THE TASK OF APOLOGETICS: Relationship to Evangelism, Philosophy and Theology - John Azie Kaivin T. Pascual

 

THE TASK OF APOLOGETICS: Relationship to Evangelism, Philosophy and Theology

It is said that people has misconception about apologetics. They usually considered apologetics as theology, Christian philosophy, or evangelism. Though these four are interrelated with each other, there are difference among them. Degree is important to recognize the difference among these terms. According to Van Til Apologetics, theology, philosophy, and evangelism each involve the use of our minds for gaining and propagating knowledge. Although they work with different kinds of questions, audiences, or settings, they are nevertheless expressions of the Christian’s underlying approach to intellectual method in general (or epistemology)—one’s view of reasoning, and particularly its relationship to faith.

Evangelism is a practical matter of sharing the Gospel, and apologetics can be useful to the evangelist in providing a defense of the Gospel, but they’re not the same thing. A good apologist may be clueless when it comes to being an effective evangelist. On the otherhand, an evangelist can be very effective with people even if he is clueless being an apologist. When we share the Gospel we should never allow apologetics to become a substitute for the presentation of the Gospel. Our calling is to share the Gospel with people not our favorite arguments and evidence. The need for apologetics will only arise when upon sharing the Gospel with unbeliever he has questions or objections. To ignore the unbelievers question or objection is unbalance because ignoring them and leaving them hanging will left the ambiguities in their minds unresolved. That’s why an evangelist must always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in him.

In philosophy we are using rational argument and critical thinking to analyze the way human being thinks. Questions like “What is real?” and “What is beauty?”are philosophical questions. The word philosophy simply means love of wisdom. As lovers of God and believers of Jesus we must love wisdom because Christ is wisdom Himself. It is a further pursuit of Truth. Once we have a philosophy that is based on the Truth of Jesus Christ we will be able to do apologetics without misleading the people around us, However, our faith in God must not be an after-thought or remain as philosophy in our mind, instead it must be a reality in our lives. When people become eyewitnesses that our faith becomes alive in us, they will be the ones who will defend to themselves that Christ is real.

Theology is the study of what the Bible teaches and what Christian believe. It is important because it will enable us to understand God, salvation and our mission in this world including the importance of apologetics. However, it is not enough that we only study the Scriptures and God. If we only study the Lord and do not have a relationship with Him doing an effective apologetics will not be possible. The Word of God teaches the Truth and we must be united with that Truth. We must have a real relationship with the Lord so that He becomes the center of our lives and to have a strong desire to defend our faith.

Here’s my generalization about this topic. The similarity among apologetics, evangelism, theology and philosophy is that they all use the Scripture. However, Apologetics is a way of doing theology, a way of doing evangelism, a way of doing philosophy.