In the book, “Five Views On Apologetics,” William Lane Craig
makes this statement: “If, by proceeding on the basis of considerations that
are common to all parties, such as sense perception, rational self-evidence,
and common modes of reasoning, the Christian can show that his own beliefs are
true and those of his interlocutor false, then he will have succeeded in
showing that the Christian is in a superior epistemic position for discerning
the truth about these matters.”[1] In
his work, “Christian Apologetics,” Norman Geisler comments, “What is more, an
adequate test for truth is a methodological prerequisite to establishing
theism.
For unless the Christian apologist has a test by which he can show
other systems to be false and theism to be true, then there is no way to
adjudicate the conflicting claims of various religions and worldviews.”[2] In
His work, “Faith Founded on Fact,” John Warwick Montgomery has said,
“Christianity does indeed offer the most comprehensive solution to the human
dilemma, but apart from the marshaling of brute facts to prove this, the claim
is worth no more than that of any other religion or philosophy leading to
maximal comprehensiveness or coherence.”[3]
In their respective comments, it is clear that each man is
looking to identify a method and standard by which the truth claims of
Christian theism can be shown to accurately reflect the state of affairs as
they have obtained in the present world order. Craig uses the expression,
“rational self-evidence,” while Geisler points to “an adequate test for truth,”
and Montgomery, references “the marshaling of brute facts.” Each man is carefully
enmeshed in showing Christian theism to be true. In addition, these men have
made vast contributions to Christian scholarship over the course of their
respective careers and for that I am grateful. In fact, Norman Geisler was my
apologetics professor several years ago at Southern Evangelical Seminary in
Charlotte, NC. Nevertheless, there is a very basic difference in my perspective
and their perspective concerning what Scripture has to say about apologetic
method. That difference is located in the relationship between the Testimonium
and the Criterion as it attaches to Christian epistemology.
The thesis of this post is that Christian apologetics is a
discipline that necessitates both the force of the truth of God in its
expression and the work of God’s Spirit in its function if it is to be
harmonious with divine revelation. Unless the gospel of God is presented in concert
with the work of the Spirit, the discipline of Christian apologetics becomes
much more rationalistic, much more natural, much more the product of the human
intellect.
The objective of this post is to trace the contours of the
witness of the Holy Spirit in the proclamation and vindication of the gospel as
it appears to us in the New Testament revelation. The particular aim is to
demonstrate the nature of the ancient church’s dependence on that witness in
both its proclamation and defense of the Christian gospel. The apologist must
look to the revelation of Scripture for both his cadence and his model for
apologetic methodology. It is there that he will find safety from error, pride,
and the fruitless rationalism that has come to dominate the discipline.
My aim is to call apologists back to a reliance on the work
of the Holy Spirit in the field of Christian apologetics. Christian theism is a
supernatural religion from top to bottom. From its Head, to its revelation, to
its members, to its message, Christian theism has a spiritual and supernatural
base. In fact, there is nothing in the Christian religion that is purely naturalistic
in character. Beginning with the creation of the physical universe to the
divine revelation of the law, to the arrival of God incarnate, to the
completion of divine revelation in the New Testament, there is no component of
Christian theism that does not transcend human reason. It seems perfectly right
then, that the discipline that purports to defend the claims of this
supernatural religion would also be fully persuaded that its approach would
require reliance on the very supernatural truth claims it seeks to defend. It
is only reasonable to think that the Christian apologist would embrace, without
hesitation, the supernatural witness of the Holy Spirit in the work of
vindicating the Christian worldview.
“The New Testament is primarily concerned with telling the
story of Jesus and with drawing the consequences of that story for belief, for
worship, and for practical conduct of human life.”[4]
Indeed, in his gospel at 20:31, John informs us that he wrote his gospel so
that the hearer might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and
that believing, the hearer might have eternal life. Kostenberger points to
Matt. 16:13-20 as Matthew’s central thesis.[5]
This section contains Peter’s great confession that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the Living God. Mark begins his project by telling us this is the
beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He continues in 10:45
by telling us that Jesus, the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and
give His life a ransom for many. And in 15:39 he records the words of the
centurion, “truly, this man was the Son of God.” Luke is essentially a treatise
of the historical record of Jesus Christ so that Theophilus might know the
exact truth about the things, which he had been taught. The task of Christian
apologetics is to provide a defense to anyone that 1) asks us to give a reason
for the hope that is in us; and 2) to refute those that aspire to challenge and
contradict the truth of God we have in His divine communication. This task
requires the Christian to employ both the Spirit and the Word in their
preparation for and their engagement in the discipline of Christian
apologetics.
If one were to survey the material available on the subject
of Christian philosophy and apologetics today, they would discover an astounding
and embarrassing deficiency of exegesis and theology in those materials. In
addition, very little space is dedicated to the phenomenon of the witness and
work of the Spirit in the field of Christian apologetics. It is the primary aim
of this series of posts to point out the vital role of the Spirit in the work and
practice of Christian apologetics. Christian apologetics is better served when it is in the hands of the exegete, the theologian, and the elder. The philosopher seems to be continually seduced by the intellectually complex, the obscure, and the sophisticated. But the gospel and its defense is more simple than the philosopher wants it to be.
[1]. William Lane Craig, “Classical Apologetics,” in Five
Views on Apologetics, ed. Steven B. Cowan and Stanley N. Gundry (Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 44.
[2]. Norman L. Geisler, Christian Apologetics,
paperback ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1976).
[3]. John Warwick Montgomery, preface to Faith
Founded on Fact: Essays in Evidential Apologetics (Newburgh, IN: Trinity
Press, 1978), xi.
[4]. Avery Cardinal Dulles, A History of
Apologetics, 2nd ed. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1999), 1.
[5]. Andreas J. Kostenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and
Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (Nashville, TN:
B&H Publishing Group, 2009), 179.
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