The Christian Church quickly moved away from the simple message that Christ was born to save the world from the guilt of sin and assure all people of eternal life in heaven. The church gradually took on the role of helping people become worthy of eternal life. Grace was no longer defined as God’s gracious gift of the forgiveness on sins, but as the power and insight to please God.
Sin and Grace Apologetics traces this shift in the Catholic Church up to the Reformation. Then it examines how many Protestant church bodies since the Reformation have experienced the same shift in their own theologies.
It then applies this to the subject of apologetics. It concludes that modern apologetics is more in tune with this altered message than with the original message of sin and grace, along with all the teachings of Scripture associated with it.
The final chapters give advice to Christians on how to shape their use of apologetic arguments. It examines modern apologetics in four contexts: by grace alone, by Scripture alone, through faith alone, and by Christ alone. It admits the value of knowing as many apologetic arguments as possible. But it concludes that outreach must be done with the conviction that the message of sin and grace provides alone provides the knowledge and power necessary to convince an unbelieve that it is true.