9.23.2026

APOLOGIST /uh-POL-uh-jist/ noun - a person who writes or speaks in defense of a specific belief, cause, or institution, especially one that is controversial, unpopular, or subject to criticism. 

I’m really sensitive to odors. I was singing in a recital a dozen or so years ago (turned out to be my last one) and my song was in great shape! I was ready! At least I was until a singer was added to the recital at the last minute. She was seated right next to me, and I could smell her coming. Her perfume was INTENSE. My nose instantly stopped up and while I managed to get through the song, what should have been a breeze ended up being a struggle. 

How do you smell? 

Early in Christianity, writers produced “apologetics,” works written as a defense of the gospel. On the surface, this sounds like a good idea, because as I’ve written before,  Christians were a tiny (but growing) minority in the Roman world, and there was a LOT of mis-information blowing around. 

So if you were writing an apologetic for Christianity, a defence of our faith, what would you include?  I would expect there to be a lot about the Bible, the nature of Christ, the Trinity, and plenty about the church and its practices. 

But that’s not what they wrote about. 

Why? Because outsiders were not always the target audience!   Although they would have been happy to see outsiders read their books and be converted, it didn't happen. According to Michael Green in his book Evangelism in the Early Church, there is “no example of an outsider being converted to Christianity by reading an Apologetic writing.” Those early Christian authors knew that it wasn’t arguments or the philosophies of believers that would attract nonbelievers; it was the way the believers lived. 

The early Christian leaders thought their way of life was important because their  lifestyle was a product of their belief. As my preacher friend, Dr. Horace Shepherd said, “The reason some of you don’t live anything is because you don’t believe anything.” Lifestyle is not just a product of our belief, it is also a public display of what we truly believe. The early Christians realized that their way of living was their most authentic way of communicating their message to outsiders. 

They knew that the outsiders wouldn’t read the apologetics, but they would certainly read the lives of the insiders!  And so the apologetics mainly addressed the lifestyle of the believers. 

Paul recognized this. If you’re reading the Bible with us (and I hope you are), then recently you read II Corinthians 3:2, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our* hearts, to be known and read by all.”  Paul knew that the recipients of his letter were the best arguments for Christianity (or should be – don’t forget that Ghandi said, “'I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”). 

A saying often attributed to St. Francis (there’s no proof he actually said it) is “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” Another way to say it is “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” 

We live in this world to make a difference! One anonymous second-century writer wrote that “what the soul is in the body, this what Christians are in the world.” We live in a way that is a benefit to society – remember all the great innovations from orphanages to higher education that Christianity introduced.

 But since the time of Christ, believers have lived a Christian lifestyle, not out of any evangelistic motive, but we lived as we did (and we live as we do) because this is who we are. 

Or as Jesus put it, “You are the salt of the earth . . . the light of the world.” 

We are all apologists for Christ in the most powerful ways possible: the way we live, the ways we love, the way we forgive, the way we are patient with others, the way we give more grace to others than we expect to receive from them . . . the way we put into practice all those virtues mentioned in our summer memory verses (Colossians 3:12-16). 

The era when Paul wrote II Corinthians was a very fragrant time! People did not bathe as often or as thoroughly as we do. So a pleasant aroma was always noticed. In II Corinthians 2:14-25, Paul wrote “through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing . . .”

You smell like something! I hope you smell like Jesus! 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry