Sunday, October 11, 2026
Apologetics
Apologetics There are several forms of apologetic arguments that put different emphases on their arguments. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral provides an interesting perspective on the emphases of different churches and denominations.
The emphases of each originate in our being created in the image of God (Genesis 1).
John 4:46-54 CSB [46] He went again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. There was a certain royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum. [47] When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, since he was about to die. [48] Jesus told him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe." [49] "Sir," the official said to him, "come down before my boy dies." [50] "Go," Jesus told him, "your son will live." The man believed what Jesus said to him and departed. [51] While he was still going down, his servants met him saying that his boy was alive. [52] He asked them at what time he got better. "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him," they answered. [53] The father realized this was the very hour at which Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household. [54] Now this was also the second sign Jesus performed after he came from Judea to Galilee. Notice there is a progression in the nobleman’s faith (and those around him). A Superficial Faith (he heard of Jesus miracles, the authority of tradition or as Charles Taylor calls it, a general phenomenological faith) which then grows to a Superstitious Faith (he realised he needed Jesus touch on his child, the authority of experience), to a Strong Supernatural Faith (he chose to believe Jesus’ Words). Our Faith in Jesus ultimately originates in Jesus by His Spirit working that faith into us (John 6:36-40 CSB [36] But as I told you, you've seen me, and yet you do not believe. [37] Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. [39] This is the will of him who sent me: that I should lose none of those he has given me but should raise them up on the last day. [40] For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."). Ephesians 2:8-9 CSB [8] For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift- [9] not from works, so that no one can boast. As the Westminster Confession states V. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scripture;a and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts. This confession places the Apologetic for the Authority of scripture in a. Rational evidences b. The agreed experience of believers c. The Spirit of God directly affirming the truth of scripture to the believer. As the Lord Jesus indicated: believe in miracles but trust in Jesus. Why? The Spirit of God convicts us of that Jesus is the way the truth and the life , which is confirmed rationally, experientially and corporately. But Finally we trust Him because He told us to trust Him and then we find it is all true!
