Apologetics
Why Apologetics?
Why do we study apologetics? Why do we labor to practice to speak on apologetic topics?
Pause a moment. Think about the reasons – your own personal reasons for undertaking this task.
There are several reasons for studying apologetics. But none of them have to with trophies, or Stoa, or Legacy, or even the desire of yourself or your parents.
We will look at five of those reasons:
Matthew 22:37 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” We are called to love the Lord with “all our mind”. How can we love the Lord with “all our mind” without considering the reasons for why we believe?
1 Peter 3:15, 16 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” This passage has three parts: 1) Live with Christ as your Lord. 2) Be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks. 3) Answer with gentleness and respect. The first part is VERY important. If Christ is not the Lord of your life none of this will matter. All of this is rubbish. Therefore, we urge you to first let all that you study transform you by the renewing of your mind.
1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” This “whatever you do” also applies to how we study our faith and how we communicate our faith to others. How can we then do it for the glory of God if we do not know what and why we believe?
Titus 1:9 “must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” It is not wrong to oppose unsound and false teaching. How are we to know a teaching is false if we do not know the truth? How are we encourage others in sound doctrine without knowing the same? How are we to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) without the knowledge of the truth?
Acts 17 Just as the Apostle Paul was able to have an intelligent discourse with the Athenians, so too should we be able to reason with people with differing beliefs. Just as he did we should be able point these to the true God – the risen Christ. We can do this only when we know the answers ourselves.
Apologetics helps us to understand our own faith clearly. Stoa and Legacy equips and trains us to present this knowledge in a coherent and winsome way to everyone we encounter.
What We Teach
At Legacy, we guide our students to answer the questions for this event (2024-2025) based on the reformed theology. The core beliefs are as follows:
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21).
We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:1, Matthew 28:19, John 10:30).
We believe that God directly created the heavens and the earth and all that lies therein (Genesis 1).
We believe in the deity of Christ (John 10:33), His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:35), His sinless life (Hebrews 4: 15, 7:26), His miracles (John 2:11), His vicarious and atoning death (1 Corinthians 15:3, Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 2:9), His Resurrection (John 11:25, 1 Corinthians 15:4), His Ascension to the right hand of God (Mark 16:19), and His personal return in power and glory (Acts 1:11, Revelation 19:11).
We believe in the absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of human nature, and that men are justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood of Christ, and that only by God’s grace and through faith alone are we saved (John 3:16–19, 5:24; Romans 3:23, 5:8–9; Ephesians 2:8–10; Titus 3:5).
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28–29).
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:9, 1 Corinthians 2:12–13, Galatians 3:26–28).
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life (Romans 8:13–14; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19–20; Ephesians 4:30, 5:18).