Anyone who becomes a Christian must embrace the gospel as true. He or she need not have every question resolved, but the faith must at least make sense. Becoming a Christian therefore involves the mind as well as the heart and the will. Apologetics is the task of responding to questions and objections and laying out the positive case for the truth of the gospel. Becoming a Christian, of course, is the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life, but the Holy Spirit works through the things that we say as well as the lives we live. The Spirit is just as much at work in bringing conviction to the mind as he is in moving the person to repentance and trust in Christ. Apologetics does more than simply remove barriers to faith—it seeks to lay out the Christian worldview and the claims of the gospel in ways that enable the hearer to understand.

As for the strengthening of believers, any strong faith needs to be built on a strong conviction that the gospel is indeed true, and not just a wishful hope. For both evangelism and discipleship, having good reasons for believing in the truth of the gospel is of vital importance.

—Dr. Peter E. Payne, evangelism and apologetics specialist with InterVarsity’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries.