Many Christians are skeptical regarding the practical relevance of theology for the common believer. Exploring how the subdiscipline of biblical theology can be applied can effectively dispel this misconception. In particular, the apologetic applications of biblical theology’s primary deliverances underscore the relevance theology has to the average Christian. Given the growing need for effective Christian apologetics, it would be wise for the Church to further explore biblical theology and to incorporate it into the defense of Christianity. Existing scholarship has largely overlooked biblical theology’s apologetic potential. Thus, there is a need to explore this relationship for the benefit of the Church’s global witness. Biblical theology’s two primary deliverances, a proper understanding of Scripture’s metanarrative and a framework for properly applying Scripture, have apologetic applications and implications that are important for the average Christian. Although there are many possible approaches to apologetics, the utilization of biblical theology remains an overlooked method with significant potential.
The widespread apathy towards Christianity in particular may be due, in part, to the perception that the Christian worldview is incoherent, irrelevant, and uninteresting. Biblical theology provides several avenues for addressing these misunderstandings. The first way is that communicating the biblical metanarrative aids in presenting Christianity as a coherent worldview. As previously mentioned, biblical theology seeks to discover the inner unity of Scripture.24 Articulating this inner unity may help correct the misunderstanding that the Christian story is incoherent by outlining a clear, logical flow across its entire storyline. There currently exists an unfortunate divide between the areas of New Testament and Old Testament theology where the scholarship of one field is rarely interacting with scholarship of the other.25 Watson warns, Where theological concerns are marginalized, the two Testaments fall apart almost automatically.26 If this is not addressed, misunderstandings and cari
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Many unbelievers seem to be under the impression that the Old Testament was Gods plan-A which ultimately failed. Alternatively, some view it as simply providing a lineup of exemplary moral characters to imitate. Therefore, if Christianity is to be seen as a coherent system of belief, Christians must accurately portray the connection and consistency between the two Testaments. In other words, Christians must engage with the apologetic use of biblical theology.
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Understanding and communicating Scriptures metanarrative can also help dispel the misunderstanding that Christianity is irrelevant. If the Bibles claims about itself are correct, then it offers the story of reality from beginning to end and is, therefore, relevant today. If the biblical story is true, then every event that occursdown to the most minuscule detailhas a place where it fits in relation to Gods grand plan for the cosmos. Seeing ones life and circumstances as 22 Trevor Hedberg and Jordan Huzarevich, Appraising Objections to Practical Apatheism, Philosophia 45, no. 1 (March 2017): 259, 23 James K. A. Smith, Preface, in How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014). 24 Graeme Goldsworthy, The Leech Has Two Daughters, in According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible (WORDsearch, 2015). 25 Watson, Text and Truth, 5. 26 Ibid. Page 175
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Practical Application of Biblical Theology Johnson intimately connected to the story that God has been working out for all of human history ought to illuminate the relevance that the Biblical narrative has to the modern world. A grand story which includes every aspect of reality that is orchestrated by a Supreme Being adds meaning and relevance to every part of life.
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