The Mission of Covenantal Apologetics in Everyday Life

Set Christ Apart as Lord

We have seen that the Lordship of Christ provides the foundation for our defense of Christianity. If we have not set Christ apart as Lord (1 Pet. 3:15), then we cannot be adequately prepared to answer the hope that is ours in him to anyone who asks.

The first thing to recognize and understand is that the Lordship of Christ is given to him by the Father and is the reward and outcome of his obedience as the Son.

How do we biblically understand God’s existence?

Two unchangeable guarantees

1. It is guaranteed because the god who cannot lie has taken an oath. (Hebrews 6:17-18)

2. He is the God who is with us.

Historically, Christian theology has derived the character of attributes of God initially and primarily from names. We learn who God is first by the names he gives himself.

God exists as one who needs nothing from us.

God did not create because he needed fellowship; he has perfect fellowship with himself, as the triune God.

The Covenant that God establishes is a covenant by God’s own free decision.

God’s announcement to save his people from their slavery is a revelation, both in word and deed, of God’s twofold character. We have a God revealing and explaining to Moses his very name – the “Lord” – and we also have God announcing to Moses his identity as the God of Moses’s fathers, the covenant-making God.

Note: in Exodus 3, as Moses approaches the burning bush, it is made clear that he is in the presence of God himself. As the Lord then begins to explain his covenant purpose for His people, Moses asks the covenant Lord to reveal his name so that Israel might know that Moses is the Lord’s chosen mediator. And the Lord reveals the name of “I Am.” (another picture of God’s utter independence apart from Israel)

Covenant, as given in the Westminster Confession, is a notion of God’s free decision to condescend.

The term condescension of God is a metaphorical way of speaking. It does not mean that God began to occupy a space he did not previously occupy. He is not coming down to a location where he was otherwise absent.

In Genesis 3:8, for example, the Lord God condescends to walk in the garden in the cool of the day. We read in Exodus 3 that the Lord has come down to deliver his people. The Bible contains instances of God’s covenantal condescension from beginning to end.

The Bible itself is a product of such condescension.

Covenantal condescension is necessary to bind himself to his creation.

Look at John 1:1, where we see more clearly the condescension of God manifested in Jesus Christ. John clarifies that Jesus is both cosmic and (since Genesis 3) redemptive. In the beginning, it is also meant to parallel his creative work in Genesis 1:1. We see that the second person of the trinity that John calls (logos) the word is himself, God. (the word was God, and the word was with God).

The most notable condescension of God is revealed in the incarnation.

The truth of the Lordship of God in Christ should thoroughly wash over the totality of who we are until all that we do is, in our minds, honor Him as Lord of our lives.

In 1 Peter 3:15, when we are commanded to set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts, he gives us a crucial and all-encompassing mindset necessary to engage in the battle that rages in the heavenly places.

THE TEN TENANTS OF COVENANT APOLOGETICS

1. The faith that we are defending must begin with, and necessarily include, the triune Godfather, Son, and Holy Spirit—who, as God, condescends to create and to redeem.

God’s covenantal revelation is authoritative by what is, and any covenantal Christian apologetic will necessarily stand on and utilize that authority to defend Christianity. the truth of God’s revelation, together with the work of the Holy Spirit, brings about a covenantal change from one who is in Adam to one who is in Christ. Man (male and female), as the image of God, is in covenant with the triune God for eternity. All people know the true God and that knowledge entails covenantal obligations. Those who are and remain in Adam suppress the truth they know. Those who are in Christ see truth for what it is.

There is an absolute, covenantal antithesis between Christian theism and any other opposing position. Thus, Christianity is true, and anything opposing it is false. Suppression of the truth, like the depravity of sin, is total but not absolute. Thus, every unbelieving position will necessarily have within its ideas, concepts, notions, and the like that it has taken and wrenched from its proper Christian context. The actual covenantal knowledge of God in man and God’s universal mercy allows for persuasion in apologetics. Every fact and experience is what it is by God's covenantal, all-controlling plan and purpose.

Proof to all Men

Paul concludes in his address to the Athenians in Acts 17 that the time for ignorance of man has been overlooked, and now the time has come for all men to repent.

All of Paul’s language is covenantal language. God’s creation, his appointing the boundaries for all humanity, his independence with his exhaustive presence with each of us.

Where can we flee from God’s presence?

Once sin entered the world, the very first response to the presence of God was to attempt to hide. (Genesis 3:8) It was a response of desperation.

The pain, shame, and guilt that disobedience brings to Adam and Eve is motivated by self-deception.

Since that fateful day, man has continued to pretend as if he can hide from God. (Jonah 1:1-10)

Consider Psalm 139; David is not expounding personal truths in this psalm. He recognizes the sheer magnitude of God’s covenantal character over all creation.

When Paul addressed the Athenians at the Areopagus, he addressed, as Francis Schaeffer once said, “men without the Bible.”[3] Two universal truths always apply to all people everywhere.

1. God’s inescapable Image.

First, Paul made clear to the Athenians and their philosophers that they were all responsible creatures of God and that they owed their very existence to him (Acts 17:28–29).

If we remain in our sins, in Adam, we are judged and condemned because we are in God’s image. Bringing the “image of God” is one of our most basic covenantal categories.

There are two aspects of lordship we should highlight:

1). As Lord, God has committed himself, for eternity, to his creation.

2) Because he is Lord, our relationship with him is not one of equality.

When God created us in his image, he intended us to be lords under him over everything else.

2. God’s unwavering Revelation.

The truth that informs Paul's Areopagus speech is that God is not hindered by our supposed barriers to belief. He always reveals himself everywhere and always to those created in his image.

3-Fold truth of humanity as given by Paul

1) Our being made in God’s image is God’s revelation to us.

2) As a revelation, it is implanted in us by God himself.

3) The knowledge that is implanted in us is universal and infallible.

Notice that first, we are born as we are in a state of sin and continue in the state of sin by our wickedness; we all know God, as Paul introduces in Romans 1:18.

He affirms, beginning in verse 19, that there is a knowledge of God in every man. Verse 18 bears out the context of our suppression of the truth. This knowledge of God that we all have is knowledge with significant and substantial content.

Proving the proofs

An argument of proof is an argument with three propositions: 2 Premises (P) and a conclusion (C)

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary includes this definition of proof: 1a: the cogency of evidence that compels acceptance by the mind of a truth or a fact.

According to the definition of proof, the existence of God cannot be proved. We must remember that it is not the acceptance of evidence that compels us to accept; the Holy Spirit alone brings us into agreement.

The burden of proof.

One book on critical thinking defines the “burden of proof” in this way: “The burden of proof rests most heavily on the side of the issue that, from the point of view of educated common sense, is most implausible or unusual or unbelievable.”

We should take on the burden of proof when appropriate. We must expect for anyone born in Adam that such truths will always seem strange and out of place for those who have suppressed the truth of the knowledge they have been given as image bearers of God.

We Persuade Others

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others (2 Cor. 5:11).

THE THEOLOGY OF PERSUASION

We must favor favoritism over strict demonstrative proofs because of God’s covenantal revelation.

The canon of scripture is the most basic and foundation for all that we want to say in apologetics. The world is never divorced from God’s revelation in his creation.

The dilemma is apparent. There cannot be enough evidence to support our propositions; there must be some foundation of authority. For this reason, the founding fathers of the Reformation placed scripture as the proper foundation for everything.

The first theological truth that foundation that informs the priority of persuasion is the principal status of scripture.

“Scripture is the principle upon which everything else we say, believe, think, and argue must rest.”

The second theological foundation that informs the priority of persuasion is that we move from special revelation in scripture to his general,natural revelation in creation, specifically in us.

The third theological truth that significantly impacts how we think about persuasion is God’s universal mercy over all that He has made.

Since man is totally depraved, it follows that there is nothing that man can do or think that is good—nothing that we can say can fundamentally change the effects of sin.

All of humanity, in every aspect, is depraved, sinful, and in rebellion against God. The question is how we can account for the things done by unregenerate people that are not evil, at least on the surface.

1. The first aspect of God’s universal mercy includes God’s attitude toward his creatures made in his image, which is one of wrath because of sin (Rom. 1:18), but also mercy and kindness toward them.

Note, for example: The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all he has made. (Ps. 145:9)

We read in Romans 1:24,26,28 that “God gave them up,” indicating that God has been restraining or holding back the sinful tendencies of those on whom his wrath rests.

3. The third aspect of God’s universal mercy is a consequence of the first. It includes that the unregenerate can perform “righteous” acts even though they are still slaves to sin.

We read in Hebrews 6:4-6 that some have once been enlightened; they have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and then fallen away. Therefore, some can participate in the body of Christ but have never bowed the knee to the Lordship of Christ.

How is this possible? There is a biblical difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the spirit are such that anyone can participate in them. However, the fruit of the soul is reserved only for the regenerate. This is why, as believers, we are called to be fruit inspectors. (Matthew 7:15-20) The gifts are not saving sanctifying graces.

Aristotle’s three kinds of Persuasion:

1. [ethos] depends on the personal character of the speaker.

2. [pathos] puts the audience into a specific frame of mind.

3. [logos] the apparent proof provided by the words of the speech itself.

Character[ethos] Acts 17:18: “What is this babbler saying.” Character is not measured solely by those to whom we are speaking. The word of God itself measures ethos.

Emotions[pathos] “Having a proper and personal understanding of those to whom we speak.

Word [logos] The logos of persuasion focuses on the arguments, including the content of those arguments, that we aim to present to a particular audience. Therefore, the content of our words and all its arguments must be rooted in scripture.

We Destroy Arguments

The Good Fight

We destroy arguments (2 Corinthians 10:5). That is one of the things that characterized Paul’s ministry. We know there is and always will be hostility towards the Christian faith.

It is the responsibility of every Christian to defend and commend the gospel.

1 Timothy 6:12

2 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Paul’s word for “arguments” in 2 Corinthians 10:5 (logismous) is explicitly directed against his opponents’ appeal to authority. They were attempting to establish themselves as authorities in the church solely because of their expertise and intellectual power. So, their arguments were only as strong as their ideas.

Paul is reminding us that the arguments presented by these intruders were only as authoritative as the intruders themselves.

Apologetics, in many ways, is a battle over authority.

NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE APOLOGETICS

We should think of apologetics within two distinct tasks: a positive one and a negative one.

Positively, the apologist's work is to defend the Christian faith to those affected by it, even those enslaved by unbelief.

(This happens when we have a conversation with someone about the gospel with which undoubtedly objections are raised.)

Negatively: the task of apologetics is to refute challenges to the truth of the Christian position.

(Often included in the negative aspect of apologetics is quicksand. We seek to show how the position advocated against Christianity sinks under its weight.)

The negative and positive of apologetics should not be separated.(Many times, they can be used simultaneously together)

One can commend the Christian faith even while defending it against attacks. One can destroy an argument even while building another one.

Negative Apologetics

The initial goal of a negative apologetic is to ward off objections and complaints against Christianity.

There are two reasons that the problem of evil is a compelling objection to Christianity.

1) There is an incompatibility between the character of God and the evil that exists.

2) The evil that exists is real and profoundly touches everyone.

So, two statements define the problem:

(1) an omnipotent, omniscient, and good god exists.

(2) evil exists in the world; therefore, how can we possibly bring ourselves to affirm that God and evil can co-exist?

Plantinga suggests that what is needed is a third statement that is consistent with and includes other words that are not in conflict with one another. So, we need a statement that provides for God's existence and the existence of evil.

One prime candidate is this: (3) “Adam responsibly and freely chose to disobey God, to eat the forbidden fruit, after which time he and all of creation fell.” This statement, we should note, is consistent with (1)—it is consistent with the existence of a good, omniscient, and omnipotent God. And it is consistent with (2)—it entails the existence of sin and evil since the fall of Adam and all of creation brought evil into the world.

POSITIVE APOLOGETICS

In the objection to the existence of evil in the world, the objector has, by way of their objection, opened themselves up to taking seriously how it is that we know things about God.

This objection assumes that God is good, omniscient, and omnipotent. And we know who God is only by his revelation to us.

A further objection is given: “You have stated that Adam freely chose to eat the forbidden fruit in the garden, leading to sin and evil entering the world. But you have not explained in any way how Adam could be responsible for his disobedient choice, given God’s character.

Indeed, an all-knowing God would have known what Adam was about to do in eating the forbidden fruit, so could he not have determined to stop Adam's actions?

Objections assert Assumptions: The incompatibility of the properties of God.

Repeat their objection: “Now, the objection you have given indicates that the existence of God as omniscient and omnipotent is not compatible with the existence of God.

At this point, we must consider exactly how God and the world are or can be related.

In any understanding of the God of Christianity, it is affirmed that God exists necessarily.

It is not possible for him not to exist. He is not self-caused but rather is causal. His existence is just who he is; he needs no causation to exist. And he needs nothing to exist and to be who he essentially and necessarily is.

Not only is God necessarily who he is, but everything else exists does so only by his free decision to create and sustain.

This was Paul’s point in Acts 17:28: “For in him we live and move and have our being.”

Instead of mirroring God’s character, Adam violates God’s character by eating the forbidden fruit and plunging himself and all of creation into ruin.

We Walk in Wisdom with the Outsider

THE WISDOM OF PERSUASION

The role of persuasion in a conventional apologetic tactic is to discern the pathos of your audience wisely.

Colossians 4:5-6 “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so you may know how to answer each person.”

First, “wisdom” in Scripture applies biblical truth to a particular situation.

Note: this wisdom is the opposite of trusting in our abilities.

Second, in “walking” wisely, says Paul, we are “making the best use of the time.”

Paul has in mind using wisdom as we speak with those outside of Christ. If we conduct ourselves wisely when engaging with those who do not believe, we will inevitably get to the heart of the problem. This problem focuses on the rebellion that characterizes the “outsiders.”

Thirdly, Paul moves to the character of our logos (this is the word Paul uses here, translated as “speech”). Our logos are to be both gracious and seasoned with salt.