Program / Course 13: Foundations of Apologetics / Lesson 1.4
What you will learn
- Explain why Christians of many traditions deny that argument alone produces faith.
- Describe the difference between rational persuasion and certainty.
- Name some other things that shape belief, such as trust, experience and community.
- State a realistic goal for apologetics that avoids both overconfidence and despair.
The big idea
Good arguments matter, but they have limits. Christians have taught for centuries that conversion is not simply the result of a successful argument. In the New Testament faith is called a gift, and the Holy Spirit is the one who opens hearts. At the same time, arguments rarely give a certainty that removes all doubt, since almost every important belief rests on some trust. Knowing these limits does not make apologetics useless. It keeps it honest and keeps the apologist humble.
Key terms
- Conversion
- A turning of a person toward God and into the Christian life. Traditions differ on whether it happens at a single moment, over time, or both.
- Grace
- God’s undeserved favor and help. In most Christian teaching, faith itself is received by grace.
- Certainty
- A state in which a person has no doubt, or in which a claim cannot be mistaken. The word is used in several senses, and they should be kept apart.
- Persuasion
- Moving someone to hold a belief by giving them reasons or other influences.
- Illumination
- The work of the Holy Spirit in helping a person understand and receive the truth of God.
- Noetic effects of sin
- A phrase used especially by Reformed writers for the claim that sin damages human thinking and desire, not only human behavior.
- Fideism
- The view that faith does not depend on reason, or that reason has no right to judge religious belief. Few Christian traditions hold it in a pure form.
Background
Almost everyone who has taken part in a serious argument about faith has seen the same puzzle. Two people hear the same case. One is convinced and the other is not. Sometimes the person who seemed least likely to be moved turns out to be changed years later, by something that was never said in the debate. Christian writers have always noticed this, and they have tried to explain it.
The New Testament does not treat belief as a purely intellectual event. In John 6:44 Jesus says that no one can come to him unless the Father draws that person. In 1 Corinthians 12:3 Paul says that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 2:8 faith is described as a gift of God. Traditions read these verses differently, but all of them take them seriously, and all of them therefore hold that human argument is not the final cause of faith.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Argument is not the same as conversion
A convincing argument can show that a belief is reasonable. It cannot by itself make a person love God, trust Christ or change a way of life. A person may agree with every step of an argument and still not believe in the sense the New Testament means. The letter of James notes that even the demons believe and shudder (James 2:19). Their agreement is real, but it is not trust.
The reverse is also true. People have come to faith without hearing any argument at all, by seeing the life of a believer, by hearing a passage read aloud, or through a time of suffering. Apologetics is one of many ways God may work, and not the only one.
Step 2: The role of the Spirit
Christian traditions disagree about how divine action and human response fit together. Catholic teaching holds that grace goes before and helps every step toward faith, while the person freely cooperates. Orthodox writers speak of a partnership between God and human beings in which God always acts first. Reformed Protestants teach that God effectively calls those whom he chooses and that fallen minds will not come to faith without the work of the Spirit. Arminian Protestants hold that God’s grace enables all people to respond, and that they may accept or resist it.
These positions differ greatly on how much freedom human beings have. They agree on a more basic point: the Spirit is not an optional extra to the apologist’s skill. In Acts 16:14 Luke says of Lydia that the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. The words reached her ears, but the opening came from God.
Step 3: Why arguments do not give full certainty
Certainty can mean two different things. It can mean that a claim is beyond logical doubt, as in a simple mathematical statement. It can also mean a psychological state of confidence. Most of what people believe, including everyday facts about history, other people and the past, falls short of the first sense yet may rest on good reasons. Historical and philosophical arguments for Christianity are of this kind. They offer reasons that can be strong without being unanswerable.
Many Christians hold that faith includes a kind of assurance that goes beyond the argument. Others say that it is a mistake to expect more certainty than the evidence supports. The disagreement is real, and later lessons on faith and reason return to it.
Step 4: Other things that shape belief
People do not form beliefs only by weighing arguments. Experience matters. So do trust in a family or teacher, the example of a community, hurt or fear, desire, habit and fatigue. A person who has been harmed by a church may not hear any argument about God fairly. A person raised in a warm faith may hold it more firmly than any argument could justify.
A wise apologist therefore listens before arguing. Questions are often expressions of something else: grief, anger, curiosity or fear. Answering the surface question while ignoring the person can do harm.
Step 5: A realistic goal
If apologetics cannot produce faith or certainty, what can it do? It can remove obstacles, correct errors, show that Christian belief is reasonable and not foolish, and give a thoughtful person reasons to keep looking. It can also strengthen those who already believe. It does all this as a servant and not as a master.
This view guards against two mistakes. One is pride, the belief that a good enough argument can force a result. The other is despair, the belief that since arguments cannot save, they are not worth making. Scripture honors both reasoning and prayer. The apostles preached and argued, and they also asked God to open hearts.
- Why might a person agree with an argument and still not believe in the sense the New Testament describes?
- What do John 6:44 and Acts 16:14 suggest about the source of faith?
- How do Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed and Arminian traditions differ on how grace and human response fit together?
- What is the difference between a belief being reasonable and a belief being certain?
- What non-rational influences might shape a person’s response to an argument about God?
- How would you describe a realistic goal for a conversation about faith?
Examples
Assent without trust
A man reads several books and agrees that the evidence for the resurrection is strong. He does not change the way he lives or pray. When asked, he says he is not sure what to do with the conclusion. This constructed example shows how agreement with an argument can fall short of faith as the New Testament describes it.
Lydia
Acts 16 records that Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, listened to Paul by a river, and that the Lord opened her heart. Luke does not say that Paul’s argument was especially strong. He says that God worked in her.
A slow change
A woman argues with her Christian roommate for years and wins most of the debates. Over a decade, after the death of a parent, she begins to attend a church. She later says that what stayed with her was not an argument but the way her roommate behaved during an illness. This is a constructed example.
Different perspectives
Roman Catholic
Catholic teaching holds that reason can know that God exists and that the signs of revelation make faith reasonable. It also holds that faith itself is a supernatural gift, and that the act of believing needs the help of grace. Reasons prepare for faith but do not cause it by themselves.
Reformed Protestant
Reformed writers teach that sin affects the mind and will, so that unaided human reason does not come to saving faith. They hold that the inward work of the Spirit is necessary, and that arguments are tools the Spirit may use. This is one reason some Reformed apologists emphasize proclamation of the gospel over neutral argument.
Arminian and Wesleyan Protestant
These traditions teach that God’s grace goes before all people and enables them to respond. Persuasion is therefore a real part of God’s work, and the freedom to say no remains real.
Eastern Orthodox
Orthodox writers stress that knowing God is not mainly the conclusion of reasoning but a personal participation in divine life. Argument can remove barriers, but the knowledge of God comes through worship, prayer and repentance.
Secular and skeptical
Many skeptics agree that arguments seldom change deep convictions and observe that religious belief often follows upbringing and community. They conclude that apologetics is mostly reassurance for the already convinced. Christians who accept the first point may reply that the same is true of nearly every deeply held view.
Why it matters
Understanding the limits of apologetics frees a student from two burdens. The first is the burden of thinking that every failure to persuade is a personal failure, or that every doubt must be answered at once. The second is the burden of treating other people as targets. If the outcome belongs ultimately to God, the apologist can give honest reasons, listen carefully and leave the rest. This is not a license for lazy thinking. It is a form of trust.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: If apologetics cannot convert anyone, it is pointless.
Correction: A tool can be useful without being sufficient. Apologetics can remove obstacles, correct errors and help people think. These are real services even if conversion is not in human hands.
Misunderstanding: Faith has nothing to do with reasons.
Correction: Only a few positions hold this, and even they usually give some role to reasons. Most traditions teach that faith is a gift that works with the mind and is not opposed to it.
Misunderstanding: A strong enough argument would produce certainty.
Correction: Almost no important belief rests on an argument that cannot be doubted. Good reasons can give high confidence without removing every possibility of being wrong.
Misunderstanding: Because the Spirit does the work, the apologist’s effort does not matter.
Correction: The apostles both argued and prayed. Scripture never treats divine action as a reason to stop speaking carefully.
Knowledge check
Why do many Christians say that argument alone does not produce faith?
The New Testament describes faith as a gift of God and the work of the Spirit, and treats trust and obedience as more than agreement with a conclusion. James notes that demons believe and shudder, which shows that intellectual assent is not the same as faith.
What is the difference between a reasonable belief and a certain belief?
A reasonable belief is supported by good reasons. A certain belief leaves no room for doubt, either logically or psychologically. Most beliefs, including many about history, are reasonable without being logically certain, and Christian arguments are usually of that kind.
Name two things besides argument that influence belief.
Examples include personal experience, trust in a family or community, the example of believers, suffering, fear, desire and habit. These factors do not make belief irrational, but they mean that a good argument may be heard very differently by different people.
How do Catholic and Reformed Christians differ on the work of grace in faith?
Catholics teach that grace goes before and aids the person, who freely cooperates. Reformed Christians teach that the Spirit effectively calls those whom God chooses, since fallen minds cannot come to faith unaided. Both hold that faith is a gift.
What is a realistic goal for apologetics?
It can remove obstacles, correct misunderstandings, show that Christian belief is reasonable and give a thoughtful person reasons to keep looking. It cannot force belief or guarantee certainty. It serves the work of God without replacing it.
Think it through
- Have you ever changed your mind about something important? What actually moved you: an argument, an event, a person?
- Does the idea that faith is a gift make you more or less inclined to study arguments? Why?
- What might a person need to hear from you other than an argument?
- How can you tell the difference between humility about outcomes and laziness in preparation?
Independent assignment
A personal account of changing a belief
In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words. Describe one belief you changed or strengthened (it need not be about religion). Note what arguments, experiences, people and feelings played a part, and rank them honestly. Then reflect on what this suggests about how arguments work in real life. Keep this for yourself and do not post it.
Further study
- John 6 Read verses 35 to 65 and note what Jesus says about coming to him.
- Acts 16 Read the account of Lydia in verses 11 to 15.
- Ephesians 2 Read verses 1 to 10 and compare how different traditions read verse 8.
- Augustine of Hippo, Confessions Follow how arguments, friends, preaching and a sudden turn all play a part in Augustine’s account.
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées Read selectively for Pascal’s thoughts on the limits of reason and the role of the heart.