When done correctly, incarnational apologetics can speak a powerful message to a person’s heart that transforms them. As current research shows, people make decisions with their emotions and then use logic to rationalize it. Consumer psychologists and marketing agencies are using this knowledge to market products with significant success. While not advocating that we try to sell the gospel to people, the truth remains that many times people are won over not by an understanding of the facts but by how the presented speaks to their heart and emotional being. I think incarnational apologetics as well as servant evangelism when done well offer that opportunity to reach people in ways that words cannot do. Incarnational apologetics paints a picture that people can see of what the gospel really is. And as we know, a picture is worth a thousand words.
When I think of the power of incarnational apologetics to impact a person, John 9:24-34 comes to mind. By healing the man against the opposition of the authorities, Jesus’ incarnational apologetics radically transformed the man born blind into a radical believer and defender of Christ. Because the man was touched by the grace of the incarnate Christ, he confessed as “prophet” to the face of the Jewish leaders even though Jewish leaders had already decided that anyone who accepted Jesus was the Messiah would be excommunicated from the synagogue. That was a serious punishment. It scared this man’s parents, but not him. This man who had experienced Christs amazing incarnate grace could not be silenced by the threats of the Jewish leaders even after the summoned him a second time. The passage says,
“A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.” John 9:24-34
This blind man couldn’t care any less where Jesus came from or what his theology was. His grace was a powerful testimony. This man is displaying amazing courage! This was a man who hours before was a blind beggar by the streets and now he is bold as a lion and courageously speaking truth to power and defending Christ before the most powerful people in the country with courage and without regard for his own life or consequences. What happened? It wasn’t information that Jesus gave him. It was incarnational grace. We don’t have to do miracles like Jesus did. But when we care deeply for people and model God’s love and sacrifice for them, they won’t care if they understand the ins and outs of our doctrine. They will stand up and defend it because it has ministered to them viscerally. A person who has tasted the fruit of a tree frequently does need much explanation. They know it by experience. Any fake person can speak eloquently, but when we become Christ to a person and touch him/her deeply, it breaks through to their heart and speaks to it in a way that words can speak.
Incarnational apologetics is the natural result of a man who has been in the presence of Jesus and has seen his face and been transformed by beholding. When there is a mismatch between our information and our incarnation of that information, people are turned off, especially in this culture with Millennials who are big on authenticity. In Romans 2:17-24, Paul rebukes the Jews because of an apparent information and incarnation mismatch. They taught that people shouldn’t steal, yet they stole in even more egregious ways. Paul concludes citing scripture that, “as it is written: ‘God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’” I think that often Christ is “blasphemed” among unbelievers because of how we behave. Everybody has heard an unbeliever talk about how they don’t go to church because of how they were mistreated by the church in the past. Unfortunately, some of it is true, although, some of it is just the offense of the cross itself.