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Objections to the Gospel, Lesson 01

Answering Objections To The Gospel Free Course, Lesson 01
Trinity Graduate School of Theology, Free Course

Introduction

  • “That’s fine that you believe in Jesus; but that’s not truth for me.”
  • “Oh, a Christian? So, you’re a mythologist!”
  • “The Bible is just a bunch of words written by monks in the Middle Ages to keep society under control.”
  • “You know, I used to go to church, but I stopped going. Everyone there was a hypocrite.”
  • “You’re so brainwashed! Jesus was just a good man. How can you believe he was God?”

Every Christian, if serious about walking with God, will come up against statements like these at some time or another. Every single person outside the family of God has one or more objections to the Gospel. Some objections, like those above, are obvious and easily articulated. Some are deeper within the person – perhaps ignorance to the person of Jesus, or rooted in a hurtful encounter in times past. Either way, it is the duty of the sincere believer to answer any encountered objections with truth, tact, and wisdom.

In this self-study course, we will look at principles for dealing with objections that non-believers may have to the Gospel. Because individual objections could well number in to the thousands, we will deal with two main categories – intellectual objections, and personal objections. Each of these categories encompasses many more objections, but each category has broad strategies and techniques useful for addressing any questions or attacks that may arise. In addition, we will examine some tools that are useful in answering objections. However, first we will start by looking at a passage of Scripture to set the tone.

Scriptural Foundation

One of the best-known and well-stated passages about dealing with objections to the Gospel is 1 Peter 3:15. It reads, “…in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” We will briefly mine this verse for the truth it contains, and see what we can learn.

First, we are to set apart Christ as Lord. This clearly means that we must be in right relation to Christ in order to adequately deal with the objections of others. We should have submitted to his Lordship by confessing our sinfulness and asking him for his free gift of salvation. Furthermore, we should be in a state of fellowship with Christ, rather than indifference or rebellion.

Next, we are to be prepared to give an answer. We should know Scripture, what it says, and what it means. We should know evidences and apologetics. We should also be regularly engaged in answering questions about the Gospel. All of these things prepare us more and more. Further, it is important to be prepared with truth. A sound and full knowledge of the truth is the best way to spot and counter error. Studying error itself has some value, but much less value than studying truth!

Moving on, we should give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have. We are not limited to answering a certain type of person; we are told to answer everyone. Furthermore, we are not told where these people are or what their objections will be. It could be anyone, and they could have any objection. The believer who seeks truth and seeks to defend truth will assuredly hear some strange objections. Even so, we are told to give an answer!

Finally, we are to do this with gentleness and respect. Our reputation is not at stake when we are called to give an answer to an objection. Jesus said, “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16) This gives us freedom to be gentle and respectful. We do not need to argue, threaten, or convince. A close reading of 1 Peter 3:15 shows that it say we are to give an answer, not to make someone else believe or agree with our answer. And, as we will see shortly, gentleness and respect are in fact incredibly powerful tools to use when dealing with an objection!

Questions to Consider

What are the most frequent objections you have heard to the Gospel? How have you answered them in the past?

Why should we be prepared to answer objections?

Write two pages on some instances where Jesus dealt with objections the Gospel.

Answering Objections To The Gospel Free Course, Lesson 01
Trinity Graduate School of Theology, Free Course

 

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3 Comments on "Objections to the Gospel, Lesson 01"

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  1. Nenito Abo says:

    The MOst common quaestion to me was Is the bible reaaly the word of God? yes i sais everytime as there are no other books written like it and as it claims that the scripture is inspire(God breath).
    We should always be ready to give an answer as a command and as obligation for the lost soul;
    When Jesus was ask by the saducees who do not beleive in resurrection about the womans husband in heaven after marrying all his brothers; and wether it is good to pay taxes or not.

  2. Philip charles says:

    the one objection that I had is this a young man and I were on a greyhound bus heading towards Texas for CDL training, stated that he read the bible and he do not believe the Jesus story, my response to him was, you miss the entire story, because the entire bible is based on him.
    I suggested he should read it again with an open mind.hat
    I stated that God is the one who inspired the bible and it took about 40 individuals to write it over a period of time and 66 books total. here is the interesting part it does not contradict it self it is perfect in every sense of the word, no other book comes close.Any thing you want to know about life is in the bible every last example, habit of every human being who have live and is living have one or more habits in this blue and if you the script you will be successful in life.

  3. Gabriele Aikens says:

    One of the objections that I have had recently is: “Why is God so mean so as to destroy people just because they don’t believe in him, like Noah’s Flood or the destruction of Canaan.

    I answered this objection by saying that God gave them enough time to repent. In the case of the world Noah lived in 120 years. The Canaanites got even more time 430 years. These were people who were very violent and evil. They were not innocent.

    We should be prepared to answer objections because we could lead people to salvation through belief in Christ.

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