As I have studied apologetics over the years I have noticed thatthe word “persuasion” comes up much more regularly than what I havebeen use to throughout my church and educational experience.Ihave been to countless evangelism events, conferences and trainingsessions over the years, but I cannot recall a single sermon,lesson or resource on the biblical concept of persuasion.
The English word “persuasion” (in all its various forms) is usedtwice as many times as the word “predestination,” yet it seems thelatter receives a thousand times more attention.Persuasion isat the very heart of apologetics, and I dare say, it is at theheart of evangelism itself. I have to wonder if the lack ofemphasis on this biblical doctrine has lead to the decline inbaptisms and evangelistic efforts among evangelicals over the lastfew decades? <link>
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT PERSUASION?
Let’s take a look at some of it’s most relevant uses:
“The chief priests and the scribespersuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and tohave Jesus executed.” (Matthew27:20)
“(the people) were persuaded that John (theBaptist) was a prophet.” (Luke 20:6)
“Some of the Jews were persuaded and joinedPaul and Silas.” (Acts 17:4)
“Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying topersuade Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18:4)
“This man is persuading the people toworship God.” (Acts 18:13)
“(Paul was) arguing persuasively about thekingdom of God.” (Acts 19:8)
“Do you think that in such a short time you canpersuade me to become a Christian?” (Acts 26:28)
“Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try topersuade men.” (2 Corinthians5:11)
Too often we speak only of the need to proclaim and explain thegood news to the lost, but clearly the Bible teaches us that weshould be trying to persuade people of its truthfulness. Is thatnot what Christian apologetics is all about?
Notice in Acts 17, when Paul “dialogued” (Greek:dialegomai, meaning ‘reasoned’)in the synagogue thatit resulted in peoplebeing“persuaded”(Greek:peitho).Paul explainedthe Old Testament scriptures and answered their questions so as toconvince them of the truth. This was typical in his approach withhis fellow Jews (“his custom” v. 2) , because he knew theJews considered their scriptures to be authoritative. However,Paul’s approach with the Gentiles shifted to speaking about theirculture first rather than the Scriptures (see vs. 22-31). Paul isusing his God given gift of persuasion by connecting with hisaudience on their level. He has “become all things to allpeople so that by all possible means [he] might save some” (1Cor. 9:22).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PERSUADE?
Vine’sDictionary of New TestamentWordsdescribes the word “persuade”asfollows:
To prevail upon or win over, to bring about a change of mindby the influence of reason or moral considerations.
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary states:
Successfully urge to do; talk into or out of an action;attract in a particular direction; cause to believe a statement ortruth; to urge strongly; try to convince; lead a person to believeby argument; to talk earnestly with a person in order to secureagreement; to carry conviction; be convincing.
Notice that the Vine’s Dictionary draws attention to bothreason andmorality. In other words, appealing toone’s consciencein an effort to get them to do what is rightmorally may be one effective approach to persuasion, but it’s notthe only tool. Appealing to sound reason (by means of dialogue) isan equally important biblical tool in the persuasion process.
To be honest, I cannot stand listening to screaming preacherstelling their audiences how sinful they are and how ashamed ofthemselves they should be. Maybethis approach works topersuade some, but frankly it turns me off and I suspect it turnsoff many others outside the church. Stirring up emotions andplaying on people’s shame instead of speaking with respect,gentleness, love and reason does not seem to be the most persuasiveapproach.
Persuasion is not about emotionally abusing people intosubmission. It is about speaking truth in love (Eph. 4:15). It isabout being a person of character who earns the respect of theaudience by showing them respect. It is about making sound,logical, well reasoned arguments that connect with the listener ona personal level. As Paul said:
“We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not usedeception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, bysetting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’sconscience in the sight of God.”(2 Corinthians4:2)
Paul, while he was in Ephesus, was“arguingpersuasively”(Acts 19:8). Doesn’t that strongly implythat it is possible to “argue unpersuasively?” Why would anyonewant to risk being “unpersuasive” when it comes to proclaiming themost important news of all?
WHY DON’T WE SPEAK MORE OF PERSUASION?
If our evangelism is not persuasive the only thing left isunpersuasive evangelism, and what would be the point in that?
Maybe it does not sound as “spiritual” to speak of persuasionwhen it comes to evangelism, as if we are not relying on the HolySpirit like we should? Some might argue that we have to rely on thesupernatural work of God to persuade the listener. But, what doesthat even mean? Has God not given the preacher of the gospel thegift of persuasion? If so, why wouldn’t God still get thecredit when His own people successfully use their God given giftsto accomplish those God given purposes?
It has beenthe influence of ourpost-modernculturethat has lead the church to value experience overintellect, as if it is more spiritual to feel than to think.Christian apologist, Peter May, explained:
Some thirty years ago, I heard a famous and influentialEnglish evangelist put it like this:“A man won by an argumentis at the mercy of a better argument. Instead, we must bring peopleinto an experience of Christ.”I wasn’t quick witted enough topoint out that a person won by an experience is at the mercy of abetter experience! However, his viewpoint was widely shared andhighlighted a subjective and relative approach to truth. It wasvery post-modern. Interestingly, this popular preacher often usedcultural references and quotations from famous people in hissermons. His talks had a veneer of intellectualism about them buthe never presented sustained intellectual arguments. A quote fromNietzsche may decorate a talk, but an exploration of Nietzsche’smeaning did not follow.
Evangelism was about the heart not the head. In particular,there was no vision for“pulling down strongholds, demolishingarguments and every lofty idea raised up against the knowledge ofGod and taking every thought captive in obedience toChrist”as Paul put it (1 Corinthians10:4,5).<link>
This approach to evangelism assumed God’s existence and theauthority of the Bible while discouraging skeptics from askingquestions. Therefore, the deeper thinking skeptics either buriedtheir doubts or simply left the church. I am convinced that peopledon’tleave our churches because of theirdoubts, theyleaveour churches because they don’t feel like they canopenly express their doubts. And so it is, we have raised ageneration of people who are mostly unpersuaded intellectuallyabout the claims of the scripture, while those who remain committedcontinue to wait on God to do what He has created and giftedpeopleto do — PERSUADE!
WHY DOES OUR THEOLOGY MATTER WHEN IT COME TO PERSUASION?
Some people object to the use of persuasion by quoting from Paulin 1 Corinthians 2:4:
“My message and my preaching were notwith wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of theSpirit’s power,so that yourfaith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’spower.”
Case closed! Persuasion is wrong. Persuasion is evil. Persuasionis resting on human wisdom, rather than God’s power, therefore thiswhole article has just been blown out of the water, right?!WRONG.
Only if you believe that Paul regretted his persuasive approachto the Athenians so as to adopt an “unpersuasive” approach fromthis point forward could the point of this article be deemederroneous. Allow me to make a sound, logical and well reasonedargument to show you why Paul has not switched approaches orcontradicted himself.
Hermeneutics requires us to look closely at the context of everypassage. Corinth was a bastion of Greek culture and practice.Because there were no iPhones or TVs in the first century, thechoice of daily entertainment often centered around Greekoratory.Imagine a young, handsome athletic man with musclesalmost as large as his ego gathering a crowd around him by tellinggrand storiesfilled with flaunting words of empty rhetoric.Oratory was an art form in this city and the human wisdom of theGreek culture rested on the persuasiveness of this attractivemedium.
The Roman General, Mark Anthony (of Cleopatra fame), trained asa public orator. Plutarch records that his style oforatory“had much in common with Anthony’s own mode oflife. It was boastful, insolent, and full of empty bravado andmisguided aspirations!”[1]
Now, imagine being an weak, older, unattractive communicatorwith eye problems trying to live up to that standard. This is thecontext of Paul’s statement. He could not compete with theathleticism, prowess and speakingskills that the Corinthianpeople had come to expect from their oratorsof “wisdom.” Hedid not have a long list of exciting stories in his repertoire. Hehad the story of Christ and Him crucified. He only had what theSpirit told him to say (Eph. 3:1-11). Those Holy Spirit inspiredwords are the “power” to which the apostle refers in thiscontext.
IS PERSUASION ENOUGH? WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
When Paul references “God’s power” in verse 4 he IS NOTreferring to some supernaturaladditional working which isabove and beyond the proclamation of His inspired word. He isreferring to the inspired word itself. As Paul taught in Ephesians3:1-5:
“For this reason I, Paul, the prisonerof Christ Jesus for the sake of youGentiles—Surely you have heardabout the administration of God’s grace that was given to me foryou,that is, the mystery madeknown to me by revelation, as I have already writtenbriefly.In reading this,then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery ofChrist,which was not made knownto people in other generations as it has now been revealed by theSpirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.”
How has God chosen to reveal the mystery of Christ according tothis text? Paul says “by the Spirit.” But to whom?To everyindividual through some supernatural work of regeneration makingthem effectually see and understand the mysteries? No.
Paul clearly says, “by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles andprophets.” God reveals mysteries (that have been hidden in the mindof God for generations) by inspiring men like Paul to proclaim themclearly. This is called the “gospel” which is said to be “the powerof God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).
This brings up another important point about the words we usewhen attempting to persuade others. Does the content of ourpersuasive presentations matter? Of course it matters.We must persuade using the inspired scriptures if we have anyhope of leading someone to Christ. Both the content and the meansby which that content is delivered serves to persuade.
In Corinth, Paul’s delivery may have paled in comparison to theorators of that day, nevertheless the source ofGod’s powerwas found in the content of his message, the inspired words of GodHimself. That does not mean we should check our minds in at thedoor or become dry and monotonousso as to prove we aredepending on some kind of supernatural work of God to convincepeople to listen to our lazy, ill-prepared, boring speeches. Paulnever intended such non-sense. He was simply declaring thateven when his best effort falls short, the power of the HolySpirit’s inspired word is sufficient to accomplish its givenpurpose (John 20:31).
REFERENCES
[1]Plutarch,Life ofMark Anthony, section 2.
[2]Peter May,Newsletter oftheEuropean LeadershipForum.
