Engaging Non-Biblical Worldviews in Evangelism and Apologetics
Engaging Non-Biblical Worldviews in Evangelism and Apologetics
Christian apologetics and evangelism involve communicating the Gospel to people embedded in diverse worldviews. Charles Hodge emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in enabling people to receive the Gospel, noting that "the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit, that they must be spiritually discerned" [7]. This underscores the necessity of spiritual illumination in understanding and embracing Christian truth.
In engaging non-biblical worldviews, Christian apologists and evangelists must consider the biblical basis for their approach. The Bible illustrates various methods of engaging different cultures and worldviews. For instance, Adam Clarke interprets Jesus' statement in John 3:12 as highlighting the challenge of communicating spiritual truths to those unfamiliar with them [1]. This passage suggests that effective evangelism requires sensitivity to the audience's cultural and intellectual background.
Different Christian traditions offer insights into engaging non-biblical worldviews. John Gill, representing a Baptist/Reformed perspective, discusses the allure of God's love in Hosea 2:12, suggesting a gentle and persuasive approach to evangelism [2]. In contrast, Charles Hodge's Reformed (Old Princeton) tradition emphasizes the importance of holding forth the Word of life and preaching the Gospel in season and out of season [6].
The biblical mandate to engage diverse worldviews is evident in Revelation 14:6, where an angel is seen flying with the everlasting Gospel. Adam Clarke and John Gill interpret this passage as describing a widespread dissemination of the Gospel, potentially through a particular dispensation of providence or a group of Gospel ministers [3, 4].
Effective engagement with non-biblical worldviews requires a nuanced understanding of the relationship between the Gospel and human culture. Charles Hodge notes that the Bible provides a record of the legitimate effects of God's truths on the minds of believers, serving as a guide for Christian apologetics and evangelism [5].
Sources
- John (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on John 3:12: If I have told you earthly things - If, after I have illustrated this new birth by a most expressive metaphor taken from earthly things, and after all you believe not; how can you believe, should I tell you of heavenly things, in such language as angels use, where earthly images and illustrations can have no place? Or, if you, a teacher in Israel, do not understand the nature of such an earthly thing, or custom of the kingdom established over the Jewish nation, as being born of baptism, practised every day in the initiation of proselytes, how will you understand such ”
- Hosea (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Hosea 2:12: Therefore, behold, I will allure her,.... Since these rough ways will not do, I will take another, a more mild and gentle way; instead of threatening, terrifying, and punishing, I will allure, persuade, and entice, giving loving words and winning language: or "nevertheless", or "notwithstanding" (m): so Noldius and others render the particle; though they have thus behaved themselves, and such methods have been taken with them to no purpose, yet I will do as follows: the words may be understood of the call and conversion of the people of God, the spiritual Israel of God”
- Revelation (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Revelation 14:6: Another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel - Whether this angel mean any more than a particular dispensation of providence and grace, by which the Gospel shall be rapidly sent throughout the whole world; or whether it mean any especial messenger, order of preachers, people, or society of Christians, whose professed object it is to send the Gospel of the kingdom throughout the earth, we know not. But the vision seems truly descriptive of a late institution, entitled The British and Foreign Bible Society, whose object it is to print an”
- Revelation (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Revelation 14:6: And I saw another angel,.... This is to be understood not of one of the ministering spirits so called; for though wings are sometimes ascribed to angels, and Gabriel is said to fly swiftly; and though they desire to look into the mysteries of the everlasting Gospel, yet the preaching of that is not committed to any of them; but a minister of the Gospel is intended, who is the angel of the church, for in this book pastors of churches are so called, Rev 1:20; and not a single minister of the Gospel is meant, but a set of Gospel ministers; and some think that those a”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 9: by God in His Word ( 1 Cor. ii. 10-16 ). It is not, therefore, a revelation of new truths, but an illumination of the mind, so that it apprehends the truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed. And second, 16 This experience is depicted in the Word of God. The Bible gives us not only the facts concerning God, and Christ, ourselves, and our relations to our Maker and Redeemer, but also records the legitimate effects of those truths on the minds of believers. So that we cannot appeal to our own feelings or inward experience, as ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 54: them, if we do not think of them. And it matters little how much we think of them, if we cannot see them; and we cannot see them unless the Spirit opens the eyes of our heart. We see too from this subject why the Bible represents it as the great duty of the ministry to hold forth the Word of life; by the manifestation of the truth to commend themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. This is all they need do. They must preach the Word in season and out of season, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. They kno”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 140: seeing; neither does truth produce the principle of spiritual life. The Apostle Paul, who glories so much in the gospel, who declares that it is by the foolishness of preaching that God saves those that believe, still teaches that the inward work of the Spirit is necessary to enable men to receive the things freely given to them of God; that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit, that they must be spiritually discerned. ( 1 Cor. ii. 8-11 .) As examples of the latitude with which the words beget, begotten, and new-birth ar”