The Verse, The Whole Verse, and Nothing But the Verse
1 Peter 3:15
Often apologists for the Christian faith wave the banner of 1 Peter 3:15 in justification of their “no holds barred” defense of it. As an amateur apologist myself, I stand as guilty as those I charge with that statement. You see, we have a tendency to clamor to the “Be ready always to give an answer (defense)…” portion, but to the compromise of the very method by which that defense is to be given-”…with gentleness and respect.” [emphases mine] To further emphasize this point, as I consulted my NIV study Bible for its rendering, I noticed that I only had part of the verse underlined. As you may have guessed, it was the portion of the verse dealing with the defense of the faith, neglecting the latter half that gives instruction on the intended methodology.
I believe that simple (I dare not call it “innocent”) overlooking speaks volumes of human nature in general, and mine in particular. When I was serving in the armed forces, I remember it dawning on me that I was always focused on molding those under me to be good at the things that I was good at. I remember even justifying my lack in one area with my strength in another, instead of dealing with the weakness to get rid of it. It is a natural human tendency to focus on what we are good at or what appeals to us and disregard areas that don’t come as easy. Likewise in the Christian faith, it is easy to become inspired about rushing to the defense of the One, True God (as if He somehow needs our help), but to completely neglect the greater principles laid out for us so clearly in Matthew 22:34-40. In this passage, Jesus is asked by a Jewish lawyer what the greatest commandments were. He told them to hang all of the law and the prophets on these two things: that we are to first love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and mind and, second only to this, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. That includes, much to our fleshly chagrin, those neighbors with whom we disagree the most and are often called to refute.
You see, all Scriptural mandates then are to flow from a heart of first, love for God and second, a love for our neighbors at least commensurate with the love we have for ourselves. Think about these principles the next time you have an opportunity to “give a defense.” Will you obey the entire verse or just the part that comes easy?
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Jeff Whittum is the Founder and Director of Full-Proof Ministries. Challenged by a close friend, Jeff set out to discover the intellectual basis for his faith. This led him to a deeper and more substantiated faith in Christ, ultimately founding Full-Proof to reach others who are searching. |
Posted in 2 Responses to “The Verse, The Whole Verse, and Nothing But the Verse”
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First, I think you meant to say Matthew chapter 22 instead of 24…
As far as remembering to defend the faith AND doing so with gentleness and reverence… I agree… I think here of CS Lewis’ Apologist’s Prayer:
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seem to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity
Thou, who wouldst give no other sign, deliver me
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust instead
Of Thee, their thin-worn image of my head.
From all me thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and the needle’s eye,
Take me from all my trumpery lest I die.”
… the “right” attitude to have is one that is loving, defending the faith with gentleness and reverence… however, the flip side of this is having a biblical understanding of what the terms “gentleness and reverence” mean… without needing to provide a lexical survey of those words, I just want to point out that the biblical apologists at times said things that by many in today’s pluralistic post modern culture would not be considered either gentle or reverent. Jesus called people fools, snakes, sons of the devil, white washed tombs, Paul said some were accursed, foolish and hypocrites, John called some Antichrists etc. So I guess I am just pointing out that while I agree that we as apologists must be careful to obey both halves of the Petrine mandate, but I am also saying that in doing so, we need to not succumb to a less than biblical standard of what we can or cannot say in apologetic encounters, or how we can say it, by wrongly submitting ourselves to a less than biblical criteria on either side of the equation, be it the “be ready always to give an account”, as well as doing so in “gentleness and reverence”. I am not saying I know precisely how or when or even if these “stronger” words should ever be used, I am just offering this for further thought. In today’s day and age, for some, telling a person that they are wrong about their denial of God’s existence, is enough to automatically disqualify one for being gentle or reverent!! The last taboo is to dare to suggest that someone is wrong!!
You said “That includes, much to our fleshly chagrin, those neighbors with whom we disagree the most and are often called to refute.”
So true!! I like the following from GK Chesterton: “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies, probably because these are generally the same people.”
blessings,
ken
Thanks, Ken – I certainly did mean Matthew 22. My ministry partner, Joe, just told me too. I think I had Matthew 24 on the mind with the upcoming End Times Evening we were having. Thanks for the heads up, the post is changed now.
You are so right about balancing our “gentleness and respect” so that it doesn’t become placating to whatever person we’re talking to, just to keep them happy. It’s so often that with apologists, that is never a worry, but with the general populace, it is almost always the concern – so I’m glad you mentioned it.
Finally, I love the two authors you chose to reference. I think Lewis and Chesterton had it just about right…and their comments and quotes are always welcome. Thanks for the interaction, Ken. Blessings to you as well.