Kerby Anderson

Douglas Groothuis was teaching his course at Cornerstone Seminary when a student asked him about the role of apologetics in revival. He replied that he should write an essay on that. He was on my radio program recently to talk about his essay, “Revival and Apologetics.”

His essay also fit with the fact that the December issue of the Point of View magazine has the title “Rumblings of Revival.” The issue discusses campus revivals and the history of revivals. And it includes an article by John Stonestreet on “Is This Revival?” and another article by Liberty McArtor on “Our Turning Point.”

If revival breaks out, we will need sound biblical teaching as a foundation. Hosea 4:6 states, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Proverbs 29:18 warns, “Where is no revelation, people cast off restraint.” We also talked about Paul’s admonition in Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.”

He explained why we would need good theology and sound apologetics. He reminds us that, “Apologetics is the attempt to show that Christianity is objectively true, compellingly rational, and pertinent to the whole of life.” He also acknowledged that we might “find support in some non-Christian philosophy because of God’s common grace. To put it philosophically, all truth is God’s truth, since God is a God of truth and since all truth is one.” A good example can be found in Acts 17 when Paul preached to the philosophers in Athens.

Whether we experience revival or not, we will need apologetics to answer the challenges that will come against Christianity and the gospel.