Since we completed our discussion of the “Ten Tenets” last month, I thought it might be useful to comment on some of the common objections to a Covenantal approach to apologetics.

One of the most common objections against a “Covenantal” (or presuppositional) approach to apologetics is that it reasons in a circle, and thus provides no real argument for its position. Reasoning in a circle is a fallacious endeavor, so the objection goes; it cannot provide reasons for what it claims. Examples of this objection could be almost endlessly multiplied, but we will be content with just a couple. In a recent exchange between Covenantal and Classical apologists, one of the latter complains:

Presuppositionalists claim that the Word of God is self-authenticating. It needs no proof. It is the basis for all other conclusions, but it has no basis beyond itself. But what they fail to see is that while all of this is true of the Word of God, nonetheless, it is not thereby true of the Bible. For there must be some evidence or good reasons for believing that the Bible is the Word of God…

And furthermore,

…Presuppositionalists argue [that] the Word of God stands on its own, with no need of proof beyond it. …The fact is, that any such truth claim demands evidence and good reason — the kind provided by Classical Apologetics.

… continue reading on Reformation 21.

Read More On Apologetics, Covenantal Apologetics, presuppositional, Van Til

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