Expository Apologetics: Answering Objections with the Power of the Word

by Voddie Baucham Jr.

Overview

This book encourages and equips Bible teachers to answer the challenges and questions of skeptics, offering practical guidance and real-world examples related to engaging in apologetic conversations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433533792
Publisher:	Crossway
Publication date:	10/31/2015
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	331,138
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Voddie Baucham Jr. (DMin, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is dean of the seminary at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia. The author of a number of books, including Family Driven Faith, The Ever-Loving Truth, and Joseph and the Gospel of Many Colors, Baucham is also a pastor, church planter, and conference speaker.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

What Is Expository Apologetics?

In the fall of 1987, I met a man whom God would use to change my life. Steve Morgan was a Campus Crusade staffer. It was my first year of college, and my first year as a starter on the football team. Not many true freshmen play, let alone start in their first game in Division 1 college football. This was a big deal. It was such a big deal that everyone knew my name, including Steve Morgan. However, while the rest of the campus was abuzz because of my prowess on the field, Steve had other ideas.

Steve had heard that I was a Christian. This was welcome news to a young man committed to spreading the gospel on a college campus. One day he simply walked into the locker room and introduced himself. I reciprocated, and a relationship that would span decades was born. However, Steve had been misinformed. I wasn't a Christian. In fact, I didn't know much at all about Christianity. So his encounter with me was not at all what Steve expected.

I was raised in South Central Los Angeles at a time when drugs, gangs, and violence were common fare. My mother was a single parent. She gave birth to me shortly after her eighteenth birthday. She and my father married, because that's what you did in 1969. However, their marriage lasted only a couple of years. From then on it was just the two us. And no, my mother didn't raise me in church. She was a Buddhist.

Steve figured out very quickly that he wasn't talking to a fellow believer. And like the soul-winner he was and is, immediately he turned the conversation to the gospel. But he figured out that his "four spiritual laws" approach was not going to be effective with someone with my spiritual background. So the Wisconsin native and Green Bay Packers fan did his best Vince Lombardi imitation. Steve held up his Bible and, mimicking Vince's famous "Men, this is a football" line, said, "Voddie, this is a Bible." From that day on we spent weeks examining the claims of Christ.

In this process, I would ask questions, and Steve would answer them. If he didn't have an answer, he got back to me. About two weeks into this process, however, he began to show me how to find the answers myself. I have often said that I was trained in apologetics before I was even converted. But converted I was! Friday, November 13, 1987. Steve was coming to meet me, but he was late. While I sat waiting, I realized I didn't have any more questions. I also realized that God was at work in my heart. I lay down on the floor in the locker room, and, in my own simplistic way, I repented of my sin and placed my faith in Christ. Steve came in and we rejoiced together.

However, I also mourned that day. As we sat there together, I wept. All I could think about was a cousin with whom I had grown up in Los Angeles. Jarmal was like the brother I never had. Steve slapped me on the back and said, "Let's go call him." I looked at him through tear- stained eyes and replied, "I can't. He was killed in a drug deal in Oakland last year. I watched him being lowered into the ground about six months before the start of my freshman year."

Steve did two things that day that I will always appreciate and never forget. First, he did not try to come up with a mystical explanation that would assuage my pain by assuring me of Jarmal's place in heaven. Second, he turned my focus from the pain of my sudden realization to the hope I had yet to realize. He said, very simply, "What about other people you need to call?" I then reached out to everyone I knew and told them about my new-found faith. I simply started with the Bible and the claims of Christ. I gave answers where I could, and when I didn't have answers, I searched until I found them.

Thus was born my passion for souls and my penchant for apologetics. From that day to this, I remain grateful to Steve Morgan and committed to doing for others what he did for me: introducing them to Jesus Christ through bearing with them patiently and passionately, believing that the Lord will use the gospel to save his people (Rom. 1:16). Make no mistake: I am committed to apologetics as a consequence of my commitment to evangelism. This is not about winning arguments; it's about winning souls. My desire is that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for which he died.

If legitimate objections are standing between someone and his embrace of Christ, I want to address those objections and point him to Christ. In fact, when I encounter such objections, I assume that God has placed me in that conversation by his providence in order to give an answer for the hope that is in me (1 Pet. 3:15). I do not see my presence in a person's life as a tool of condemnation, "for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17).

Nor is this understanding contradicted by my belief in predestination. As Loraine Boettner contends:

The objection that the doctrine of Predestination discourages all motives to exertion, is based on the fallacy that the ends are determined without reference to the means. It is not merely a few isolated events here and there that have been foreordained, but the whole chain of events, with all of their inter-relations and connections. All of parts form a unit in the Divine plan. If the means should fail, so would the ends. If God has purposed that a man shall reap, He has also purposed that he shall sow. If God has ordained a man to be saved, He has also ordained that he shall hear the Gospel, and that he shall believe and repent. As well might the farmer refuse to till the soil according to the laws disclosed by the light of nature and experience until he had first learned what was the secret purpose of God to be executed in His providence in regard to the fruitfulness of the coming season, as for any one to refuse to work in the moral and spiritual realms because he does not know what fruitage God may bring from his labor. We find, however, that the fruitage is commonly bestowed where the preliminary work has been faithfully performed. If we engage in the Lord's service and make diligent use of the means which He has prescribed, we have the great encouragement of knowing that it is by these very means that He has determined to accomplish His great work.

The use of means, then, is completely consistent with the belief in sovereign predestination. Let no one embrace the lie of hyper- Calvinism and neglect his duty to preach the gospel: "For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Cor. 9:16). To that end, let us examine apologetics from the understanding that it is to aid gospel proclamation.

DEFINING EXPOSITORY APOLOGETICS

In its simplest form, apologetics is knowing what we believe and why we believe it, and being able to communicate that to others effectively (Titus 1:9; 1 Pet. 3:15; Jude 1–4). Expository apologetics is merely the application of the principles of biblical exposition to the art and science of apologetics. It is based on the inerrancy, infallibility, sufficiency, and authority of the Bible. This approach to apologetics is not based on acquiring the latest knowledge in fields like astronomy, geology, physics, psychology, or comparative religion. This approach is based on the believer's need to have a firm grasp on basic truths and a willingness to share those truths when and where opportunities arise. Our view is always toward gospel proclamation.

In its simplest form, expository apologetics is about three things. First, it is about being biblical. We answer objections with the power of the Word. Second, it is about being easy to remember. If we can't remember this simplicity, we won't use it in our everyday encounters. Third, it is about being conversational. We must be able to share truth in a manner that is natural, reasonable, and winsome.

I'm not talking about preparing to defeat Christopher Hitchens in a formal debate. The goal here is to be able to answer him or anyone else in the normal flow of everyday conversation as you share your faith in a natural way. This is about freeing you up to do what every believer is called, commanded, and expected to do in the process of living out the Christian life. There are "things most surely believed among us" (Luke 1:1), and we ought to be prepared to defend them.

The picture of apologetics as formal debate is what often keeps "normal" Christians from pursuing the subject. We think, "That kind of debate is not consistent with my personality, nor with my gifting/training, therefore, I must not be called to apologetics." Consequently, we not only take a pass on apologetics; we feel completely justified in doing so. All the while, a biblical mandate is staring us in the face.

Expository apologetics takes into account the fact that the gospel, by its very nature, is limited and limiting. It is limited because we are operating from a closed canon. No new truths are being revealed. It is limiting because the objections that must be answered cannot exceed the propositions being put forth. Thus, there are a limited number of objections. Additionally, the objections to the gospel are not new. In fact, there was much more opposition to the gospel in the early days of the church, when the truths being proclaimed were new and radical, than there are now after two millennia have passed and those objections have been asked and answered again and again.

If there are a limited number of objections to the gospel message, and these objections have been answered by biblical authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then their answers will certainly be more effective and authoritative than any we could devise on our own (Prov. 30:5; 2 Tim. 3:16,17; 2 Pet. 1:20–21). Moreover, it is incumbent upon us to present these arguments in a clear, concise manner while paying close attention to the historical, grammatical, and contextual issues surrounding the biblical texts (2 Tim. 2:15). This, in essence, is expository apologetics.

DEFINING APOLOGETICS

Cornelius Van Til defined apologetics as "the vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non- Christian philosophy of life." This will serve as the philosophical baseline for our approach to expository apologetics. When we preach or teach, when we witness to a stranger, or when we are making disciples in our home or church, it is important to keep this definition in mind. We stand before people who have been bombarded every day of their lives by philosophies of life that contradict Christianity. When they open their Bibles, they are rarely aware of how many presuppositions they bring to the encounter, let alone how contradictory they are. They need someone willing to vindicate a Christian philosophy of life.

This is not the same as vindicating ourselves, or our own opinions (Rom. 12:19–21). The object of this vindication is God's truth. Nor is our approach to this vindication left to chance. An examination of the principal apologetics texts in the New Testament reveals at least three forms this vindication should take. We will take them in order of magnitude from the least confrontational to the most.

Vindication through Answering Objections

The least confrontational/aggressive form of vindication is answering objections. People may have objections to the Christian faith for a variety of reasons. Some have never heard the message. Others have never understood it. Still others have had experiences that seem to contradict it. Regardless of why these objections exist, the fact is, they present us with an opportunity to provide an answer. This is the message of 1 Peter: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Pet. 3:15).

I'll say much more about this in chapter 9. For now, it is enough to note that we have clear biblical evidence and examples of this first kind of vindication of the Christian faith. All believers are called to engage in this practice.

Vindication through Wrestling with Error

The second way we are called upon to vindicate the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life is by wrestling with error.

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 1–4)

This wrestling can take many forms.

First, we must wrestle with our own contradictions and inconsistencies. We are frail, fragile, sinful people. And we live in a fallen, evil world that opposes our God, his Christ, and his gospel. Thus, between our own fallenness and the falseness of the world around us, there are innumerable areas where our thinking is compromised. It is naive to think that we have it all figured out. Therefore, we "destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete" (2 Cor. 10:5–6). We do this, at least in part, through refusing to be "conformed to this world, but [by being] transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:2).

Second, we must wrestle with contradictions that come to us directly. Have you ever met one of those heresy hunters? You know, those people who ask you theological questions not because they desire to learn or to engage in thoughtful Christian dialogue, but because they're checking to see where your "flaws" are? Unfortunately, I have run into far too many people like that.

I remember a pastor's conference I spoke at a few years back. I remember it so well because I was as sick as a dog. It was one of those trips where I arrived at the hotel, asked for some medicine, then told the host not to bother calling me for dinner. The next day, things were no better. Nevertheless, I preached my guts out. I love preaching, but I love preaching to preachers most. It is both a blessing and an honor. And this time in particular, God was extremely kind to me. Pastors were approaching me to tell me how encouraged they were, and to compliment my keen insights and applications. Then it happened!

I was lying under a table waiting to preach the final time. That's right: I was so sick I couldn't stand and sing. I found a book table in the back of the room that I could lie under and asked someone to alert me just before it was time for me to preach. Just then a thoughtful pastor came by and asked if he could pray for me. "Absolutely!" I said as I closed my eyes and came up to my knees. When he finished praying, he leaned over and said, "I don't think I've ever heard finer preaching, or seen better handling of the Word. I just can't believe you would use a modern translation and not the 'authorized version.'" This type of "heresy hunting" is a perfect example of the kinds of contradictions with which we must be prepared to wrestle.

Third, we must wrestle with the contradictions that we know to be common among those whom we are responsible to teach. This is as true for the parent as it is for the pastor. Whenever God places us in a teaching position, part of our responsibility is to root out contradictions in the lives of our hearers. If I am aware of ideas contrary to the truth of God's Word that are plaguing and corrupting the thinking of those who sit under my teaching, it is only natural for me to address it, and to do so in a normal, natural, scriptural way.

Paul writes of the elder: "He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it" (Titus 1:9).

THE NEED FOR APOLOGETICS

Apologetics has waxed and waned in terms of its popularity among Christians in America. At times there has been more emphasis on mercy ministry, social outreach, or church growth. At other times evangelism and apologetics take center stage. Currently, we are in the midst of a surge in the popularity and practice of apologetics. More and more, Christians are beginning to recognize the need. Apologetics is necessary today because of issues such as biblical illiteracy, postmodern/post-Christian thinking, open opposition to biblical truth, and the growing presence of opposing religions.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Expository Apologetics"
by .
Copyright © 2015 Voddie Baucham Jr..
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments,
Introduction,
1 What Is Expository Apologetics?,
2 1 Peter 3 and the Essence of Apologetics,
3 Why Unbelief?,
4 Paul's Expository Apologetic,
5 Learning Apologetics through Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms,
6 The Ten Commandments,
7 Basic Objections,
8 The Expository Apologetic Waltz,
9 Preaching and Teaching Like an Expository Apologist,
Appendix: Example of an Expository Apologetic Sermon,
Notes,
General Index,
Scripture Index,

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Voddie Baucham’s book is both scriptural and fresh, aware of biblical principles, cultural trends, and human nature. I especially appreciate his expository approach, by which he brings God’s Word into every apologetic conversation. I recommend it as an excellent introduction to apologetics as it needs to be practiced today.”
—John M. Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy Emeritus, Reformed Theological Seminary

“I am a fan of any book that takes apologetics out of the tower and puts it in the pew. Baucham does a wonderful job of just that. His pastoral style and sensitivity stand out as he takes a method of apologetics straight from the Scriptures and lays out how everyone can defend the faith with confidence.”
—C. Michael Patton, Founder, President, and fellow, The Credo House, Edmond, Oklahoma

“Voddie Baucham’s expository approach to apologetics reminds us of the power of God’s Word for responding to objections to the Christian faith. This book hits all the right notes and guides the reader to think biblically, confessionally and theologically when engaging with those who reject Christianity. Baucham’s book will encourage the church to engage unbelief from the perspective of Scripture, rather than from a lesser perspective.”
—K. Scott Oliphint, Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology and Dean of Faculty, Westminster Theological Seminary

“Any biblical apologetic must rely on the Bible itself for its content and its force. Expositing the Bible in clear and cogent theological categories is essential for apologetics. By learning and applying the truths of this book, Christians can become better prepared to give a defense of the hope that is within them.”
—Douglas Groothuis, Professor of Philosophy, Denver Seminary; author, Walking Through Twilight: A Wife’s Illness—A Philosopher’s Lament