From the Classroom to the Kitchen Table
Knowledge without application is just pride with a library. This series has covered worldviews, truth, the existence of God, the reliability of Scripture, the resurrection, science and creation, relativism, and other religions. None of it matters much if it never leaves the room. The point was never to fill our heads. It was to make us ready.
Remember the warning that opened this series: knowledge can feed our pride. That danger is greatest at the end of a study like this, when we know more than we did before. The goal was always that you would know what you believe and why, so you can speak the truth in love, with a settled heart and a genuine desire to point people to Jesus rather than to yourself.
Walking in wisdom toward outsiders, speaking with gracious and clear words, and gently helping people move toward repentance and the acknowledging of the truth.
“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”COLOSSIANS 4:5–6 · KJV
Paul's instructions to the Colossians are short, but they hold the whole posture of a faithful defender of the faith: wise conduct, wise use of time, gracious speech, and answers fitted to each person. Paired with his words to Timothy about the gentle servant of the Lord (2 Timothy 2:24–25), they show us what apologetics looks like outside a classroom.
Who in your life needs you to be ready with an answer?
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For Deeper Study
- Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian ConvictionsAmazon Gregory KouklThe best-known guide to using questions wisely in conversations about the faith.
- Questioning EvangelismAmazon Randy NewmanHow to engage people's hearts the way Jesus did, by asking good questions.
- Conversational EvangelismAmazon Norman L. Geisler and David GeislerPractical help for listening well, uncovering barriers, and moving conversations toward Christ.
- The Soul WinnerAmazon C. H. SpurgeonA Baptist pastor's classic lectures on winning people to Christ with wisdom, tenderness, and earnestness.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Why Apologetics Matters
Apologetics is the reasoned defense of the Christian faith that every believer is commanded to give, with meekness and fear, so that truth is spoken clearly and in love.
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