Every Believer Confident, Part 3
April 18, 2025 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
The Power of Apologetics
This is a multi-part series interacting with Mark J. Farnham’s new book, Every Believer Confident: Apologetics for the Ordinary Christian. Farnham is the founder and director of Apologetics for the Church and professor of apologetics at Lancaster Bible College and Capital Seminary. He states, “The purpose of this book is to help you to know, appreciate, firmly grasp, proclaim, and defend the Christian faith. My ultimate goal is to strengthen your faith, so you can confidently and effectively persuade unbelievers to believe in Jesus Christ” (p. 16). Let’s dig into the book together and see how our faith might be strengthened.
Before getting into the meat of apologetics (i.e. presenting the truths of the Christian faith), Mark Farnham lays the groundwork for apologetics in the opening chapters. He has explained his definition of and approach to apologetics. He has made a case from Scripture that God expects, even commands, his people to do the work of apologetics. In the third chapter he addresses the power of apologetics.
In our modern, rational world, and with an understanding of apologetics as being defending truth, many would assume that the power of apologetics lies in one’s knowledge and thinking ability. This can be intimidating for many who feel inadequate for the task. Farnham, however, gives great encouragement for the apologetic task. This chapter is very important for us.
The author begins by explaining the weakness of human, rational thought. People who hold rational thought as powerful tend to see themselves as autonomous. Farnham explains, “While scientists, philosophers, politicians, and so on are necessary and good aspects of culture and can be channels for God’s truth, that culture often presents them as autonomous authorities. Autonomy is a word that means ‘a law by itself.’ Those who refuse to base their ideas or beliefs on anything outside themselves are trying to act autonomously” (p. 52-53). But humans cannot act autonomously in the study of science or philosophy or anything. This is God’s world. He is the ultimate authority. Farnham clarifies, “The Trinity is the beginning of all authority in heaven and earth. And everything God does is authoritative and unalterable. Nothing happens in the universe without God’s sovereign guidance and control” (p. 53).
As applied to apologetics, Farnham contends, “Rather than base our message on human authorities, we base it on God’s authority…One of the implications of this is that the source of the power of our evangelism and apologetics is not our own but God’s… Apologetics is a spiritual endeavor more than it is a philosophical one” (p. 55).
Farnham unpacks two simple, but significant, truths that flow from the reality of God’s power.
First, “the Holy Spirit is the ultimate source of persuasion” (p. 55). He walks through multiple Bible verses that emphasize the role of the Spirit in conversion. The Spirit bears witness to Christ (John 15:26). The Spirit convicts people concerning sin (John 16:8). The Spirit gives the disciples boldness to preach the gospel (Acts 4:31). The Spirit guides us to spiritual conversations (Acts 8:29). The Spirit empowers us for evangelism (Rom. 15:13, 19). The Spirit interprets spiritual truths (1 Cor. 2:13). All of this emphasizes that, “Without the Holy Spirit, all our efforts to win the lost are in vain. The Holy Spirit is the means by which closed doors and closed hearts are opened (see Col. 4:2-6). He is the only one who can influence people who seem cold, closed, and unwilling to discuss spiritual things” (p. 57).
Second, “prayer is the means by which we remember that salvation must be a work of the Spirit. Apologetics is a spiritual battle more than it is an intellectual battle, since unbelievers’ opposition to the truth is primarily ethical, not intellectual. Prayer is the primary evidence that we are depending on God and not ourselves” (p. 57). In other words, without humble, dependent prayer, looking for the Spirit to work in and through us, we are mindlessly (presumptuously?) depending on ourselves. If we are not praying, on whom are we depending?
Farnham summarizes, “The roles of the Holy Spirit and of prayer should increase our confidence in sharing the gospel, because we know that the gospel’s power does not come from us. Our role is to simply pray and speak. God’s job is to save” (p. 58). He then lists three implications of these truths. I’ll simply list them without further comment:
- Apologetics is not about starting arrogant arguments with unbelievers (p. 58).
- We are not responsible for convincing anyone of the truth of the gospel (p. 60). “If we are able to present any part of the Christian faith or to challenge any part of a non-Christian’s belief system, we can count the encounter as a success” (p. 60).
- Scripture is the basis of our authority in apologetics (p. 60).
I hope this is encouraging to you as much as it is to me. A big part of our fear of evangelism and apologetics is feeling powerless before strong arguments against the gospel. But we are not powerless. The power does not lie in us, but in God. Therefore, let’s become prayer warriors, giving evidence of our dependence on the Spirit’s power to work in and through us.
