… but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:15-16 ESV)

The biblical mandate to defend the Christian faith comes from 1 Peter 3:15–16, where the Apostle Peter writes, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” The word apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia (i.e., defense) that Peter uses in verse 15. Christians are called by God to give the watching world a well-reasoned defense of their faith, in humility and with a good conscience. Additionally, Acts 17:16–34 gives us a record of the Apostle Paul’s defense of the Christian faith in his confrontation of the philosophers at the Areopagus in Athens.

Apologetics has a threefold aim: first, it provides an answer to the critics of the Christian faith; second, it tears down the idols of our culture; and, third, it builds up the church in the truth of the faith. Depending on the context, an apologist may have one of these aims more in mind than the others. However, the apologist aims at all three to varying extents.