Apologetics and 1 Peter 3:15*

Michael Calhoun
Aug 20
4 min read

Apologetics. The word conjures up visions of long, moralizing lectures, Nuns with rulers, or maybe “Bible-thumping-bumpkins”, using what author, Paul M. Gould refers to as “gunslinger” apologetics to beat the non-believer, or even worse, the believer whose faith may be shaken - into submission. As a Lutheran by confession of faith, I frequently see my own church family shrink away from the word – and our entire liturgy is built by the man who literally nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in 1517!

Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses on the church doors in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. Print reproduction of the original painting by Greg Copeland

I did have to chuckle at a point made in Stand Firm (Gould) about Augustine “classically educated in Greek and Latin (although he hated Greek!)” (pg. 11) I feel this to my core, having just completed Beginning Greek myself, but I digress. But I was utterly fascinated by Augustine's transition from believer with an internal struggle in paragraph 3 (pg. 12) to saint in paragraph 4. The study of and by the Breath of God and men reasoned within him and he knew, but the Holy Spirit, moving in him bent his knee. We engage in apologetics to help overcome the logical doubt – the defeater beliefs alluded to by most, if not all of our texts, but we have to do it in a firm, but gentle and respectful manner. (1 Peter 3:15 - I get it now). It is a special privilege and commission we are given to help non-believers and believers with the knowledge, paving the way for the Holy Spirit to convert or strengthen them - even save them.

I love Paul and his blunt, sometimes tough (never James tough, but tough), and always loving rebukes and instructions: ¹⁵and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17, ESV). (emphasis added). This is just one example of how and why, and that it is what we do to be “complete”.

“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate

“Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Jesus

While Gould initially asserts that in “today’s marketplace of ideas” just stating what is truth isn’t enough, which had me jumping out of my very comfy desk chair, he fills the context in quickly… in an illustrative way. I appreciate that and I will store it for later. In the case of truth, as a logical human, I am drawn to the very simple Augustinian - “p is the case”, in other words: no matter how the proposition is expressed, if it is fundamentally true, factual, evidenced and witnessed, then p is in fact, the case. Triangles do have three sides. Koreans call it “set”, but it is still three. "ὰληθεια" is Greek, but it is still truth, etcetera. In this age where relativism is accepted as truth, and people are as entitled to their facts as they are to their feelings, I will maintain the propositional view. The attempt to tie knowledge to just belief or belief to faith is as futile as convincing me that blue is red. I believe that knowledge relies on true belief and tracks it and is connected to it truth in a way that, without evidence and aforementioned facts, it would be known as just belief. Are belief and faith synonymous? It’s not rhetorical – the answer is no. I believe my 2024 car will start. It should. It probably will. But I do not have faith in it, I do not have a ventured trust that it will. (I really appreciated Gould's inclusion of C.S. Lewis in the side note here.) I do not have enough empirical evidence to have faith – not enough witness, and not enough corroboration of truth to know or to have faith in it like I do the Gospel.

Sola Scriptura. Sola Gratis. Sola fide. It’s all there – more than enough eyewitness and historical fact and propositional content to believe and trust in a truth and know that:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1, ESV)

Have a wonderful week! Mike

*I feel as though I should disclose that I am a confessing member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (LCMS). Apologetics, which should be in the nature of those who have read Large and Small Catechisms, Concordia, et al, is sometimes viewed as a little…aggressive in the lay ministry. It has always seemed odd to me, that a denomination rooted in the parochial teachings of the man who literally nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in 1517 would tend to be more intentional in defense of the faith, but alas, we generally are not. Luther actually thought of reason (often used in apologetics) as “the devil’s prostitute.”[1], and this is sometimes used by parishioners to avoid confrontation. There’s nothing wrong with this per se, but it is a mischaracterization (in my mind) of what he – one of the greatest Pastors and teachers ever, thought about “defending the faith” – which is semantically identical to the Koine Greek - ὰπολογίας: a. with focus on speaking in defense.[2] (see-Acts 22:1- “Ανδρες ὰδελψοί καί πατἐρες, ὰκοὐσατέ τῆς ὰπολογίας μουνυνιπρός ὐμᾶς.” “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make.”)