Jedidiah

15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

In that verse the emphasis is on what to do - make a defense. The greek word for defense there, is ‘apologían’. It is a defense, such as in a court of law. In fact, it is the same word used in Acts 25:16, where Paul uses it in exactly that sense.

Up until now, I have always seen the Collossians verse, in the same light, and exhortation about answering people’s objections or questions.

For some reason, I stuck on one word this time in that verse, that I blew by other times. The word is ‘how’ (poós in Greek).

“that you may know how you ought to answer”

As an apologist, I know “how” - you study and give them good factual information. However, that is not at all what is being said here, and that is what I missed before, This how, is not about the substance of your answer, it is about the manner in which you answer. The context, now that I look at it, makes that obvious, but I just never noticed before.

The instruction here, is direction one to be gentle, to “Let your speech always be with grace”. Grace, is about kindness undeserved. A graceful answer, is kind, patient, not prideful, not combative. It is one of giving respect to the person, even if you do not respect their position. It is about the idea, that you catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar, though I was never sure why I would want to catch flies.

The 1st Peter passage, gives this same instruction, though less emphasized:
“yet with gentleness and reverence”. And the next verse, give the reason and the hoped for result:

1 Peter 3:16
so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

The idea here, is to be on your best behavior, so that your conduct, can not be criticized, and any who do so, should be ashamed to do so.

Surely, there are times, when angry passion is appropriate, the Lord Himself, incarnate Love, got angry at people sometimes. No shame in that, when it is called for, but in dialogue on a day to day basis, you generally want to make yourself, and by implication Christianity, attractive. We are not trying to repel people.

While this is not a direct commentary on your post, it does show that sometimes, the right words, can have an unexpected relsult. There is power in words, and in the words of the bible, there is great power, life changing power.

Thank you, for being in the right place, at the right time.

Bye the way, I enjoyed your post, it was very good. I would like to encourage people to not just read a verse when you see it, but mine the verse, there is gold there. Leave your preconceptions behind, and let it speak to you.

Omegaman