Evangelism & Apologetics

Bruce Winter recalls that when he was at Cambridge he often had to address the popular idea, adopting Peter Abelard’s emphasis, and encouraged by happiness- or pleasure-seeking utilitarianism, that the atonement is simply a demonstration of how much God loves us. Indeed, Abelard proposed that God could have forgiven mankind even without the death of [...]

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 Paul explains: When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Bruce Winter explains the force of what Paul [...]

Mark Ashton died on April 3 of terminal cancer. Before dying he wrote words to help Christians face the final stage of their earthly life to introduce unbelievers to the hope we have in Christ. His last words are understood to have been ”I am nearly home.” I was struck by the following excerpt: There is no [...]

Friendly banter at lunchtime with the man (Anglo-Celtic) who served me at a local cafe: “Please give me a sandwich. Wholemeal bread. No butter. Ham, cheese, lettuce, carrot, cucumber.” “If you eat that every day you’ll live for ever.” “Wouldn’t that be great! Though not just in this world.” “Oh, I only want to live till [...]

This article represents a culling of insights relevant to the issue of understanding evangelistic outreach in the book of Acts.

There are those who think evangelism is a task to be carried out by those who have been specially gifted for this purpose. To their minds most Christians are simply called upon to live the life and only to be ready to share their faith when called upon to do so (1 Peter 3:15). However, [...]

Here we are looking at evangelism which is not exercised directly by the apostles themselves. Before we do so we need to add a word of caution concerning the way we use this term “evangelism.” If we were being technically pedantic then we might restrict the use of this term to the oral proclamation of [...]

The promise of Acts 1:8 is addressed to the apostles (see verse 2). When Jesus assures his disciples that they will be his witnesses he means that they will be witnessing to him as the risen Lord. This is made plain at the close of the chapter when Peter leads the process to find a [...]

In Part One we saw that by applying the language of Isaiah in identifying his apostles as his witnesses, Jesus is indicating that the witness of the apostles themselves is integral to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. It is highly significant that while Acts begins with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel [...]

In Acts 1:8 Jesus promises the following: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Here Jesus is responding to a question asked by his apostles: “Lord, are you at [...]