Defending Your Faith

This book is an introduction to apologetics. It mainly deals with two main topics of discussion:

1. the case for the existence of God and
2. the case for the divine origin of scripture It can also be found as a lecture teaching series in video or audio.

Follow Along

• Teaching Series: Defending Your Faith by R.C. Sproul | Ligonier Ministries
  • You can also listen/watch this book as a teaching series.
  • Why Apologetics?: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
  • Law of Causality: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
  • The Case for God: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
  • The Deity of Christ: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
  • Necessary Being: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
  • Vanity of Vanity: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
  • The Psychology of Atheism: Defending Your Faith with R.C. Sproul - YouTube
• Buy: Defending Your Faith: R.C. Sproul - Paperback, Book | Ligonier Ministries Store
• Goodreads: Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics by R.C. Sproul | Goodreads
• Study Guide: Defending Your Faith: R.C. Sproul - Download Study Guide PDF
  • Or get the series and study guide here for free: Download R.C. Sproul’s ‘Defending Your Faith’ 32-Part Teaching Series and Study Guide for Free

Notable Quotables

Takeaways

• Apologetics is devoted to providing an intellectual, defense for the truth claims of the Christian faith.

Outline

Introduction

• This class is an introduction to apologetics.

  • Apologetics is devoted to providing an intellectual defense for the truth claims of the Christian faith.

    • At Ligonier, one of our tasks is to help people know what they believe and why they believe it.
• The meaning of apologetics:
  • The Greek word apologia (ἀπολογία) means "speaking in defense" and refers to a formal defense of a position, opinion, or action.

1 Pet 3.15

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer (ἀπολογία) to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear,

• Follow along: Defending Your Faith - Lecture 1 - Introduction
• Apologetics as defense:
  • The 1st century Christians battled many false accustations and therefore needed a reasoned defense for their faith and the Gospel.
    • Today we have this same battle and need.
• Apologetics in the Bible:
  • 14:00: Paul goes to Areopagus (Mars Hill) and debates the Greek philosophers.
  • 16:05: Logos: The most common Christian response (apologetic) to pagan philosophers in the early church period was the appeal to the logos (the Word).
    • John speaks heavily of the logos in John 1.
    • In Greek philosophy, the logos is the reasoned, structured, order of the cosmos (world).
      • The important point is that the world is a cosmos, not chaos. It has structure and order.¹
      • The Greeks called this structure and order logos.
    • The early Christian fathers actually agreed with the Greeks that there is a logos and they said that that logos is God (John 1).
      • 21:30: However the Christians disagreed in this way:
        • they taught that the logos is not some impersonal force
        • the logos is a person. It is God.

Footnotes

1. It is not merely random. ↩