Johannine Apologetics

By Norman L. Geisler

[Norman L. Geisler, Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas Texas.]

Johannine apologetics, like Johannine theology, does not differ substantially from Pauline or Petrine apologetics. This is what one would expect in view of the central unity of Scripture resulting from the inspiration by one and the same Spirit of God. In the Apostle John’s writings, however, there is a unique apologetic emphasis.

The Nature of Johannine Apologetics

John used several key words which carry much of his apologetic emphasis. The most important words are “sign” (σημεῖαν)[1] and “witness” (μαρτυρία, μαρτυρέω).

Like the rest of the New Testament, the dominant apologetic model in John is legal rather than military. That is, the background motif is a courtroom where evidence is presented for the purpose of persuading the reader. The apologetic task is not performed on a battlefield where an enemy is to be fought and defeated. In this sense John’s apologetic motif fits well the locus classicus of 1 Peter 3:15, which urges the believer to present an ἀπολογία or defense such as one would give in court.

Apologetics Involves a Testimony or Witness

The most fundamental characteristic of apologetics in John is that it is a “testimony” or a “witness.” It is what a lawyer would provide in setting forth his case in court. John used four Greek words for “testimony,” each from the same root: μάρτυς, μάρτυρ, μαρτυρέω, and μαρτυρία. Μαρτυρία (“witness”) is the word used in the Jewish legal system: “that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (Matt 18:16, citing Deut 19:15). At Jesus’ trial before the high priest, the latter cried, “What further need do we have of witnesses?” (Matt 26:65).

In John’s Gospel, “witness” (or “testimony”) is used some thirty-three times as a verb (“bear witness”) and fourteen times as a noun (“a witness”). From the very first chapter it is clear that the testimony is about the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist “came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light [Christ]” (1:7). John the Apostle wrote, “I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (1:34). Apologetics, then, is first of all a witness to the truth about Christ.

Apologetics Involves an Eyewitness Testimony

It is important in a court of law that one have firsthand or eyewitness testimony. John repeatedly said “I saw” or “I heard.”[2] John bore witness saying, “I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and He remained upon [Christ]” (1:32). Jesus Himself bore witness of the Father by “what He has seen and heard” (3:32). John also stated that when “the people saw the sign which [Jesus] had performed, they said, ‘This is of a truth the Prophet who is to come into the world’“ (6:14). The same is said later of the “multitude” when “they heard these words [of Jesus]”(7:40).

After the resurrection the emphasis is the same. “Mary Magdalene came announcing to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’“ (20:18 ); and “the other disciples therefore were saying to [Thomas], ‘We have seen the Lord!’“ (20:25). Even Thomas’s desire to “see in His hands the imprint of the nails” (20:25) was granted by the Lord.

Literally dozens of times throughout John’s Gospel, he was careful to point out that his apologetic for Christ was not hearsay nor secondhand. It was an eyewitness—an “I saw” and “I heard” kind of testimony that would count as evidence in court.

Apologetics Involves a Testimony to the Supernatural

John’s testimony is about the supernatural, not the ordinary. It is a testimony about seven “signs” (miracles) or supernatural confirmations. These “signs” were for the confirmation of revelation. As Hebrews clearly states, the message of Christ “was confirmed to us by those [Apostles] who heard [Christ], God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb 2:3–4). This means that the “sign” is the substantiation of the revelation given by Christ. The sign is the miracle to support the message God gave through His Son (Heb 1:1–2).

John’s witness is to the empirical and the historical. He wrote in his first epistle, “What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, …[we] proclaim to you” (1:1–3). But what John gave witness to was also more than empirical;[3] he testified to what was divine. It is for this reason that a “sign” is needed, since it points beyond the merely empirical to the spiritual, from the natural to the supernatural realm. Hence apologetics for John is an eyewitness testimony of the supernatural confirmation of the revelational truth claims of Christ. When asked what “sign” He gave of His claims, Christ pointed to the supernatural sign of His resurrection (John 2:18–19; cf. Matt 12:40–41). Only the supernatural is sufficient to confirm His supernatural claims.

Apologetics Involves a Confirmed Testimony

Another important aspect of courtroom testimony is confirmation. It is essential to place an issue “beyond reasonable doubt.” The same fact must be witnessed by more than one person. As the law put it, “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (Matt 18:16, citing Deut 19:15).

John’s Gospel presents in two ways a confirmed testimony of who Jesus is. First, the “signs” indicating who Jesus is were multiple. Indeed, seven (the number of completeness) “signs” are given in John. In addition John noted, “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book” (20:30). Second, there were many human witnesses to the signs and to whom Jesus was. Sometimes multitudes saw the signs (cf. John 6). Even the Resurrection in John was witnessed by the eleven disciples plus the women and on repeated occasions (John 20–21).

Chapter five of John lists a fourfold testimony about Jesus. (a) John the Baptist testified about Jesus (5:32–33). (b) Also “the very works that I do, bear witness of Me,” Jesus said (5:36). (c) “And the Father who sent Me, He has borne witness of Me” (5:37). By this Jesus meant the voice which spoke three times from heaven (two of which were recorded by John in 1:32–34 and 12:28). (d) Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, …it is these that bear witness of Me” (5:39).

According to Jewish law, two or three witnesses were sufficient. Yet John presented seven miracles in four major areas by eleven disciples, and at times with even thousands of people as eyewitnesses (cf. John 6). This is an overwhelming ἀπολογία (“defense”).

Apologetics Involves a Sworn Testimony

After the words sign, witness, and I saw, perhaps the most apologetically significant phrase in John is verily, verily or truly, truly. It occurs twenty-five times, and in the context of John’s apologetic testimony it becomes the rough equivalent of the courtroom phrase, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” This is its meaning because (a) it is unique to John, (b) it is used numerous times (twenty-five), (c) its repetitive form (“truly, truly”) has the flavor of an oath, and (d) it is used in direct connection with the truth and trustworthiness of the eyewitness testimony about God. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen” (3:11; cf. 8:58). Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (1:51).

To sum up thus far, apologetics in John’s Gospel involves an eyewitness, confirmed, sworn testimony about the supernatural confirmation of the truth of Christ’s claims.

Apologetics Involves a “Sealed” Testimony

Another word that fits John’s legal apologetic motif is sealed. One of the earmarks of an official document in ancient times—and even today—is the seal that is placed on it. What was sealed by the king was considered to be a binding (and by some, an unbreakable) authority (e.g., Dan 6:12).

Twice John spoke of a “seal” on the testimony about Christ. “He who has received His witness has set his seal to this, that God is true” (3:33). This is the seal of approval to God’s truth by believers. But even more significant is God’s seal on Christ. For “on Him the Father, even God, has set His seal” (6:27).

So the testimony about Christ is not only a confirmed, sworn, eyewitness testimony, but it is sealed by man and also by God who cannot lie (John 8:26; cf. Heb 6:18).

Apologetics Involves a Last-Will-and-Testament Testimony

It is almost universally conceded that a sane, sober, deathbed testimony is eminently trustworthy. Few men deliberately deceive when standing at death’s door. Men have sometimes died for what they believe to be true but is false, but few if any die swearing to what they know to be false. It is most interesting in this regard that the very word for witness is the word μάρτυρ or “martyr.” In point of fact, to extend Johannine apologetics to the Apocalypse, John referred several times to those who died for their “testimony” for Christ. They literally became martyrs for their μαρτυρία (“testimony”). In Revelation 2:13, God speaks about “Antipas My witness [μάρτυρ], My faithful one, who was killed among you.” Likewise, Revelation 6:9 speaks of “those who had been slain because of the…testimony [μαρτυρία] which they had maintained.” Those who are “beheaded (during the Tribulation) because of the testimony [μαρτυρία] of Jesus…came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev 20:4).

In short, John extended the concept of witness to include those who would witness unto death for the truth about Christ, as indeed did many of the first-century eyewitnesses of Christ. This kind of deathbed or last-will-and-testament testimony carries with it the highest degree of integrity and thereby has the greatest apologetic value.

Apologetics Involves an Apostolic Testimony

One very important fact of Christian apologetics is tucked away in a phrase in John 15:27. Jesus said to the eleven disciples, “You will bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” This is precisely the same condition set forth as a qualification to be one of the Twelve in Acts 1. “It is therefore necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—beginning with the baptism of John, until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these should become a witness with us of His resurrections (Acts 1:21–22). In brief, to become one of the Twelve, one had to be with Jesus “from the beginning” (cf. Luke 1:2). One who has known an issue from the very beginning is in a more credible position as a witness. Further, anyone who is a special part of the “in group” from the beginning has access to information not available to others.

Jesus gave special authority to the Apostles. It was in “the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42) that the early church continued. It was only through the “laying on of the apostle’s hands” (Acts 8:17; 19:6) that the Holy Spirit was given to the early Samaritan and Gentile believers. Paul said that the church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph 2:20). Even the writer of Hebrews said that the message was “confirmed to us by those [Apostles] who heard [the Lord Jesus]” (2:3). An important apologetic conclusion can be drawn from these facts: The only apologetic Christian evidence that exists is apostolic and first-century evidence. Once the eyewitness, first-century, inner circle, to whom Jesus gave special authority and miracles (Heb 2:4), died, there was no more apologetic evidence. The evidence ended with the Apostles. Of course, the evidence is available for today, but only through the historically authentic apostolic documents. Nothing else would stand up in court, since any other kind of evidence would be indirect, hearsay, or secondhand.[4] It is for this reason that both the apostolic testimony and the miracles are of supreme apologetic value. Neither “experiences,” “visions,” or alleged “miracles” since that time provide the least substantiation for any revelatory truth about Christ. Jesus said to the Apostles, the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26; cf. 16:13). It should also be noted that Jesus promised the Apostles “all truth.” The canon of revelation ends with the apostolic age.

Apologetics Is Verdict-Demanding Evidence

Johannine apologetics takes place in a courtroom. The eyewitness, confirmed, sealed, sworn, last-will-and-testament evidence is offered to the unbelieving jury; but by the very nature of the case, it is evidence that demands a verdict![5] The jury may not be dismissed from the momentous claims of Christ until it has reached a verdict. All must vote. Some may vote that He is mad (cf. John 8:48). Others may come to the verdict that He is bad (cf. John 9:16). However, those who are truly open to the evidence will conclude with Thomas that He is God (John 20:28). But a verdict must be reached.

The Purpose of Apologetics in John

The purpose of apologetics is threefold. John wished (a) to give evidence of the truth (b) in order to bring glory to God and (c) in order to bring the willing to salvation.

Apologetics Gives Evidence of the Truth.

God never calls on a person to make a blind leap of faith. The wise man “looks before he leaps.” He looks at the evidence, and if the evidence warrants belief he takes the step of faith based on the sufficiency of the evidence.[6]

The Gospel of John provides evidence of truth about God (3:33; 10:38; 18:37), evidence of truth about Scripture (2:17; 19:24), and evidence of truth about Christ (2:18; 5:36). John “set forth his case” (Isa 41:21) and God bids, as it were, “come now and let us reason together” (Isa 1:18). One purpose of John’s apologetic, then, is to give evidence of the truth. In John’s words, “He who has received His witness has set his seal to this, that God is true” (John 3:33). Again, “believe the works; that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father” (10:38). Jesus said very clearly to Pilate, “for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (18:37).

Likewise by fulfilling prophecy Jesus gave evidence to the disciples that the Scriptures are true (cf. John 2:17; 19:24). Repeatedly the Gospel states that Jesus gave evidence to those who asked proof of who He is. Once it was the evidence of His resurrection (2:18–22), and at other times it was the evidence of the “works” which He did (5:36).

Apologetics Brings Glory to God

There is a doxological aspect to Johannine apologetics. Providing evidence for men to believe—even if they do not believe it—brings glory to God. God does not place any premium on blind faith; on the contrary He is glorified when evidence and “arguments” (see Acts 17:2) are presented for His truth. When the Incarnation occurred, which is perhaps the best evidence of the truth and nature of God, John wrote, “We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). As a matter of fact, even the “signs” (miracles) of Christ, which give the greatest evidence of His claims, declared His glory. “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory…” (2:11). Hence, presenting this apostolic and miraculous evidence for Christ is a doxological duty of the believer. Those who give the ἀπολογίας no less than those who preach the κήρυγμα or the εὐαγγέλιον, bring glory to God.

Apologetics Is to Bring Persons to Christ

One purpose of apologetics—an important one—is to bring to salvation those who are willing. Those who are not willing will not be positively influenced by apologetics, and in fact apologetics will actually harden them in their unbelief. (This will be discussed further in the next point.) God’s purpose, however, is that the evidence will convince men to believe. John made this abundantly clear in his conclusion when he wrote, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:31). The direct purpose of giving the eyewitness testimony of the unusual evidence about Christ was to elicit faith. So not only does God desire faith to rest on evidence,[7] but also producing faith is the very purpose of presenting the evidence. This same point is hinted at in other Johannine passages (e.g., 10:25; 16:27).

The Results of Apologetics

Some have wrongly suggested that no one is ever brought to Christ by means of apologetics. If true, this would mean that the God who created human reason and provides evidence never uses good reasons or evidence to bring a man to Christ. But why would the Holy Spirit short-circuit the very evidential procedure He calls on believers to use in “testing spirits” (1 John 4:1) and in knowing “false prophets” from true ones (Deut 18)? Some fideists overstep the bounds of Scripture by chastising Paul for his “rationalistic” Mars Hill escapade, insisting that Paul had no success when he tried evidence and argument instead of trusting the Holy Spirit![8] If they would read further in Acts 17 they would see that Paul did have good results in his apologetic effort on Mars Hill. Many were saved, including a philosopher named Dionysius (v. 34).

When Paul presented evidence for Christ, the results were not unlike those in John where the Jews were presented with the evidence of His deity: some believed and some were more confirmed in their unbelief, and thus their guilt was more manifest.

Apologetics Helps Bring Some to Faith

It is clear that John made a direct connection between the “sign” evidence and the consequent faith of the disciples and the crowd.[9] For “many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing” (2:23). Nicodemus concluded that Jesus must “have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (3:2). The nobleman and his household believed after seeing Jesus raise his son (4:53). The same is true of the blind man who was healed (9:31), and of the friends of Lazarus after his resurrection (12:11, 18).

The key to those who were influenced to believe, however, seemed to be their “willingness.” Even miracles do not produce faith in the obstinate (cf. Luke 16:31). As Jesus said, “if any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is God” (7:17). Apologetics, then, is only effective in eliciting faith in those who are “open” to the evidence and “willing” to believe it.

Apologetics Confirms Some in Unbelief

One of the shocking realities of a fallen world is that even the best apologetic arguments will not convince some people. As the old proverb says, “A person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” In fact, when it comes to the evidence for the deity of Christ, it would seem that the greater the evidence, the more obstinate is the unbelief of the unwilling. By extrapolation, persistent unbelief in the face of Christ’s miracles became at its apex the “unpardonable sin” (see Mark 3:29–30).

Jesus, in a complaint to the Jews, hinted of the truth that miracles do not help those who are unwilling to believe: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe” (John 4:48). The same seems to be implied elsewhere (cf. 10:25–26). This point becomes most evident in John 12:37. “But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” In fact, these miraculous signs had “blinded their eyes” (12:40). The Jews of Jesus’ day were like Pharaoh who “hardened his heart” (Exod 7:14; 8:15) as more signs and wonders were performed by God. Indeed, the very miracles intended to bring men to faith became, by willful rejection, a contributing cause of their unbelief. Perhaps this is the sense in which the phrase “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” should be understood (9:12; 11:10). Hardened unbelief is the result, but not the real purpose, of miracles. John made this same point when he noted that all the judgmental miracles by the two witnesses during the Tribulation, which were designed to lead men to repentance, simply made them more recalcitrant against God’s desires. In spite of all God’s supernatural efforts to reach them, John wrote of these people that “they did not repent, so as to give Him glory” (Rev 16:9).

The point is a simple one: With greater evidence comes greater responsibility to believe. In the face of overwhelming apologetic evidence, unbelief becomes perverse and the guilt of the unbeliever becomes more manifest. But even here apologetics has performed an important function. For by presenting evidence for the truth of Christ’s claims, the unbeliever is left without excuse” (cf. Rom 1:19–20).

The Scope of Apologetics

John presented primarily an apologetic about Christ. It is, properly speaking, Christian apologetics. Since Jesus was speaking to people who are already theists, John did not concentrate on theistic apologetics (i.e., arguments for God’s existence). John did give, however, some hints in the direction of theistic apologetics, as will be considered below. But Johannine apologetics is primarily focused on the testimony about Jesus.

The Testimony about Jesus

John bore witness to many truths about Jesus. Primarily John’s Gospel is a testimony about Jesus’ deity (1:1; 5:18; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28, 30–31) and His saviorhood (1:29; 4:42) and messiahship (1:21–49, esp. vv. 31, 45, 49). There are, nevertheless, some important indications of Christ’s humanity found in John (see 4:5; 11:35).

The Testimony about God

In John’s Gospel much of Jesus’ personal testimony was centered on the Father. Jesus claimed that His words were received from the Father and that He spoke for the Father (3:11, 32; 8:26, 38, 40). Likewise Jesus claimed that His life manifested the Father: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” He said to Philip (14:9; cf. 1:14). Also Jesus insisted that His works gave evidence of the Father: “The very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me” (5:36).

There remains one interesting question: Did John, like Paul (Rom 1–2; Acts 14:17), give any reasons for the existence of God? In other words, did he have any theistic apologetics along with his Christian apologetics? Since John’s main audience, and that of Jesus, already believed in God, one should not expect John to develop any argument for God. He did, however, give some possible hints about the need for theistic apologetics. One of the things indicated by the “voice from heaven” incident in John 12 is that even the most direct empirical “evidence” will not convince a complete naturalist that God exists. For the naturalists, exposed to the same phenomena from the sky which believers recognized as “the voice of God,” believed it to be mere “thunder” (12:29). The reason for this is that they had another world view. Within a naturalistic world view, nature is the “whole show.” Hence any alleged miracle will automatically be given a natural interpretation. Perhaps Jesus’ words elsewhere could be applied to them. “Neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). The reason is obvious enough: If someone does not even believe in God, then surely he will not consider the resurrection an act of God.[10] How can God act if He does not exist? The Gospel of John is not geared to deal with the problem of such a person. What he needs is some indication that God exists.

For the theistic apologetic task John gives only hints. The world does have order; it is a cosmos, not a chaos, because of God’s creative activity. Indeed, John does refer to the works of creation—of things that “came into being” (1:3). From this it may be reasoned that since “nothing comes from nothing—nothing ever could,” then there must be some eternal and necessary Being who created everything that “came into being.” John, however, did not develop this. It was not his purpose. But for those who already believe in God, John did present a sworn, sealed, confirmed testimony of an eyewitness that Jesus is indeed “the Christ, the Son of God.”

Notes

1. Merrill C. Tenney noted the apologetic value of the word sign in John in his excellent article, “Topics from the Gospel of John; Part II: The Meaning of the Signs,” Bibliotheca Sacra 146 (April-June 1975): 229.
2. The early date now being assigned to John by liberals, like John A. T. Robinson who dates it around A.D. 40-65 (Redating the New Testament [Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976]), and evangelicals, like John Wenham who dates it in the early 60s (“Gospel Origins,” Trinity Journal 8 [Fall 1978]: 112-34), certainly fits well with the vividness and freshness of John’s eyewitness record.
3. Two extremes are to be avoided in defining miracles. One is the Bultmannian attempt to make them purely suprahistorical or Heilsgeschichte. In this case they are no longer events of history nor are they verifiable. The other extreme is to make miracles purely historical and empirical. In this case they lose their supernatural character. A miracle is an event in the natural world but not of it; it is of God. Hence a miracle is only empirically verifiable in part, since there is a dimension of a miracle that is “more than” the purely historical, natural, or empirical world.
4. As F. F. Bruce correctly observes of Jesus and Christian Origins outside the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), evidences outside the New Testament are not really independent and sufficient evidences but are at best only supplementary and confirmatory of the New Testament witness. Courts do accept ancient documents as evidence under “the ancient document rule” (see McCormick’s Handbook of the Law of Evidence, 2d ed. [St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1972], section 223).
5. In this sense there could not be a more Johannine title for an evidential apologetic text than that chosen by Josh McDowell in his popular and helpful Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Arrowhead Springs, CA: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1972).
6. In this sense John Carnell was right when he defined faith as “a whole-soul trust in God’s word as true” and added that “proper faith…rests in the sufficiency of the evidence” (An Introduction to Christian Apologetics [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1950], pp. 66, 69).
7. The failure to distinguish “belief that” and “belief in” seems to be at the root of much confusion in apologetics. The fideists are right that belief in God needs no evidence; it is an act of the will based in the revelation of God. However, evidentialists are right in pointing to the fact that rational men ought not believe in something for which they have no evidence that it is there. No one should step into an elevator shaft without evidence that there is an elevator there. Likewise, one should have evidence that Christ is the Son of God before he believes in Him. See the author’s Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976), chapters 3 and 5.
8. For an excellent statement on the relationship of evidence, faith, and the Holy Spirit, see Gordon T. Lewis, Testing Christianity’s Truth Claims (Chicago: Moody Press, 1976), pp. 21-34.
9. That effective, persuasive reasoning can be used by the Holy Spirit to bring men to Christ is evident from the ministry of Paul who “reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2) and spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed (14:1).
10. For a contemporary example of this unbelief, read G. D. Chryssides, “Miracles and Agents,” Religious Studies (September 1975): 319-27. He insists that even if Jesus willed and accomplished walking on water, it would not be a miracle (p. 326).