14 Bible Verses about Apologetics
Most Relevant Verses
but set Christ apart [as] Lord in your hearts, always ready to [make] a defense to anyone who asks you [for] an accounting concerning the hope [that is] in you.
and all pride that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Live with wisdom toward those outside, making the most of the time. Let your speech always [be] with grace, seasoned with salt, so that [you] may know how it is necessary for you to answer each one.
Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some of those from the Synagogue of the Freedmen ({as it was called}), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up [and] disputed with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.
And he argued in the synagogue every Sabbath, attempting to persuade both Jews and Greeks.
holding fast to the faithful message according to the teaching, in order that he may be able both to exhort with sound instruction and to reprove those who speak against [it].
For he was vigorously refuting the Jews in public, demonstrating through the scriptures [that] the Christ was Jesus.
So Paul stood there in the middle of the Areopagus [and] said, "Men of Athens, I see you [are] very religious {in every respect}. For [as I] was passing through and observing carefully your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, 'To an unknown God.' Therefore what you worship without knowing [it], this I proclaim to you-- the God who made the world and all the things in it. This one, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,read more.
nor is he served by human hands [as if he] needed anything, [because] he himself gives to everyone life and breath and everything. And he made from one [man] every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining [their] fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation, to search for God, if perhaps indeed they might feel around for him and find [him]. And indeed he is not far away from each one of us, for in him we live and move and exist, as even some of {your own} poets have said: 'For we also are {his} offspring.' Therefore, [because we] are offspring of God, we ought not to think the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. Therefore [although] God has overlooked the times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man who he has appointed, having provided proof to everyone [by] raising him from the dead."
So he entered into the synagogue [and] was speaking boldly for three months, discussing and attempting to convince [them] concerning the kingdom of God. But when some became hardened and were disobedient, reviling the Way before the congregation, he departed from them [and] took away the disciples, leading discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Now it happened that after three days, he called together those who were the most prominent of the Jews. And [when] they had assembled, he said to them, "Men [and] brothers, [although] I had done nothing against [our] people or the customs of our fathers, from Jerusalem I was delivered [as] a prisoner into the hands of the Romans, who, [when they] had examined me, were wanting to release [me], because there was no basis for an accusation [worthy] of death with me. But [because] the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar (not as [if I] had any [charge] to bring against my [own] people).read more.
Therefore for this reason I have requested to see you and to speak with [you], for because of the hope of Israel I am wearing this chain!" And they said to him, "We have received no letters about you from Judea, nor has any of the brothers come [and] reported or spoken anything evil about you. But we would like to hear from you what you think, for concerning this sect it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere." And [when they] had set a day with him, many more came to him at his lodging place, to whom he was explaining from early in the morning until evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and attempting to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. And [some] were convinced [by] what was said, but [others] refused to believe. So being in disagreement with one another, they began to leave [after] Paul made one statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through the prophet Isaiah to your fathers, saying, 'Go to this people and say, "{You will keep on hearing} and will never understand, and {you will keep on seeing} and will never perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull, and with [their] ears they hear with difficulty, and they have shut their eyes, lest they see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and understand with [their] heart, and turn, and I would heal them." ' Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They also will listen!" So he stayed two whole years in his own rented house, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the [things] concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, without hindrance.
And [when he] arrived in Jerusalem, he was attempting to associate with the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, [because they] did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him [and] brought [him] to the apostles and related to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. And he was going in and going out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.read more.
And he was speaking and debating with the {Greek-speaking Jews}, but they were trying to do away with him. And [when] the brothers found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.
But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them, "Judean men, and all those who live [in] Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and pay attention to my words! For these [men] are not drunk, as you assume, because it is the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:read more.
'And it will be in the last days,' God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. And even on my male slaves and on my female slaves I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. And it will be [that] everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.' "Israelite men, listen to these words! Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, just as [you] yourselves know-- this man, delivered up by the determined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed [by] nailing to [a cross] through the hand of lawless men. God raised {him} up, having brought to an end the pains of death, because it was not possible [for] him to be held by it. For David says with reference to him, 'I saw the Lord before me {continually}, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. For this [reason] my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced greatly, furthermore also my flesh will live in hope, because you will not abandon my soul in Hades, nor will you permit your Holy One to experience decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with gladness with your presence.' "Men [and] brothers, it is possible to speak with confidence to you about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us until this day. Therefore, [because he] was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat {one of his descendants} on his throne, [by] having foreseen [this], he spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned in Hades nor did his flesh experience decay. This Jesus God raised up, of which we all are witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out this that you see and hear. For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ' Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt, that God has made him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified!" Now [when they] heard [this], they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "What should we do, men [and] brothers?" And Peter [said] to them, "Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all those [who are] far away, as many as the Lord our God calls to himself." And with many other words he solemnly urged and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this crooked generation!" So those who accepted his message were baptized, and on that day about three thousand souls were added.
The Lord Yahweh has given me [the] tongue of pupil, to know how to help [the] weary [with] a word. He awakens {morning by morning}, awakens an ear for me to listen as [do] the pupils.
Joy [belongs] to a man with answers in his mouth, and a word in its time, how good [it is]!