Can I trust the Bible? Is the Bible true? If the answer to those questions is ‘yes’, then we merely need to appeal to what it says for something to be true. And, if we’re honest, the reason most of us believe the things we do about God and the gospel is because the Bible says they are so. Our belief is founded on the fact that what the Bible tells us is true, with all its implications regarding what it says about God, the human condition and the person of Jesus.

I have spoken a lot about evangelism. In my view, we often over-complicate it. For the most part, if you know the gospel and you’ve got lips and a tongue, you’re pretty much good to go. Share your story, point people to the saviour you know, tell people why you love Jesus and why you find the gospel compelling. Most of that is just your opinion about what you have come to believe. And most of us don’t need much training in spouting our opinions off about almost anything.
But there is one apologetic question I think it pays to have in your arsenal. The reason being, almost every other apologetic question comes back to it in the end. It doesn’t really matter whether somebody is asking you about the Trinity, justification by faith alone, how God can allow evil and suffering, or almost any other thorny question you might get asked; all of them ultimately end up at this one in the end. Whatever you are asked, it boils down to this: why believe the Bible?
What do we know about God? Ultimately, what he has revealed about himself in scripture and nature. What do we know about the human condition? Fundamentally, what the Bible tells us. What do we know about the end of all things? What God has given us to know in the Bible. On and on we could go. But underlying every question about the Christian faith is this, what does the Bible say and why believe it?
The ultimate apologetic question is, why believe the bible? If you can trust the Bible, and there are good reasons to believe what it says is true, just about every other apologetic question becomes moot.
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It is good to remember Patrick of Ireland and his contribution to church history, but he should not be remembered through the “carousing and drunkenness” often associated with March 17. Instead, “the Lord Jesus Christ” should be put on in faith with “no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” These words from Romans 13:13,14 confronted Augustine with his own sin leading to his response to Christ in faith. Patrick of Ireland is best remembered through worshipping and serving the Triune God through faith in Christ.

March 17 is remembered as St. Patrick’s Day by the Irish of Ireland and others scattered abroad. The day will likely be celebrated with revelry and little concern for Patrick’s ministry. There are only two extant writings by him, Confession and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. The first is an autobiographical defense of his integrity as a minister in the face of accusations to the contrary, while the second rebukes a military commander named Coroticus for kidnapping and killing Christians. These two writings provide a more accurate picture of Patrick than do the myths about him and miracles attributed to him. Michael A. G. Haykin observed in Patrick of Ireland: His Life & Impact that the real Patrick is more interesting than the one created over the centuries by tales and fables. When one reads Patrick’s Confession it is obvious that he knew Scripture and used it to teach the Irish about the Triune God and the gracious atonement accomplished by the Son. His emphases on theology and Christology were needed because it was difficult to communicate the doctrines of the Trinity and the Son to individuals worshipping multiple gods because they tended to understand the Trinity as three deities. The authenticity of the tradition is debated as with much information about Patrick, but it is said he used clover with its three leaves united in one sprig to illustrate the three persons of the Trinity united in one God. As with any illustration of the Trinity, it breaks down at some point, but it likely worked well for Patrick’s purpose.
Patrick was born in 390 in Banavem Taberniæ the son of Calpurnius, who was the son of Potitus. Calpurnius was a public official and a “deacon” (diaconum). Patrick’s grandfather was a “presbyter” (presbyteri, translated also “priest” or “elder”). Haykin notes that the precise location of his birthplace is unknown but is likely somewhere along the west coast of England or Scotland. Patrick grew up in the church, but the message of Christ came to ears that were not yet ears to hear, however memories of Bible passages from these years would later bear fruit. He lived with his Roman-British family until the age of sixteen when he was abducted and enslaved in the land that became Ireland. At the time, the Romans called the island Hibernia. Patrick shepherded sheep as a slave, but he was released from enslavement to sin through faith in Christ as he remembered Scripture from his early years. While watching flocks he prayed without ceasing and found the psalms beneficial for petitioning and praising God. He had something in common with another lover of psalms and a shepherd, King David. After about six years, Patrick managed to escape his captors, made his way to a ship, and left Ireland.
In Confession, Patrick said that he was not only a physical slave but also “went into captivity in language.” He added that “today I blush and am exceedingly afraid to lay bare my lack of education” (paragraph 10). Patrick’s self-assessment is consistent with what Michael Haykin observed regarding his limited facility with the Latin language. In the following quote Patrick recounts his experience as he wrestled with whether or not he should return to Ireland as a missionary. Note the bracketed words were inserted by the translator, J.D. White, to help the text flow better.
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Written by W. Robert Godfrey |
Tuesday, December 26, 2023
The focus in this article is on the Word of God and the sacraments. The Word of God helps to preserve us in the faith as we hear it preached, as we read it in church and privately, and as we meditate on it. The article highlights what we will find in the Scriptures when we hear, read, and meditate on them. First, we will find exhortations. The Bible calls us to live the faithful Christian life and instructs us in the character of that life. Second, we will find threatenings. Even though God will surely preserve us in grace, we need to hear the warnings of God as one of the means that He uses to confront us with our sin and draw us to repentance. Third, we find promises.

Calvinism does not have five points. Calvinism as summarized in its great confessions and catechisms was never meant to be reduced to five points. The Arminians, however, had five attacks on Reformed teaching. On the fifth point, they wrote:
Whether they [those incorporated into Jesus Christ] can through negligence fall away from the first principle of their life in Christ, again embrace the present world, depart from the pure doctrine once given to them, lose the good conscience, and neglect grace, must first be more carefully determined from the Holy Scriptures.
The Arminians in 1610 were uncertain about the doctrine of perseverance. But in the years that followed, they increasingly taught that the truly regenerate could fall from grace and be lost.
Clearly, the Arminians feared that the doctrine of perseverance would make Christians negligent, lazy, and self-indulgent. They seemed to imagine that the Reformed taught that the Christian life is like a train running downhill. Just get it started, and it will run on its own momentum.
The great Synod of Dort (1618–19) answered the Arminian doubts and fears clearly and helpfully. It reminded all Christians that God does indeed so preserve His own that they will not fall from grace. But He preserves them through the means that He has appointed, and by His Spirit He ensures that they make good use of those means.
The Canons of Dort take up the subject of perseverance in the fifth head of doctrine. In fifteen articles, the fifth head presents a remarkable biblical and pastoral statement of the Reformed teaching. It begins by recognizing that sin remains a problem in the life of regenerate Christians. Since sin is a daily problem and affects even our best works, we must daily turn to God anew:
These [sins] are to [Christians] a perpetual reason to humiliate themselves before God and to flee for refuge to Christ crucified; to mortify the flesh more and more by the spirit of prayer and by holy exercises of piety; and to press forward to the goal of perfection, until at length, delivered from this body of death, they shall reign with the Lamb of God in heaven. (Article 2)
Here is clearly no mechanical, or automatic, sense of preservation. Human responsibility and active turning to God are upheld as the fruit of the grace of God.
We see here how important means are to persevering in the faith. The canons mention first the cultivation of humility and faith in the Christian life. We dare not be a proud people, as though we had accomplished much by our own strength. But we must recognize our weaknesses and look away from ourselves to Christ. One of the key means of cultivating humility is prayer. In prayer, we acknowledge that God is the source of all strength and hope in our lives. Article 2 also encourages “holy exercises of piety” in addition to prayer. Here the stress falls on reading the Bible and engaging faithfully in worship with fellow believers. The canons recognize that even the regenerate, left to themselves and their own strength, would not persevere. Only the faithful, persevering grace of God can uphold the regenerate as they face the temptations of sin.
The canons recognize that God’s saints can fall into terrible sins, of which David and Peter are clear examples. Such terrible sins bring with them terrible consequences. 
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