Part Six of The World Beyond the Church

The Apostle Paul had to deal with many of the same obstacles to faith we do today. There were no Mormons or Muslims in the Roman Empire, but there were many competing religions and philosophical worldviews. In some cases, Paul witnessed directly from Scripture. The Bible was his point of contact. In other encounters, the Bible couldn’t be used, so Paul employed entirely different points of contact. (In last week’s blog I explain what points of contact are.)

The following is a short participation exercise I hope you will try. Below are three passages in the Book of Acts where Paul employs three different points of contact in his evangelism. Read each passage and try to identify what points of contact he applied in each case. I give the answers at the end of this blog, but don’t look until you try identifying each point of contact:

Acts 17:2-3

Acts 14:16-17

Acts 26:1-3

By far the best biblical example of Paul applying points of contact to initiate his evangelism is Acts 17:16-31, when he confronts the Greek philosophers before the Areopagus in Athens. In this classic example of superb apologetics, Paul applies four points of contact which he knew the Greeks would acknowledge as true without further discussion: Their innate sense of the divine (v. 22); the existence of a God whom they do not know (v. 23); creation (v. 24); and their own poets (v.28). Building on these apologetic points of contact, Paul presented an evangelistic message that resulted in some of the Greeks becoming Christians and an open door for the spread of the Gospel in Athens (v. 34).

Answers to the above passages:

 Acts 17:2-3:  To reach the Jews in Thessalonica, Paul “reasoned” from Scripture in the synagogue. The Bible was Paul’s point of contact because the Jews considered it God’s Word.

Acts 14: 16-17:  To reach the Gentiles in Lystra, Paul presented external evidence from creation (general revelation).

Acts 26: 1-3  In the case of King Agrippa, Paul applied logical reasoning based on common knowledge.

There are a couple of lessons we can learn in from these passages. First, Paul didn’t depend on his personal testimony or a first century version of the “Four Spiritual Laws” as the basis of his evangelism. In  Acts 17 he relied in part on secular sources, the Greek poets. He didn’t get this information reading his Bible or attending rabbinical school. Paul obviously spent time becoming familiar with their poets in order to witness more effectively. Paul did his homework, as we should too before engaging people with non-Christian religious and secular beliefs.

Second, when Paul witnessed to the Jews, Gentiles, and Greek philosophers, his goal was to lead his hearers to Jesus Christ—as all good apologetics does. He did not engage in merely intellectual debating. Paul was an effective evangelist because he was willing to accommodate what unbelievers’ believe—without compromising truth—as points of contact in order to gain a hearing for the Gospel. Paul knew that an initial point of contact was crucial if witnessing is to proceed. ©

Next week I will point out specific points of contact between Christians and non-Christians that can open doors to fruitful discussions in evangelism and apologetics.