Set Forth Your Case
Studies in Christian Apologetics
by Clark H. Pinnock
(Nutley, NJ: The Craig Press, 1968)
The task of theology is to define the content of revealed truth, while the task of apologetics is to defend its viability. … In our spiritual warfare, the one is defensive, the other offensive.
Page 3.
Faith is based upon credible evidence which people can recognize as trustworthy in accord with proper criteria for truth.
Page 3.
The very essence of the good news is the claim that in Christ Jesus God openly showed himself in the empirical realm of history, and on that basis he commands all men everywhere to repent (Jn. 1:14; 1 Jn 1:1-3; Acts17:31).
Page 4.
Conversion takes place when our witness to the truth, and the Spirit’s creative work in the heart coincide (Acts 16:14).
Page 5.
In salvation the Spirit creates the capacity for receiving god’s truth, but truth it is. … What saves is the Spirit acting upon the data to bring ab out saving faith.
Page 6.
Confidence in the factual truth of the gospel is simply logical incarnationalism. The fact of Christ can be shared with men without apology.
Page 7.
The total Christian understanding of the world, and the evidence on which it rests form a necessary deposit of knowledge which the Christian needs to master. Our problem does not stem from the insufficiency of gospel truth but from the increasing distance of unbelievers from it.
Page 8.
This dichotomy between faith and fact is fatal to Christianity and opposed to the entire Biblical witness.
Page 14.
The big sellout in modern theology comes at the point of the complete elimination of the sovereignty of God. His existence is hidden and shadowy; his saving acts are concealed and equivocal; his revelation is subjective and ambiguous; his Christ is an elusive phantom; his laws are open to amendment; his Word is subject to error. God is made to be impotent, unable to command men to repent on the basis of powerful arguments (Acts 17:31).
Pages 14-15.
The three descending steps to the abyss are clear: first, subjectivism (religion is all the way you see it), second, relativism (it doesn’t matter how you see it), and third, agnosticism (no one has the answer).
Page 15.
In Christian apologetics as in theology the Law is preached before the gospel, in order that the unregenerate man be exposed and unmasked before the demands of a hold God, and directed to the road of grace.
Page 16.
The root problem of the non-Christian humanist is the sheer pointlessness of existing in a godless world.
Page 17.
When there is no serious interest in literature and the arts, there can be no effective communication of the gospel to our contemporaries at large. Each Christian does not d]need to be a literary critic himself, but his ears ought to be attuned to the sound of his world, and the Christian community should be a place in which these interests are encouraged, not shunned,… Cultural and spiritual growth are related. The enlarged capacity created by an appetite for a wider spectrum of cultural interest will increase our intake ability for spiritual truth too.
Page 21.
The conversion of Timothy Leary to Hinduism is hardly surprising. Religion in the East is beyond intellect and conviction. It is a world of non-discrimination and nondiffrerentiation. The great irony in the eastward movement of the West is the belief that this trend is a forward step. Millennia ago men in the East lost all hope for rational answers and opted for mystical pantheism, a decision which produced the immobile giants of Eastern culture. At the same time the decision destroyed the basis for initiative, thrift, purpose, and vitality.
Page 25.
Biblical Christianity is rooted in historical (1 Cor. 15:14) and rational truth (1Jn. 4:3).
Page 26.
The Christian faith is rooted in the real. It bases its claims on historic events. It is altogether opposed to the contemporary intellectual climate.
Page 27.
Romanticism is the procedure of giving an optimistic answer to the human dilemma without a sufficient base for so doing. From the Christian point of view, the death of hope and romanticism a beneficial thing. Romanticism is an enemy of the gospel because it lulls people into a false security.
Page 28.
But according to the Biblical faith, it is the godly, not the good, who will be saved (Gal. 2:16).
Page 28.
Romanticism must die before the gospel can be taken seriously,
Page 28.
With the advance of the non-Christian ethos in Western civilization there will be inconsistency in the application of all areas of life to the naturalistic premises.
Page 30.
It is an impossibility for man to deny God and still to have law and order, justice, science, anything, apart from God.
Page 30.
If you take away man’s lie, you may be taking away his hope. So the Christian witness needs to act gently and in love, lest he person he seeks to win should bolt to the point to total breakdown.
Page 32.
The intent of the first amendment to the American constitution was not the creation of a secular state, but the imposing of a check on the central government from coercing the states in this matter. At the present time, however, because of the decline of Christian faith and the effectiveness of mass media, America is rapidly becoming a monolithic culture with uniform religious characteristics.
Page 34.
The nation is being conditioned to s naturalistic way of thinking, the denial of all absolutes, and the relativism of all convictions.
Pages 34-35.
One of the necessary myths of a monolithic culture is the myth of neutrality. Because Man is the ultimate standard by which all things are to be measured, he is expected to approach questions of values and religion with a godlike objectivity. Strong convictions are equivalent to prejudices, firm principles to a bias.… The man who pretends a lofty neutrality above the mass of men is more vulnerable to human sins than the person who ad its his perspective and respects the viewpoints of others. The new citizen, friendly to all convictions, but attached to no one, is a menace.
Page 35.
Firm convictions are a threat because they divide men who share them from those who do not. Hence in a monolithic culture only the beliefs held in common are absolute.
Page 35.
The only really sacred thing in a monolithic culture is social harmony. Convictions which divide men ought to be kept private and not be allowed to intrude in the public sector.
Page 36.
In the biblical understanding, the State is a necessary evil. There is no sociological form in a fallen world without force. The State is an emergency measure instituted by God to suppress evil which constantly threatens to overwhelm the world.
Page 37.
The humanistic view of the State is totally different. It is a human invention, designed to lead mankind to Paradise on earth. If the citizens would hand over their incomes, their lands, and their resources to the beneficent State, the latter would reward them bountifully. Socialism or collectivism is the political system of humanism.
Page 37.
Government is not a Santa Claus. It is not the source of any of the goods it grandly bestows on the people. Everything it gives to the people it has first taken from the people.
Page 37.
The primary aim of education was to be the social adjustment of children into a group oriented mentality. This involved the elimination from the curriculum of beliefs and values and universally held. The education became child-centered, not content-centered, and stressed self-development, rather than his learning of the wisdom of the past.
Page 38.
The reason Evolution is believed and taught as fact is not due to the evidence for it, but rather due to the need for it. Any “natural miracle” (that inert matter is creative) is preferable to a humanist over a “supernatural miracle” (that God is the Creator). The State schools do everything they can to promote the myth because it is essential to the religion of humanity.
Page 39.
The Christian faith is an intelligent faith.
Page 40.
In both Old and New Testaments the same pattern emerges: that divine revelation is accompanied b y supernatural indicia, namely, prophecy (supernatural knowledge) and miracle (supernatural power). These accompany the acts of God and his prophetic words.
Page 40.
The primary basis of apologetics is the historical of the Incarnation itself. The good news is not a fairy tale. It is grounded in objective events.
Page 43.
For the validation of the Christian claim we make our appeal to history.
Page 43.
An effective witness for Christ included two elements: the outer testimony to the gospel and the inner testimony to its truth. … Our task is to present the data about Jesus. Our effectiveness is of God’s good pleasure (1 Cor. 3:6).
Page 43.
The Christian claim is, however, firmly grounded in history. If God has not revealed himself unmistakably in human history, the incarnation was a failure because that was its intention. Ninety percent of the uncertainty alleged is due to a naturalistic methodology applied to the historical data, reflecting an antisupernatural bias, rather than to any actual obscurity in the facts. One can be a historian without being a positivistic historian!
Pages 43-44.
The non-Christian has no right to disregard the gospel because it is a matter of “faith” in the modern sense. On the contrary it is a matter of fact.
Page 44.
The credibility of a religious claim rests upon its ability to verify its terms. If the data central to the message remains hidden to all investigations, suspicion arises about its existence.
Page 44.
The intent of Christian apologetics and evidences is not to coerce people to accept the Christian faith, but to make it possible for them to do so intelligently. The data we possess about the gospel is sufficient to make it sensible for the non-Christian to begin his search for the ultimate clue with Christianity.
Page 44.
In his diverse religions man is not seeking after God (/rom. 3:11). The pagan worshiping his idol is not justified by the sincerity of his “faith.” Faith in itself is impotent unless it grasps the saving name of Jesus.
Page 47.
Faith is a resting of the heart in the sufficiency of the evidences.
Page 48.
Faith is not believing what you know to be absurd. It is trusting what on excellent testimony appears to be true.
Page 49.
Men will put their trust in Christ only when we preach him in the power of the Spirit. Our part is to present Christ as intelligently and fervently as we can, and wait for the breath of heaven.
Pages 50-51.
The gospel yields deep joy, and not the least of the reason it does so is that it is true.
Page 51.
When we ground our apologetic in historical data, we are merely doing what the apostles did before us. If the gospel cannot be sustained by historical data, it cannot be sustained at all. Faith rests upon the certainty of what God did in history (Lk. 1:1-4).
Page 55.
Scepticism regarding the historical credentials of Christianity is based upon an irrational bias.
Page 58.
The Christ of the New Testament is an intrepid egoist. In every Gospel, in almost every chapter, he is found making amazing claims for himself, which are most shocking if they are not true.
Page 58.
It is common to hold that the quest failed because the historical sources fort the quest are inappropriate for an inductive scientific investigation, or because the Christ of faith cannot be approached objectively at all. Neither of these reasons is true, however. The Gospel accounts are superb historical records on any reckoning and quite capable of yielding positive results. Furthermore, as we have seen already, the essence of the gospel is that the Christ of faith is precisely the Jesus of history and none other. The uniqueness of the Christian message is its open-to-investigation form. The actual reason for failure lies elsewhere. The Jesus of history eluded the historians, not because the sources were “kerygmatic” nor because the incarnation took place in “supra-history,” but for the simple reason that a purely human Jesus like they sought never existed! The nineteenth century liberals had decided well in advance of their quest that the only Jesus they were prepared to discover was a naturalistic one. The error in the old quest was not its inductive methodology (that was its virtue), but rather its antisupernatural bias.
Page 59.
Whosoever will may om to Jesus, ask him intelligent questions, and put their trust in him. Christian evidences merely press the evangelical invitation home to consider him.
Page 60.
His coming to earth, however, was structured in two stages: first as the Servant of the Lord (Isa. 53) to render sacrifice and satisfaction for the sins of many (Mk. 10:45), and second, as the Son of Man (Dan. 7) to receive the glory and honor due him and to reign over men (Mt. 16:27; 19:28).
Page 61.
The fact of the resurrection is an undigestible surd for the naturalist. Yet the birth of the Church cannot be explained without this event.
Page 63.
The sinner needs to know that the gospel is not the concoction of a human imagination, but is objectively true.
Page 64.
Hypocrites do not become martyrs. The disciples might have been deluded, but they were not liars.
Page 65.
Jesus left the clear impression in his disciples that he was neither the ghost of a dead man nor simply a revived corpse. He was alive in a new mode of existence, and he summoned his disciples to proclaim the possibility of such existence for all who will believe on his name.
Page 66.
The birth and growth of the early church is utterly inexplicable apart from the appearances of the risen Christ. Only the resurrection itself offers an adequate rational explanation to the facts we see.
Page 67.
The Bible is not infallible because it say so - but because he says so. There is no more reliable witness to the nature of Scripture than the one who died and rose to be our Savior.
Page 69.
The credibility of the Christin message is bound up with the reliability of it historical proclamation. The very integrity of Jesus Christ rests on the truths of his doctrine of authority … Their general reliability is a matter or public fact; their infallibility I a doctrine revealed through Jesus Christ.
Page 70.
Biblical religion approaches the question of God’s existence from the angle of history. Its entire thrust arises from the claim that the living God has in historical events which cannot otherwise be explained than by acknowledging his existence.
Page 74.
For the Old and New Testaments, history is the medium in which revelation has unmistakably occurred. Faith and knowledge go hand in hand.
Page 75.
It has been observed that nowhere does Scripture attempt ta deductive argument for the existence of God like those of Thomas Aquinas for example. The distinctiveness of the biblical approach is its immedicacy. … For the Bible the deepest proof of God’s existence is just life itself. The knowledge of God and man’s knowledge of himself are closely intertwined.
Page 75.
It is impossible, the apostle states, to avoid the conclusion that an almighty power exists apart form the visible order. Man’s condition of low visibility is not due to the absence of evidence for God’s existence, but to his own blindness, which is related to the sin problem.
Page 76.
The data present in the natural order which testifies to God’s reality gets through to every man but his reaction to it is conditioned by his state of soul.
Page 76.
The prominence of sacrifice in the religions of the world is proof of a guilty conscience and the attempt to atone for sin. Men know their position before a holy God.
Page 76.
His existence is both objectively and subjectively evident. It is necessary logically because our assumption of order, design, and rationality rests upon it. It is necessary morally because there ins not explanation for the shape of morality apart from it. It is necessary emotionally because the human experience requires an immediate and ultimate environment. It is necessary personally because the exhaustion of all material possibilities still cannot give satisfaction to the heart.
Page 77.
Evolution in our day represents the attempt to furnish a total world view into which all reality will nearly fit. It places the whole phenomenal world, the realm of sense data, under the umbrella of naturalism, and leaves religion with the noumenal realm, the upper story, about which we can know nothing, but believe much.
Page 78.
The myth allows secular man to retain his autonomy without loosing his freedom, or so they hope.
Page 79.
Evolution succeeds not because it is a sound theory, but because it bolsters the humanistic faith which modern man has foolishly adopted in place of the Christian gospel.
Page 80.
Evolutionary science is as religious as religion.
Page 80.
Successful evangelism requires an inner and an outer event, the cooperation of a divine and a human witness. An evangelist must convey saving truth to the soul, and the Spirit must create the capacity to receive it. Christian apologetics is concerned with the outer event, the role of the human witness. … The gospel itself, however, is solidly rooted in history and fact. It is our task to present a cogent testimony to its truthfulness.
Page 83.
Any presentation of Christian evidences must be accompanied by a radical unmasking.
Page 84.
Because of the noetic effects of sin, however, the non-Christian is unwilling to allow the truth of the gospel to have its persuasive effect in his life. The miracle of regeneration coincident with the presentation of the gospel is required in order to convert him to Christ.
Page 85.
The non-Christian is operating on a naturistic set of premises. Without the work of the Spirit he is unlikely to change them, not, however, because the Christian presuppositions are not truer and better in every way, but because he has no will to. Christian apologetics is called upon to challenge the validity of the non-Christian starting point, and to offer a far better one. God has broken into history in the person of Jesus Christ. The data are there for all to examine. We must challenge the non-Christian to suspend his prejudice against Christianity for the time it takes to examine fairly the evidence for the Christian faith, to take up a proven method for ascertaining truth, the empirical method, and apply it to the biblical records.
Page 86.
The root factors in the Christian message is its appeal to history. The destruction of historical objectivity and the elimination of the essential subject-object distinction has proved fatal to Christian apologetics.
Page 88.
The notion that nobody is ever converted to Christ by argument is a foolish platitude. It would be more accurate to say that the reason so few are being converted to him now, is because so many Christians believe the fallacy.
Page 88.
Christianity is a historical religion. Evidences are therefore important to it. They do not convert he sound; they do distinguish faith from mere gullibility. This places a heavy weight of responsibility upon the shoulder s of educated Christian. For they have a ministry to the whole Church of demonstrating that the ground of its faith is sound.
Page 89.
The greatest hindrance to the spread of the gospel is the shallowness of Christians.
Page 90.