How I’m Teaching Gospel Apologetics in Youth Group
The “What I’m Teaching at Youth Group” series presents a snapshot of a recent series the author has taught in their own ministry. Our goal is to present a helpful model for what it looks like to practice biblical and theological depth in youth discipleship.
Apologetics is a field that often appeals to youth pastors because it is an interesting field of study that many students many not be familiar with. Being able to talk about what we believe and why we can have confidence in the truth of those beliefs is helpful in building a strong foundation of faith. Having these kinds of conversations now can be prepare them for hostile environments they may encounter later.
Every youth pastor hopes their students understand why we believe. But it can be difficult to introduce some of these topics conversations, especially if your students have never heard of these topics and you have no training in the field. Recently, I led a short series on a particular sector of apologetics related to the Gospels.
What is Apologetics of the Gospels?
Apologetics of the Gospels has to do with a simple idea: the person and work of Jesus is the foundation of our faith. We find this mostly within the four gospels, so why should we trust, on an apologetic level, what we find in the gospels? How can we trust that what is recorded is historically true? What evidence do we find both inside and surrounding the gospels that points to their truth? How can we examine the texts themselves, the historical evidence, the testimonies and lives of the apostles, and how does that lend support to the reliability of the gospel accounts? That is what we sought to teach in this series.
Why Teach on this in Youth Ministry?
Why is it not enough to merely state, “It’s in the Bible, and we believe the Bible, so we believe it!” Why spend so much time talking “around” the gospels? Because more than any other part of the Bible, the gospels ground an earth-shattering, life-changing miracle in the facts of history, and that history is recorded by men who claimed to be first-hand eyewitnesses to the events. The apostles point back to the events of the gospels as real, historical accounts. They claim that everything they saw was not merely a good story to believe in, but an encounter that rocked them, their nation, and the world.
And because, as Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 15:14, if Christ has not been raised physically (as the eyewitnesses attest), then our faith is pointless, we are still in our sins, and we should be pitied. It is worthwhile to give your students solid reasons to support their belief in the reliability of the gospels. Although it is not necessary to know what Tacitus or Josephus said to believe the gospel message, it can strengthen their confidence in the reliability of God’s Word.
How Did I Teach This Series?
I broke this into four weeks of lessons (under a larger Apologetics series), where we would look at objections to Christianity, responding with the lesson’s content:
1. Miracles – Are They Even Possible?
Since the majority of Jesus’s ministry, as recorded in the gospels, includes miracles, I thought beginning with the possibility of miracles would be a good introduction. We talked through what a good definition of a miracle was, then we looked at the example of Elijah at Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18, where God sends a targeted fire strike from heaven, which ignites a soaking wet pile of wood at the exact moment Elijah prays for it.
We talked about the purposes of miracles, why we don’t see them as often as they did in biblical times, and concluded with the truth that the only way one can claim miracles aren’t possible is to default to a naturalist worldview: to assume God (and, therefore, acts of God) can’t exist and eyewitness testimony isn’t reliable. If we have good reason to think God exists, then we should be open to the possibility that He acts in history!
2. The Resurrection – How Do We Know It Happened (And Why Does It Matter)?
Once we established miracles are possible, we examined the greatest miracle: the resurrection. We looked at Paul’s case in 1 Corinthians 15, with the beginning of the chapter giving reasons we can know it happened: after Jesus died, He rose, He appeared to His disciples, a lot of believers (500 at once), then He appeared to unbelievers (James, his half-brother), and even a hostile persecutor of Christians (Saul). These appearances changed every one of these men’s lives, converting some, and forging a conviction in them that was evident in their testimony. Not to mention these accounts are also supported by outside sources. You can read more on this here.
Then, we looked at the end of the chapter, where Paul argues for the importance of Christ’s bodily resurrection in defeating the problems associated with our sin. He rescues us from the punishment for our sin by dying on the cross, He rescues us from the power of sin by conquering death itself, He rescues us from the struggle against sin by giving us His Spirit, and He will one day rescue us, finally, from the presence of sin, in glory. That only happens if He lived, died, rose, and ascended as a real human. Not only do we have good historical reasons for holding that the resurrection happened, but strong theological ones as well.
3. The Gospel Texts – Are They Reliable/Historical?
After looking at the events contained within the gospel accounts, we then covered the historical reliability of the gospels as eyewitness accounts. We looked at the criteria for a reliable historical eyewitness, the first of which was how the gospel writers were close to the events, either being direct witnesses or close to direct witnesses. The second was in the clarity in their accounts, that focused specifically on events surrounding Jesus. The third was how they established their credibility by including details you would expect of someone recording events as they happened. For instance: their use of names, locations, travel plans, times of day, seasons, embarrassing details, etc., reflect what someone in their day, who had witnessed these things, might include. Finally, we discussed how they maintained consistency between the different accounts by looking at the four gospels and the variations in the retellings of those who visited Jesus’s tomb.
4. The Apostles/Early Church Witness – Did They REALLY Believe It?
Finally, we taught on how the historical reliability of the gospels witnesses, martyrdoms, and influence of the apostles on the early church pointed to the likelihood of the truth of the gospel message. People of conviction are willing to suffer for what they believe to be true, but no one will suffer for something they know to be false. The apostles, in following their Savior, all faced persecution of some kind, and not only did none of them recant, but their message never wavered. The truth of the message and story of Jesus stayed true, consistent, and convictional throughout the early church.
Pointers for Teaching Gospel Apologetics
Don’t Oversell the Texts: As much as the gospels are able to withstand a battery of surface level tests, fixating on topics like historical and textual criticism are likely not going to come across as strongly as you may think. Because of the amount of material you would have to cover just to establish the criteria and testing, your students will most likely not be able to track with you well. Better to hit the high points, then direct them to resources if they are curious.
Don’t Undersell the Texts: In these kinds of fields, the tendency is to go outside of the Scriptures to establish that many details are found in the real world of history. However, since the message we hope they believe is contained within the passages themselves, remember to draw the majority of your evidence and teachings from the text itself. Emphasize the importance of the gospel message, and how it has the power to transform their lives, just like it did for the apostles.
Don’t Over-Defend the Texts: In our zeal to help students trust the truth of the gospels, we can slip into “defense mode,” feeling pressured to address every contradiction, critic opinion, or Bart Ehrman quote. But what we ultimately should want for our students is that, as they read and study God’s Word, they are convinced of the message. Locating it in history is important, but seeing its effects here and now is what we should always bring it back to. Help your students to see the reality of the gospel accounts, so that they trust the message contained within them.
