APOLOGETICS MIDTERM
EXAM
Cross-Colored Lenses - ANSWER ✓✓✓The authors believe that in order to do
effective and biblically based apologetics we must be focused on the cross. This means
that we are not seeking to win an argument or score intellectual points; rather, we are to
seek to love the other and build realtionships. We must do apologetics through the lens
of the cross.
Sophism - ANSWER ✓✓✓The philosophical group Paul had in mind when writing to
the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul is speaking to and against the Sophist
over-emphasis of rhetoric and the application of "human wisdom."
Providential Card - ANSWER ✓✓✓This is an apologetics type in the Bible that
suggests God reveals his existence through his care for the world and the people in it.
He didn't create this world and leave it to run on its own; he continues to nurture and
care for it. Acts 14:14-18 includes a classic statement about God's care for the world (cf.
Acts 17:24-31).
Creation - ANSWER ✓✓✓According to Psalm 19:1-6, the heavens act as an apologist
for God! Without saying a word, the sky, and by extrapolation all of creation, declare the
majesty of the Creator. Continuously, night after night and day after day, the heavens
reveal that God exists and that he is glorious. This phenomenon is what theologians
refer to as general (or natural revelation).
1 Cor. 2:1-5 - ANSWER ✓✓✓This passage is sometimes suggested as a reason why
we should not do apologetics. Some understand Paul to be saying that all we need to
do is preach Christ (as he did when he was with the Corinthians). But further
examination of this passage reveals that Paul was speaking against the rhetorical
methods of the Sophists and not against apologetics.
Polemics - ANSWER ✓✓✓In the Old Testament world, the primary question was not
whether or not a god or gods existed, but which god was true. For this reason, Old