By: Thomas F. Booher
Some may believe that a
pastor’s inability to defend the faith is an unimportant issue. After all, is
not a minister preaching to believers who are already convinced of Christianity?
Indeed, he is, and this is precisely why the pastor must have a firm grasp of
biblical apologetics. It is the pastor’s job to help equip the saints so that
they are always ready “to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for
the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). The pastor
himself must be well-versed in defending the faith, and he must know how to do
it in a biblical manner, so as to teach and model apologetics for the
congregation. Defending the faith well comes with benefits for both minster and
congregation alike.
Apologetics gives the minister greater confidence when he
preaches the word because he knows that his faith is sure. Indeed, the great
value and benefit of presuppositional apologetics is that it plainly shows the
impossibility of the Christian faith not to
be true. Such assurance not only gives the pastor boldness in the pulpit, but
the demonstration of this truth also bolsters the faith of every believer in
the pew. This apologetic method also reminds the pastor that he must take his
stand for the Christian faith on the very Word of God itself, looking to it as
the sole authority of infallible truth. Man’s fallible reason must submit to the
revelation of God’s Word and conform to it. Such a view of apologetics keeps
before the minister the reformed/biblical understanding of knowledge and
epistemology. A person can know something only because God has revealed it and
has given men minds to understand the world He has made. Apologetics
demonstrates that mankind thinks God’s thoughts after Him, and is not the one
coming up with the facts and meaning of anything. Fact and meaning always go
together because it is God who determines each. You cannot understand one apart
from the other. This coherency in the world on account of the revelation of God
helps prevent ministers from sliding away from the authority of Scripture.
Indeed, one cannot deny the inerrancy of Scripture without also denying the
ability to defend the Christian world and life view. This holds ministers fast
to God’s Word, and keeps before them (and their congregation) the supremacy of
God over all things, especially how one understands anything that happens or
exists in the world.
Presuppositional apologetics also prohibits the minister
from reasoning like an unbeliever with his congregation (or other unbelievers
for that matter). He does not build the defense of the faith after a
step-by-step, blockhouse approach, but rather presents before believer and
unbeliever alike the full-orbed teaching and vision of the Christian faith. The
minister presupposes God’s existence as necessary to rational thought itself,
and never moves off that ground when engaging in apologetics. This may be more
winsome and appealing for the believer, and it will also reveal up front just
what it is that the unbeliever must believe and submit to in order to become a
Christian. Such clarity and concreteness gets right to the heart of the issue
between believer and unbeliever, namely, the yellow-tinted glasses that the
unbeliever wears in order to interpret all things so as to suppress the truth
of God in unrighteousness. This blunt clarity will also help the pastor depict
the sharp divide between the believer and unbeliever for his own congregation,
so that they can understand the true nature of fallen man better and be even
more amazed by God’s saving grace.
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