Apologetics
As with any theological system, you must not only know it but also know how to give a reasoned response for why you believe it. And that's all apologetics is - giving a rational answer to the unbelieving world as to why we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As Christians who have been regenerated by the Spirit and by that same Spirit are being conformed to the image of Christ, we are not given the prerogative to take the mind of Christ off in order to argue back to it. So when the unbeliever wants us to come to this alleged "neutral" territory in giving a reason for why we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, he's wanting us, in that very act, to deny the faith we're trying to prove.
As the late Greg Bahnsen would teach, two of the most important things to understand in Christian apologetics are:
So when it comes to apologetics, the only Biblical method we are given is the one known as presuppositionalism. This is the method of defending the faith whereby we stay in Christ (committed to Him) in giving our reason for believing in Him as our Savior and Lord (1 Pet. 3:15). We do not try first to become friends with the world (Jas. 4:4), and then somehow try to convince them (from their own worldly wisdom, which at the outset does not and cannot accept Christ - see 1 Cor. 1:20-21ff, 2:14) that Jesus is indeed Lord. Rather we unashamedly stand on the rock of Christ (Mt. 7:24-27; cf. 1 Cor. 10:4) and from that vantage point show them that without Christ as Savior and Lord it is the unbeliever who can't give an account for his own worldview (Col. 2:3, 6-8).
As Christians who have been regenerated by the Spirit and by that same Spirit are being conformed to the image of Christ, we are not given the prerogative to take the mind of Christ off in order to argue back to it. So when the unbeliever wants us to come to this alleged "neutral" territory in giving a reason for why we believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, he's wanting us, in that very act, to deny the faith we're trying to prove.
As the late Greg Bahnsen would teach, two of the most important things to understand in Christian apologetics are:
- Unbelievers are not neutral (Mt. 12:30; Rom. 3:10-11, 8:7-8; 1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 4:17-18); and
- Believers are never called to be (Jn. 15:4ff; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:20-24; Col. 2:6-8)
So when it comes to apologetics, the only Biblical method we are given is the one known as presuppositionalism. This is the method of defending the faith whereby we stay in Christ (committed to Him) in giving our reason for believing in Him as our Savior and Lord (1 Pet. 3:15). We do not try first to become friends with the world (Jas. 4:4), and then somehow try to convince them (from their own worldly wisdom, which at the outset does not and cannot accept Christ - see 1 Cor. 1:20-21ff, 2:14) that Jesus is indeed Lord. Rather we unashamedly stand on the rock of Christ (Mt. 7:24-27; cf. 1 Cor. 10:4) and from that vantage point show them that without Christ as Savior and Lord it is the unbeliever who can't give an account for his own worldview (Col. 2:3, 6-8).