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It has been famously said somewhere by someone
that the Bible is like a lion.
Just let it out of its cage and it will defend itself.
Now, that sounds cool, but that is definitely not
the biblical picture that we get in terms of
doing apologetics and defending the Christian faith.
It's true that God doesn't need us to defend him,
but it's also true that God doesn't need me to feed my children.
Yet, God has ordained means
whereby certain ends are accomplished.
And it is, I consider, an honor and a pleasure
to be part of the means whereby the gospel of Jesus Christ
is defended in the world today.
And so, God calls us to engage in what we call apologetics.
And so, this here is part one of a six-part series
that will talk about presuppositional apologetics,
more formally and more colloquially,
biblical apologetics.
And so, we're going to dive deep into different aspects
of this apologetic methodology.
And so, I welcome you and hope that this series
is beneficial and educating for everyone who listens.
So, I have six objectives in this first part.
First, I want to define key terms.
I want to unpack key assumptions.
I want to explore the nature of unbelief.
We're also going to survey the biblical grounds for apologetics.
And we're going to talk a little bit about the importance
of establishing the certainty of our faith
as opposed to the probability of our faith.
And then, we're going to explore the question,
how do we proceed in the apologetic task?
So, that's kind of the outline that I'm going to be following
in our first part here.
So, let's take a look.
I'm going to start with a simple definition,
and then I'm going to give a more nuanced
and sophisticated definition of apologetics.
Okay?
Now, the simple definition of apologetics
is simply to defend the faith.
It's to give an answer.
And everyone is familiar with the popular Scripture passage,
1 Peter 3, verse 15,
which we will be exploring in this lesson.
But to give an apologia is simply to give an answer,
to make a defense.
However, since we're covering
what we call presuppositional apologetics,
which is connected with the Christian philosopher,
Cornelius Van Til,
I want to give Van Til's definition of apologetics.
And it's here that I think is going to set the groundwork,
the context for this entire apologetic method
and the rest of the following lessons.
So, I want you to pay very close attention
to how Van Til defines apologetics.
And here's what he says.
He says,
Apologetics is the vindication of the Christian worldview
over against the non-Christian worldview.
Or he says in another place,
Apologetics is the vindication
of the Christian philosophy of life
over against the non-Christian philosophy of life.
Now, I want you to pay very close attention
to that definition.
That is a beautiful definition
that really captures the essence
of the situation we have
when you have a believer
in the context of engaging an unbeliever.
Notice Van Til's emphasis on worldviews.
When doing apologetics,
we are defending a Christian worldview.
We're defending a Christian philosophy of life.
And what we're not defending
are piecemeal individual facts.
Facts are understood within a particular context.
And so, our worldview,
our system of belief,
creates the context
for understanding individual things
within our worldview perspective.
So, what I believe about item A
is understood in light of the context
of my other beliefs.
And that's our worldview.
When I was in a debate with an atheist
there on YouTube,
we were talking about the resurrection of Jesus.
And he says,
Well, listen, I can grant you the resurrection of Jesus.
It doesn't mean that there is
an all-powerful God that exists.
Now, notice what he did there.
He removed the event
of the resurrection of Jesus
from the broader context
of a worldview that posits
an omnipotent God
who raised Jesus from the dead.
And so, I was sure to point that out
in our discussion,
showing that my belief
about the resurrection
is connected
to my broader worldview commitment
to the omnipotent God
who's revealed himself in Scripture.
And so, understanding apologetics
within this worldview context
is going to be vitally important.
Presuppositional apologetics
is a worldview apologetics.
And so, I just want to keep that
and I want you guys to keep that in mind.
When we're doing apologetics
or when we're engaging with the unbeliever,
I want you to see the unbeliever
as a walking worldview.
Whether he acknowledges it or not,
he has a system of his own.
As Christians, we have a system of our own
which is rooted and grounded in God
and his revelation found in Scripture.
Okay?
Now, what is presuppositional apologetics?
So, we know what apologetics is.
The defense of the faith,
more simply put.
The vindication of the Christian worldview
over against the non-Christian worldview.
A little more nuanced definition there.
But what about presuppositional apologetics?
Presuppositional apologetics
is an apologetic method.
So, growing up,
I woke up every Saturday morning
in my home
to the sound of
terribly dubbed martial art movies.
My dad used to love
those old Asian kung-fu flicks
where, you know,
the people's mouths would be moving
and the words wouldn't really match up very well.
And so, that was my morning.
And when I would wake up
and watch these movies with my dad,
the storylines were always the same.
There was some guy
trying to protect the honor
of his specific, you know,
dojo or, you know,
the place where they kind of promoted
a particular style of martial arts.
Well, it's no different in apologetics.
You have different styles of apologetics.
You have the evidential method.
You have the classical method.
And there are some other variations within that.
And then, of course,
you have the presuppositional method.
So, before I define
what presuppositional apologetics is,
I really want to draw into focus
what differentiates
the traditional methods
of doing apologetics
and the method
that I'm going to be discussing
throughout the course of this series.
Let's take, for example,
evidential or classical apologetics.
Evidentialism,
or evidential apologetics,
focuses on,
well, you guessed it,
it focuses on the evidence, right?
And it typically explores issues
of the possibility of miracles
and things like this.
Classical apologetics
kind of takes a one-two punch approach.
The first punch
is demonstrate the existence
of a theistic god.
And this is typically done
through various traditional arguments,
such as the Kalam cosmological argument,
the teleological argument,
which is the argument from design,
the moral argument,
things like this.
And when the existence
of a god is established,
then the second punch
is to focus
on what kind of god
is being demonstrated here.
It's the god who has raised Jesus
from the dead.
And so the first punch
is demonstrating the existence
of a deity.
And the second punch
is to demonstrate
that this deity
has revealed himself
in the person of Jesus Christ
and has demonstrated
the truth of Christ
by raising him from the dead.
Okay?
Now, the unique thing
about the classical
and evidential approach
to apologetics
is that they are
what I'd like to call
a bottom-up approach
to apologetics.
Okay?
And what I mean
by bottom-up approach
is that both the evidential
and classical methods
start at the bottom
and work their way
up to the conclusion,
therefore, God exists.
But the presuppositional apologetics
takes a completely
opposite perspective.
It's actually
what I like to call
a top-down approach.
We are not working our way
up to the conclusion
that God exists,
but rather we're starting
with, as a presupposition,
the existence of God
and his revelation
in Scripture,
and we argue from there.
We argue that if you reject
God and his revelation,
that you lose the foundation
for making sense
out of anything,
whether that be science,
anything that relates
to philosophy,
mathematics,
history, anything.
You name it.
The Christian God
and his revelation
provide the necessary,
what we call,
preconditions for knowledge
and intelligible experience.
So, presuppositional apologetics
is a top-down approach.
And I think the great thing
about having a top-down approach
in this respect
is that it gives
the proper place
of the authority of God.
We do not work our way
up to a God,
subjecting this God
to the standards
of human understanding.
Rather, we start
from the authority of God
and allow him and his word
to be the context
whereby we judge
anything else.
Okay?
So, that is the difference
between a presuppositional approach
and the more classical
and evidential approaches.
So, let's kind of give
a more focused definition.
What is presuppositional apologetics?
It is a school
of Christian apologetics
that believes the Christian faith
is the only basis
for rational thought.
This is believed to be true
on a biblical basis itself.
For example,
in Psalm chapter 36, verse 9,
we read,
In his light we see light.
Now, that's kind of
a very simple biblical statement,
but I want you to consider
the implications of that passage.
In his light we see light.
God is the light
by which we see
and understand everything.
Okay?
The presuppositional approach
takes passages like this
very seriously
and allows them
to be the context
as to how we are to understand
any and every created fact
in existence.
So, in his light we see light.
In Proverbs 1, 7, we read,
The beginning of knowledge
is the fear of the Lord.
That is the basis
of our epistemology.
Now, that's a $20 word
that I'm going to define
in our second part to this series,
but I want you to keep
that word in mind.
It's going to be very important
later on.
So, the beginning of knowledge
is the fear of the Lord.
Colossians 2, 3,
In Christ are hidden
all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge.
And one of my favorites here,
Romans chapter 11, verse 36,
For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
Okay?
The reality is that
God is the creator
of all things.
He is sovereign.
He is the foundation for knowledge.
Genesis chapter 1, 1,
I mean, we have the very
foundational assumption
within the Christian worldview
that provides the context
for what we call
the creator-creature distinction.
In the beginning,
God created.
In the opening words
of the Bible,
you have a distinction
between the creator
and that which is created.
And understanding
that basic foundation
is going to be really important
to everything else we do
when we're engaging
in apologetics.
Now, you might be wondering,
well, why is he talking
about all these
biblical passages
and kind of these
theological commitments?
You have to understand something.
That a biblical apologetic
must flow,
it must grow,
out of a consistent application
of theological
and biblical truth.
The Bible, the scriptures,
theology is the soil
out of which
our apologetic grows.
And so, apologetics is theological.
And so, that's kind of why
I'm trying to incorporate
these simple biblical truths
and relating them
to having a biblical worldview
and then talking
a little bit later
as to why that's important
in terms of doing apologetics.
Now, what I want to explore next is,
and this is another
important element of apologetics,
number one,
understanding that we're engaging
in worldview conflicts.
The Christian worldview
or the Christian philosophy of life
and the unbelieving worldview,
the unbelieving philosophy of life.
An important element
of understanding
the presuppositional approach
and creating kind of a foundation
from which to engage
in apologetics itself
is to understand
the nature of the unbeliever.
Now, this is very important.
A lot of people will engage
in apologetics
really not thinking about
what the Bible says
about the unbeliever himself
or herself.
Okay?
We're kind of caught
in a corner here.
Do we believe
what the unbeliever says
about himself
or do we believe
what God has said
about the unbeliever?
That is a simple issue
that really boils down to
who are we going to commit
ourselves to?
What God has to say
and what he has said
with respect to the unbeliever
and the apologetic situation
or what the world says
that situation is like.
Okay?
The Bible says
in Ephesians chapter 4
verse 17 through 18
that the unbeliever's thinking
is veined
and he is dark,
he's veined and darkened
in his understanding.
The unbeliever's thinking
is characterized
by intellectual futility
and ignorance.
He holds to a philosophy
that is not after Christ
but after the elementary principles
of this world.
The unbeliever bases
his philosophy
in such a way
that he sets aside God's word
and makes it void
according to Mark 7
8 through 13.
Unbelieving philosophies
do this by beginning
with elements of learning
dictated by the world.
So the unbeliever
has a foundation
that is not rooted
on the firm rock
of God's word
whereas the believer
is having their feet
firmly planted
on the truth
of God's revelation.
And so we need
to keep this in mind
because often times
when we engage the unbeliever
we will often remove ourselves
from that firm foundation
so as to meet the unbeliever
where he is
and in doing so
we really are taking the rug
from under our feet.
And so we want to make sure
that we are sticking
to our foundation
and we're engaging
with the unbeliever
in a way that is consistent
with scripture
and in a way that honors
the authority of God's word.
And we want to understand
the unbeliever
in a way
that has been revealed
to us in scripture
because that informs us
how we are to engage
the unbeliever.
Let me ask you a question.
When we are giving reasons
for the Christian faith
are we giving reasons
to an otherwise
ignorant person
or are we showing
the reality
that the unbeliever
is wearing a mask
and that mask
must be removed
to show that
the unbeliever
actually has a knowledge
of the God
whom we are presenting.
How you answer that question
is very important.
I do not believe
that the unbeliever
is ignorant.
I do not believe
that the task of apologetics
is giving information
to an otherwise
ignorant person.
Rather apologetics
is exposing
what Romans chapter 1
speaks of
the suppression of truth.
And so because
the scriptures tell me that
it actually tells me
the nature
and the state
of the unbeliever
that's going to affect
the way I interact with him.
So keep that in mind.
Now what about
the biblical foundations
for what we're doing?
The Christian worldview
comes from the scriptures.
A Christian worldview
is a biblical worldview.
And the command
to defend the Bible
comes from the Bible itself.
And so
an important thing to understand
when we're talking about
how we do apologetics
we understand that
number one
the Bible commands us
to do apologetics
and it also tells us
how we are to do it.
And so it's there
where we get really the
we hit the rub here
as to the presuppositional method
really being derived
from scripture itself.
And that's why
we should be enthusiastic
about following this approach.
Now let's consider
Jude chapter 1
verses 3 through 4.
Rather, you know what?
Let's actually unpack
1 Peter 3 15.
It's a traditional passage
and it's often brought up
anytime anyone's speaking
about apologetics
and so the temptation
is to pass it over
because yeah
we kind of know
what 1 Peter 3 15 says
but I actually want to stay here
for a little while
because it's super important.
So let's read it real quick.
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 respect.
Now there are a couple of things
that stick out to me
and should stick out to you as well
when you're looking at
1 Peter 3 15.
Number one, the beginning
which is often skipped over.
Oftentimes people run right
to the always be ready, right?
And they talk about
you need to be ready
no matter if it's the professor
or a family member
at the dinner table.
You need to be ready
to give an answer
and of course that's important
and I agree with that.
But you have to understand
that there is something
that comes before that, right?
And that is to sanctify Christ
as Lord.
We set apart Christ as Lord.
So what sticks out to me
in 1 Peter 3 15
is sanctify to set apart
Christ as Lord.
He is the Lord of our hearts.
Okay, now this is very important
because the heart in Scripture
almost never refers
to the organ in your chest.
Rather it refers
to the seat of the will,
the center of one's being.
It actually is related
to that intellectual faculty
that goes into decision making.
Okay, the reasoning process.
Christ is to sit
on the throne of our hearts
and everything we do,
everything we reason about
is dictated by His Lordship.
We are bringing
every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ.
And so of course
that is followed by
the command to always be ready
and that's really,
it can be very intimidating.
Always, you know,
what if I'm caught off guard?
Well, as a believer,
you're called
to not be caught off guard.
You are to be so ready
that you are ready
in season and out of season.
That's intimidating,
but it is very important.
And then the last part
where a lot of people
kind of skip over.
We are to check this out.
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's in you
yet with gentleness and respect.
Now I'm very active
in the online apologetics community
and unfortunately
I've seen a lot
of presuppositionalists
get a really bad rap.
Not so much for the arguments
and the debate points
that they get
when they're interacting
with the unbeliever,
but it's this issue
of gentleness and respect.
We want to be very careful
that we do not act like jerks
when giving the truth, right?
If I speak the truth,
but I'm being a jerk
in the process,
it's really going to fall
on deaf ears.
And so we want to make sure
that we're being gentle
and respectful
when we're interacting
with unbelievers.
And by the way,
when I speak
of a biblical method
of apologetics,
that includes
not just the content
of what I'm saying,
but the way in which
I communicate that content.
So the content must be biblical,
but the medium
through which
I express that content
has to be biblical as well.
So if you give
a presuppositional argument
or a presuppositional apologetic,
but you're not doing it
with gentleness and respect,
you are not following
a biblical apologetic.
So we want to do this
in a way that is consistent.
Now, I want to take a look
at Jude chapter 1, verse 3.
And I love this passage here
because it really highlights
the importance
of doing apologetics.
And Jude writes,
Beloved, while I was making
every effort to write to you
about our common salvation,
I felt the necessity
to write to you appealing
that you contend earnestly
for the faith,
which was once for all
handed down to the saints.
Now, there are a couple
of things here
that I want you to zero in on, okay?
Notice the language of necessity.
Jude points out the necessity
of addressing
the apologetical issues
that are found
within the context
of this letter.
He commands his audience
to contend earnestly
for the faith.
Notice that it's not something
that's kind of just like,
Hey, I just want to let you know
there's some issues
you might want to address.
No, he says this is necessary.
We must contend earnestly.
Contend earnestly for what?
Contend earnestly for the faith
once for all delivered.
What is that?
What is the faith
once for all delivered,
if not the content
of apostolic teaching?
This is very important.
It is necessary
that we engage in apologetics.
We are to contend earnestly
for the faith,
and what we are contending for
is the body of Christian truth.
If you want to be a good apologist,
generally speaking,
and if you want to be
a good presuppositional apologist,
more specifically,
you must be acquainted
with the body of Christian truth.
You must be acquainted
with what has been handed down to us,
and this is going to highlight
the importance
of knowing your theology.
Now, before I kind of wrap things up
in just a moment,
I want to focus a little bit
on the importance
of knowing your theology.
Now, when you study apologetics,
the most intimidating thing
about apologetics,
apart from the fear
of having to interact with someone
that you disagree with,
is that most people
get the impression
that they have to know so much
in order to interact
with the atheist
or the Muslim
or the Mormon
or the Jehovah's Witness,
and it's true.
You want to be familiar
with other perspectives
and you want to be able
to navigate those different views,
but in my experience,
99% of the attacks
upon the Christian faith
are actually based
on misunderstandings
of the Christian faith.
Just a real quick story.
When I was picking something up
at the supermarket for my wife,
I was walking out of the supermarket
and I was carrying all these bags.
I looked like one of those
homeless people
who, they're riding their bike
and they have like
all the garbage bags.
You couldn't even see me.
I had so many bags.
And as I'm walking to my car,
a gentleman asked me,
hey, you know,
can I have a few minutes
of your time?
And I'm like, oh boy,
this guy, I can't see him.
My hands are literally full.
And I was like,
you know what, fine.
Can I just drop my bags
off at the car?
And he's like, yeah, yeah.
So I drop the bags
off at the car
and then I look at the gentleman
and I say, hey,
what's going on?
He goes, well,
I just wanted to share
a little something with you
and he says that
the scriptures teach us
that there is a Father God
and I said, yeah, yeah,
I believe that.
And he goes,
but did you know
that the Bible teaches
that there is also
a Mother God?
And I was like,
oh boy, here we go.
Here we go.
I was on my way to my car
after going shopping
and now I'm gonna have
this full-out conversation
with someone.
Now, I wasn't familiar
with the particular cult
that he was a part of.
He was part of a cult.
But what I found very quickly
was that the majority
of my conversation
was not so much
navigating the ins and outs
of his perspective,
but it was defending
biblical doctrine.
I had to talk about
the doctrine of God.
We differed over
views of salvation,
so I had to know
my what we call
soteriology,
the doctrine of salvation,
the deity of Christ.
We spoke about,
here's a $20 word,
anthropomorphisms,
when God is described
with human characteristics.
And so the majority
of what was required of me
was to defend my theology.
And so knowing theology,
I think, is the first step
in really being grounded
and rooted
in a biblical apologetic,
and everything else
will flow from there.
But next time,
we'll unpack more
on this issue of worldviews.
Thank you so much.