of apologetics as a reasoned defence.

First: apologetics is for all Christians.

When Peter says “in your hearts” the “your” he is referring to is defined back up in verse 8 as “all of you” or everyone who Peter is writing to. You see, Peter had spoken directly to servants and masters in chapter 2, then husbands and wives earlier in chapter 3, but now he expands his instructions to all Christians, to all of the people he had described back in chapter 1 as being “born again”. So the task of apologetics – of giving a reasoned defence – comes out of who a Christian is, out of someone who in their heart honours “Christ the Lord as holy”. And I find that interesting, because not all Christians are called to be teachers or pastors, but we are all called to be apologists. That doesn’t mean we need to go and get a degree in apologetics or philosophy or something – that’s just one way of doing apologetics, but the intellectual life is not the only road to God. Whoever you are, wherever you are, if you’re a Christian you’ve been given the task of doing apologetics, whether that’s as an artist, as a musician, as an accountant, as a barrista, as a health professional – wherever there is a Christian there should be found an apologist.

And this is because of the second point: apologetics is all about Jesus.

If giving an apologetic is making “a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” then quite obviously, the content of our apologetic is that “hope” that all Christians have. What or who is that hope? Jesus! God in human flesh – the one around whom the entire edifice of Christian belief and practice is built. He is not just one God among many gods, He is the one true and living God, holy and perfect, and in Him and Him alone there is hope for humanity in this life and the next. In other words, if we are giving reasons or defences of the faith but not talking about Jesus in one way or another, we aren’t doing apologetics. And there’s a hint at this in the very word “apologia” itself: “apo” (from, off of) “logos” (reason). Who was Jesus called? “The Logos!” (John 1:1). So giving an apologetic, is in a sense, from or ‘off of’ Jesus.

Third: apologetics is marked by Christian integrity.

The primary emphasis of 1 Peter 3:15 is the phrase “always being prepared”. What does it mean to be prepared? Most often people think “preparation” here means researching answers to questions, or strategizing new tactics for how to engage the culture with Christian beliefs. Those things are important, but I think they are secondary to what I think is the primary meaning of “preparation” here in this verse. If apologetics is for all Christians, and if apologetics is all about Jesus, then “always being prepared” means, in this context, to always be ready in our integrity and standing as Christians. You see, the entire context of this section in Peter is holiness and right living, which is why the preamble to making a defence – to giving an apologetic – is “honouring Christ the Lord” as holy in our “hearts”. And it makes sense when you think about it. If apologetics is “always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” then the assumptions are that (1) people will see something different about you as a Christian, namely hope, and (2) that you will be the kind of person they would want to approach to ask you about that hope. It’s been said that “There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian, but most people never read the first four.” I think that’s the point here; apologetics is marked by Christian integrity – which is holy and right living – because actions speak louder than words and if people don’t see any evidence of a supernatural hope in the life of a Christian, then why would they ask them about it? Before it is anything else, apologetics is a reflection of a Christian’s heart before God.

And this leads to the fourth and final point in this verse.

Fourth: apologetics is not just what we say but how we say it.

Christians are called to give reasons for the hope they have in Jesus with “with gentleness and respect”. How Christians give an apologetic is just as important as what the content of their apologetic is. Both should reflect Jesus, which is why it is so important to look at how he spoke with and reasoned with people in the Gospels. The apologetic burden is not so much answering questions as it is questioners; not winning arguments in the moment, but souls for all of eternity. In the words of George McDonald: “The defeat of the intellect is not the object of fighting with the sword of the Spirit, but rather the acceptance of the heart.” God and God alone is in the business of saving souls and the work of the apologist is to share the hope of that salvation to anyone who asks and to do so by dealing with them in the same way God has dealt with us in salvation: with gentleness and respect; with integrity in truth and love. That doesn’t mean tolerance at all costs; giving a defence for the faith is very often convicting and challenging. But done Biblically, it is winsome because how a Christian goes about giving reasons for their beliefs is ultimately an expression of who a Christian is: as a person that is loved and secured in an unshakeable relationship with the one true and living God. That’s why there is no need for defensiveness, division, insecurity, or arguing for argument’s sake, because that would make apologetics all about Christians when it is all about Jesus.