DOES SOLA SCRIPTURA RULE AGAINST APOLOGETICS?

 

 

Perhaps the foremost verse that might be used to argue against making a defense for the faith beyond the Scriptures is:

 

·       All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Isaiah 8:19-20; 1 Corinthians 4:7)

 

If Scripture is all that we need to live for Christ, then apologetics, the defensive and offensive evidences for our Faith, is needless, right? Wrong! Apologetics is appealed to throughout the Scriptures, even by Jesus who prophesied and worked miracles so that we could believe:

 

·       “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37-38; 5:31-37)

 

He even instructed us to not believe Him without the supportive evidences. If Jesus appealed to extra-Biblical evidences, so can we! He also prophesied to promote belief:

 

·       “You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.” (John 14:28-29)

 

For example, the evidence that Jesus and His Apostles had been martyred for the faith without ever recanting has done a lot to strengthen the faith of many.

 

John also appealed to Jesus’ miracles as proof for the

faith:

 

·       This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:24-25)

 

When the imprisoned John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus for reassurance that He is the long-awaited Savior, Jesus told them to report to John the many miracles that He was performing. He didn’t instruct them, “Tell John to just believe the witness of the Spirit about Him.

 

We are instructed to provide reasons for the faith:

 

·       “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense [“apologia,” in the Greek] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, (1 Peter 3:15; Jude 3)

 

We are also instructed to challenge the claims and ideas that are raised against the Faith:

 

·       For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

 

We are not to ignore that challenges raised against the Faith. Instead, we are to “destroy” them. There is nothing in Scripture the requires us to merely cite chapter and verse in defense. For example, if our camera records someone stealing from the offerings, we can cite verses that teach that stealing is sinful, but we should also use the evidence from the camera to establish the guilt of the thief.

 

Likewise, before we accuse a brother of teaching against the Word, we must first establish what he believes and is teaching. This too takes us beyond Sola Scriptura, or does it? Scripture itself mandates that we first collect the evidence and listen to both sides. Apologetics does this very thing with the approval of the Scriptures.

 

Doesn’t the Scriptures require us to rely only on the Good News rather than reason? Do we thereby undermine the Gospel?

 

·       And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of [worldly] wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

 

The Gospel is not opposed to Godly wisdom and reason, as the next verse demonstrates:

 

·       Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. (1 Corinthians 2:6)

 

It seems that Paul is teaching us to lead with the Gospel, especially among those who have never heard it. However, on Mars Hill, among the Greek philosophers, Paul had used an entirely different strategy, which made use of reason and even the Greek poets (Acts 17:22-31).

 

Instead, the above verses might simply apply to the strategy Paul had been led to use among the Corinthians.

 

Reason is not opposed to the Scriptures but upholds them, by first interpreting them correctly. Therefore, we are instructed to love the Lord also with our minds:

·       And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:37–38)

 

It doesn’t seem possible to me that Scripture is arguing against making a defense for the Faith. Instead, apologetics has consistently fortified my faith and has given me the courage and assurance to confront the opposition.