Declare First, Defend Second: Why Apologetics Takes a Backseat to Evangelism

By Rev. Mark A. Pierson

“How many dinosaurs did Noah put on the ark?” “If God made the world, then who made God?” “Don’t all religions basically teach the same thing, just in different ways?” Some years ago, these and other questions were asked of me—or, targeted at me—by three skeptics over dinner. It wasn’t a planned, coordinated attack on their part; it just sort of happened. One by one, they tried to show me that I believe in a fairy tale, that my faith is unreasonable, and that I’m narrow-minded and intolerant. So I dove right into the deep end of apologetics and began defending the truth the best I could. Logic, science, history—I used them all to show that Christianity rests on facts and I’m not a fool for believing it. I even did a fairly decent (though not perfect) job of keeping my composure in the face of their snarky slurs, sloppy thinking, and constant interruptions. But when all was said and done, they remained unconvinced and I was left utterly frustrated. What had gone wrong?

At first I figured it was all their fault. None of them were particularly interested in having a conversation; each merely wanted to take potshots at what I believe. And I still think that’s probably true. I’ve talked to enough unbelievers to know when they’ve stopped listening and just want to lob one-liners or bring up “difficult” questions to make themselves look intellectually (or morally) superior. Solid answers often won’t get them to reconsider their unbelief because they are playing a game of one-upmanship, quickly moving from one predictable objection to the next in hopes of landing a knockout punch. Indeed, it was a bit like trying to have a fruitful exchange in the YouTube comments section—a nearly impossible task!

Quite a bit later, however, I realized that my whole approach had been wrong. I was putting the cart before the horse and expecting apologetics to do something it was never intended to do.

The Limits of Apologetics

Apologetics is important to me. There was a time when I had serious doubts about the Bible, about the truth of Easter, and about the claims of Jesus. Thankfully, I met a wise and patient apologist, Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, who answered my questions with reason and evidence. He demonstrated that Christianity centers on facts, on history, on Truth incarnate, such that it can be explored and investigated by believers and unbelievers alike. This was a lifesaver for me. All I had heard from Christians were personal testimonies, appeals to emotion, and the silly notion that faith should be blind. But here was an approach that appealed to my mind and not just my heart. In short, apologetics kept me from thinking Scripture should begin with “Once upon a time...”

I then tried to learn as much as possible about apologetics so that I could shoot down the most popular objections to Christianity and help others do the same. After consuming numerous books, lectures, and videos, I became convinced that I could win virtually any argument. This, I thought, was the key to conversion: just defeat your opponents on scholarly grounds and they will be forced to accept your position and believe the Good News. Ah, how foolish and naïve I was.

You see, in my zeal to defend the gospel as true, I ignored a crucial part of my training and committed the colossal blunder of starting with apologetics. As in the above example, I would spend hours arguing with people over evidence without first declaring what Jesus had done for them. So eager was I to act like a lawyer and make a convincing case for Christianity that the gospel message itself seldom (if ever) saw the light of day. I had assumed everyone already knew the Good News when in fact most didn’t. What is more, I was expecting apologetics to have the effect that only the proclaimed Word has. Facts, reason, and evidence are of great value, to be sure, but that value is limited, for they do not and cannot create faith in the heart. And that, above all else, is why evangelism always comes first.

Where I had gone wrong was in thinking that defending the truth and declaring the truth were the same thing. But in fact, apologetics is merely evangelism’s handmaiden. It serves a vital purpose, but when and how apologetics comes into play always depends on the particular circumstances. For example, one skeptic will deny that Jesus existed, another will ask about contradictions in the Bible, and some won’t raise any objections at all. The proclamation that Christ is the Savior of sinners, however, is for all people without qualification. Only the astonishing truth that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting people’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19), can turn a spiritually dead child of Adam into a living child of God. Simply put: only the gospel message itself, and not its defense, can perform the miracle of conversion.

Learning in the Trenches

What changed my mind about apologetics more than anything else was doing evangelism on college campuses with Pastor Mark Jasa, a mentor who not only had years of experience but also a gift for being able to talk about Jesus with absolutely anyone. He always began with a proclamation of Law and Gospel put into terms the average person can understand. Much of the time he never bothered to provide intellectual reasons to back up his claims. I found this odd since he, too, had received training in apologetics. So eventually I asked, “Why not just go straight to the evidence for the resurrection? We can totally win that one.” Pastor Jasa’s answer was twofold.

“…apologetics is merely evangelism’s handmaiden”

First, apologetics can become a rabbit trail such that defending the truth distracts from hearing the truth. “My job,” he said, “is first to tell everyone the Good News. Then I respond to their objections as needed.” As I watched him evangelize from then on, I saw the importance of keeping that order straight. A Muslim woman, for example, admitted she was afraid Allah would judge her. Whereas my inclination was to argue with her about the Bible vs. the Quran, Pastor Jasa simply said, “Don’t worry about judgment. Jesus was judged in your place.” Since reasons and proofs were not what she was looking for, it may have done more harm than good to bring them up.

In another instance, a girl said she was an atheist and yet she was afraid to die. When she was told that Christ has defeated death and promises to raise her up from her grave, she replied, “That would be good news . . . if it were true.” Having heard the Gospel first, she was asking for a good solid dose of facts and evidence as to why she should believe it. And that is precisely when apologetics is properly applied.

Second, my evangelism mentor pointed me to the last line in Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). “Some people,” Pastor Jasa said, “simply don’t care about the evidence.” This struck me as strange since having evidence had been so important to me, but I soon saw that he was right. One fellow who heard the Gospel wanted to argue that Christianity is a myth. After he realized he was losing, however, he said, “Okay, fine. Maybe Jesus rose from the dead. Maybe Jesus is God. But...I don’t need him.” Resurrection or no resurrection, this guy was determined to reject Jesus; apologetics was powerless to have an effect on him, just like it had no effect on my dinner guests.

The Limitless Gospel

Hundreds of real-life evangelism encounters such as these made it clear to me that apologetics must take a backseat to evangelism. Only the radical, no-strings-attached, “get out of hell free” proclamation of the forgiveness of sins in Christ can turn skeptics into believers. So give them the Gospel. Most people have never heard this Good News, and they must hear it before you defend it.

Apologetics certainly has its place. It’s crucial that we Christians are ready for attacks and questions about the truth of Christianity— especially if you’re a believer at a secular college. This might be called “proactive” apologetics, where you do your homework ahead of time and learn the reasons why your faith is founded on fact. (A decent place to start, if I may say so, is the 7-part series I did on apologetics for this magazine.) This not only provides answers for yourself but also prepares you for “reactive” apologetics, when you are called to defend the gospel on the spot and in real-time.

But don’t think it is your arguments, your presentation of the evidence, or your clever tactics that bring people to faith. That was my big mistake. Learn from it and keep the order straight: declare first, defend second. Only by the work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel is anyone brought to faith. And since this relieves you from the burden of thinking it is somehow up to you to bring someone to a saving knowledge of Christ, you are refreshingly free to tell the Good News without limits and bring apologetics to the table when the situation calls for it. Thanks be to God!

Rev. Mark A. Pierson serves as assistant pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Long Beach, California. He has been a part of several apologetic works, including a series of articles for Higher Things Magazine: Seven Apologists Every Christian Should Know, which this article concludes.