Apologetics in the Early Church
I. Original Opponents of Christianity
A. Jewish
1. OBJECTION: Christianity is blasphemous because it worships a man as God.
2. RESPONSE: Apologists sought to prove from Scripture that Jesus was the Messiah and God in human flesh.
B. Romans
1. OBJECTION: Christians worshiped Jesus as King, thus, they were revolutionaries who did not give Rome and the emperor the proper allegiance.
2. RESPONSE: Christians could worship Jesus and still be good earthly citizens.
C. Greek Philosophy
1. OBJECTION: Physical matter is inferior to the spirit, thus, the idea of a bodily resurrection is absurd.
2. RESPONSE: Matter is not evil; in the resurrection there is both matter and spirit.
D. Gnosticism
1. OBJECTION: Matter is evil. RESPONSE: God created matter and declared it “good.”; it is not evil.
2. OBJECTION: Christ only appeared to have human flesh (Docetism). RESPONSE: Jesus did come in the flesh.
3. OBJECTION: The God of the Old Testament is not the God of the New Testament. RESPONSE: The God of the OT and NT is one.
4. OBJECTION: The resurrection is spiritual only. RESPONSE: The resurrection is physical and spiritual.
II. Apologetics during the Patristic Period
A. Justin Martyr (c. 100–165)
1. Justin refuted those who denied that God could raise the dead (Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1.294-99).
2. Justin argued that Jesus’ resurrection was physical and not just spiritual.
3. In his First Apology, Justin argued that Jesus is the only Son of God, the fullness of the divine logos as testified to in the Old Testament.
4. In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin tried to persuade the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah and that Christianity supersedes Judaism.
5. Justin argued that there is some good in secular philosophy but Christ is far superior to all philosophers.
B. Irenaeus (c. 130–200)
1. Irenaeus in his Against Heresies defended true Christianity from the errors of the Gnostics.
2. The nature of Christ can be proven from the Old Testament.
3. Jesus is both Son of God and Son of Man.
4. The “One and same God” was both Creator and Father of Jesus Christ.
5. God is the God of both Law and Gospel.
6. God created the world out of nothing.
7. Human flesh is raised at the resurrection.
8. There are only four Gospels.
C. Tertullian (160–220)
1. Tertullian tried to refute different heresies.
2. In his Apology, Tertullian dissects pagan religions to show their irrationality.
3. In Testimony of the Soul, he argues that the human soul is naturally inclined toward Christianity but sin has distorted this.
4. He wrote against the Gnostic heretics Hermogenes and Valentinus.
D. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–213)
1. Clement argued that truths found in secular philosophy were a result of general revelation or reliance upon the Old Testament scriptures.
2. He defended the superiority of Christian revelation.
E. Augustine (354–430)
1. Augustine was more aware of the differences between Christianity and other views than earlier church fathers.
2. He made great contributions in the areas of the Trinity and doctrine of predestination.
3. In his City of God, Augustine promoted a linear view of history in which there is a clear beginning, middle, and culmination to history.
4. For him, the world was created “out of nothing.” Thus, the world is not eternal.
5. He promoted the teleological argument for God’s existence in which the apparent design of the universe shows that there is a creator God.
6. Augustine is famous for declaring, “I believe in order that I may understand.”
7. Augustine promoted a “free will” theodicy in which the problem of evil can be attributed to human beings who chose to bring sin and death into the world.
8. For Augustine, evil is a lack or privation of the good. Evil does not exist in itself but only exists as a corruption of good things.
9. Augustine offered one of the first Christian-theistic epistemologies (although under the influence of Plato).
