Skeptics, Snobbery, and the Sword of the Gospel

In an age of skepticism, truth is a tool wielded only when convenient for the conscience. The skeptics scoff at those who claim to know the way, using intellectual snobbery as their sword. It cuts off the heads of those weakened by fear and intimidation. It should be no surprise, then, that when we preach Christ's death and resurrection, we enter into battle with intellectual snobbery. 

Instead of giving its ear to listen to the Gospel, it mocks the wisdom of God, saying it's impossible for a man to be raised from the dead. It argues from the natural, dismissing the existence of the supernatural—it's obviously foolish, we’re told. We were warned there would be scoffers in the last days, and in our age, this scoffing comes in the form of cynicism and pseudohistory.

Hundreds of eyewitnesses and thousands of biblical manuscripts, yet many deny and reinterpret Scripture, saying perhaps Jesus merely fainted on the cross and recovered in the tomb, or that his disciples stole his body to fake the resurrection. Others suggest the disciples were deluded, hallucinating due to their emotional distress. 

While Christians can be helped in having a thoughtful response to these claims, we should never forget our ultimate defense lies in the power of the Gospel, which relies on the work of the Spirit—this is our sword and it's a much mightier one. Whereas intellectual snobbery slays the fearful, the Gospel slays the humble, giving them true life in return for their sin, which lies dead. If Christ has crushed the serpent's head, it is no trouble for him to kill our sin of skepticism and give us eyes to see and ears to hear. We must remember the power of what we preach.

Remember Regularly

Spiritual depression, apathetic prayers, doubts, and habitual sin come to all those who fail to remember the Gospel every day and treat it as only something to be considered once a week, or worse, once a year on the day we’ve called “Easter”. The dangers of a Gospel not remembered daily are deadly. A forgotten Gospel is a forsaken Gospel. 

If you forget the Gospel by not preaching it to yourself regularly, you are choosing to abandon its power. And when this happens, we are at the greatest risk of succumbing to despair caused by intellectual snobbery. Instead of singing the praises of God, we might have thoughts like: “Is this really true? Perhaps the atheist without the Gospel is happier than I am. Maybe they know what they're talking about more than I do. Maybe God didn’t really mean that Jesus died—maybe that was just a metaphor.”

There’s another danger to a forgotten Gospel. I began by saying that in our skeptical culture, truth is only useful when it helps us feel morally excused. Do not be like the world in using the Gospel this way either. Do not conveniently remember the bits and pieces you love in the Gospel only when you feel anxious or guilty. Do not say to yourself, “Jesus loves me,” as an excuse for your sin. Instead, remember the whole message – remember what pains and wrath Jesus suffered because of His love for you. You may find that your anxiety needs to be repented of and that your guilt is well-founded. If you preach the Gospel to yourself rightly and regularly, you will undoubtedly find that you are more greatly loved than you knew. More than this, you will find that God is to be more greatly adored by you. The result? You will forsake sin and pursue peace. 

A Gospel remembered regularly through Scripture, prayer, meditation, and speech will be defended well. When Peter said, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), he was admonishing Christians that if they must suffer for good, then they should also preach the Gospel—that is, the hope within them. He follows this verse with a powerful comparison—he compares those who suffer for the Gospel to Jesus Himself. 

Here, Peter isn't only exhorting Christians to live the Gospel, though he’s certainly doing that, but he’s also telling them to speak it. He wants them to tell others, and that only begins when we tell it to ourselves first. The defense we are to give for the Gospel is not a list of extra-biblical sources for the atheist skeptic, or angered logical arguments—its the good news. We are supposed to open our mouths and say: Jesus has suffered and died, taking the wrath of God for us, hell-deserving sinners, and on the third day He rose from the grave, defeating death and is now seated at the right hand of God. After this has been said, we plead with Jesus, who many times said, “Repent and believe.” 

If the Gospel is truly the power of God, then it should never fear intellectual snobbery, and it will be remembered often. The scoffers of this age will mock until the day of their death unless they are met with the grace of God revealed at the cross. And we will fear their arguments if we are not regularly reminded of the power of God revealed in the resurrection. 

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain."

1 Corinthians 15:1-2