I never tire of trying to persuade people that the University of Kentucky has the greatest basketball tradition in the history of collegiate basketball. Whenever the subject comes up, I repeat, without hesitation, the necessary arguments to make my case.

1. The most wins all-time
2. The fastest to 2,000 wins.
3. Second most National Titles in five different decades (right behind UCLA)
4. Third all-time in Final Fours (17)
5. Over 30 SEC tournament titles.
6. Over the last 20 years, the largest and most effective pipeline to the NBA
7. A fan-base that is unmatched (ok, that’s a bit more subjective).
8. Rupp Arena (and the ice cream)

Are you persuaded?

Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at making all those arguments in paragraph form at the drop of a hat in a conversation. I’ve rehearsed. I’ve thought it through. I have the details in my hand and at my fingertips. I’m ready.

What are things you’re passionate about that you constantly make a case for? What are those things you believe strong enough that you’re willing to put yourself out there and persuade others of your opinion? Food choices? Vacation ideas? Educational philosophy? Sports? Politics? Most of us have those things we are passionate about and are therefore willing to exert the energy to try and persuade others to believe what we believe.

But have you ever thought about how this desire to persuade others is something you should harness for the advancement of the gospel? Well, you should because it is. Part of our calling as followers of Jesus is to persuade others to believe what we believe about Jesus, his gospel, and a biblical worldview. In that sense, Christians should practice the art of persuasion.

Christians Persuasion for the Good of Our Neighbors and the Glory of Christ

In his book, Fools Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion, Os Guinness argues that though many are ready to share the gospel with their neighbors, in our “advanced modern world, which is both pluralistic and non-Christian…many of us lack a vital part of a way of communicating that is prominent in the Gospels and throughout Scripture” (Guiness, 17). That “way of communicating” is identified as “persuasion.” But what Guiness means is more than merely winning an argument. In fact, he believes that part of what is wrong with our approach to evangelism and apologetics today is that we’ve become more concerned about winning a debate than we are with winning people to Christ. Contrary to the simple desire to win a debate, we need “to make sure that our best arguments are directed towards winning people” (Guiness, 18).

In trying to win people, we are trying to persuade them to believe the gospel, to place their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, and to live as his disciples. This is the concern of the Apostle Paul and should be our concern as well.

The Apostle Paul was clearly concerned with persuading his hearers to believe the content of the gospel.

Evangelism isn’t merely sharing a message. It’s persuading others to make a decision about the good news of Jesus. In Acts 18, Paul had left Athens and landed in Corinth. There we read that Paul stayed with Aquila and Priscilla and worked alongside them in the tent-making business. But when the Sabbath rolled around each week, Paul headed to the Synagogue. Why? He aimed to “persuade Jews and Greeks” (18:4). Persuade them of what? In this context, Paul aimed to persuade Jews and Greeks that Jesus was the Christ (18:5). When they wouldn’t listen, Paul left the Jews and went to the house of Titius Justus. This house happened to be next to the synagogue. Paul continues to persuade his hearers with some believing in Jesus. Even Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue came to faith.

In Acts 26, Paul had been taken prisoner and was giving his defense before King Agrippa. Paul tells of his conversion and his subsequent ministry. He finally comes to the point where he speaks directly at King Agrippa and says, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe” (26:27). Agrippa knew what Paul was trying to do. He knew that Paul was not merely telling his conversion story our of some desire to be set free. That is, sharing his story wasn’t merely utilitarian for Paul. No, Paul aimed to make Agrippa a disciple of Jesus. Agrippa responds, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” (26:28). Paul aimed to persuade his hearers that Jesus was the Christ so that they would follow him.

Finally, in 2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul reminds his readers that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” That day when we stand before the Judge of the Universe is coming. No one will escape that day of accounting. “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others” (5:11). Because judgment day is coming when every human person will give an account to God, Paul is in the business of persuasion. He wants his readers and everyone else to believe that “[Christ] has died for all, therefore all have died; and [Christ] died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for [Christ] who for their sake died and was raised” (5:14–15).

Persuasion, then, is fundamental to our calling as Christians. Jesus gave his disciples the mission of making disciples of all the nations (Matt 28). To fulfill that task, we must do more than merely invite people to church or simply tell people what Jesus has done for us. No, we tell the story of the gospel, share our testimonies, and invite people to our churches with the purpose of persuading them to believe in Jesus and be reconciled to God.

Persuasion and Belief

What we are doing, then, is trying to convince people to believe what we believe. We want them to accept what the Bible says about God’s creation of the world, humanity’s fall into sin, and the redeeming love that is found in Christ alone. That is, we want to convince them that the worldview of the Bible is true and that they should believe it.

To state this differently, we are calling people to faith in Christ. Faith is not antithetical to knowledge. Instead, the exercise of belief or faith in Christ contains certain propositional content. There are things to believe. There are realities to accept. There are propositions to understand and embrace. That is why theologians in the past have said that the nature of faith includes both knowledge (notitia) and assent (assensus). Faith, therefore, is no blind leap. It is a conviction that what the Bible says (i.e. revelation) about creation, fall, and redemption in Jesus is true. And part of the evangelistic enterprise is to persuade people that the content of the gospel message is true.

But we are doing more than trying to persuade people to intellectually assent to certain truth claims about Jesus. Historically, faith is said to also involve a personal trust (fiducia) in Christ to save. Our persuasion aims to lead sinful men and women to embrace Jesus as their savior, to trust him alone. It would do no good for someone to say they are intellectually aware of the facts about Jesus, agree with those facts, but fail to trust him for salvation. Knowing and agreeing with gospel realities does not save. Only when a person hears the content of the gospel, assents to the truthfulness of the gospel, and exercises their will to turn from sin to Jesus and trust in him as their Savior are they justified before a holy God (cf. Rom 5:1).

Finally, this trust in Jesus is not dispassionate (i.e. not influenced or affected by emotion). It is, to be sure, an exercise of the will. But this act of the will to trust Jesus is, to steal a phrase from John Calvin, a “warm embrace” of Christ. The eyes of the sinner have been opened. Though the “god of this world” had blinded us, “keep[ing] [us] from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4), God has worked within us to “give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (4:6). Though we were dead in our sins (Eph 2:1), God “made us alive” (2:5) and granted spiritual sight. We have seen who Jesus is. He is the Word, who was “with God” and “was God” (John 1:1). As God of very God, he is our “exceeding joy” (Ps 43:4). When we see him, we not only trust him to save us, we love what we see. In this sense, our trust in Jesus contains and element of love or affection. We lovingly trust one who is a delight to our eyes.

A Concluding Word

Christians are called to make disciples of all nations. That inherently includes practicing the art of persuasion. We want to win souls to Jesus. Towards that end, we are called to exert persuasive effort to lead others to believe what the Bible ways, to hear and understand the gospel message, and to trust in Jesus to save their souls. We want people in our neighborhood and the nations to warmly embrace Christ for their everlasting good and his eternal glory.

We all have those things in our lives that we are passionate about. Whether it is a sports team, a political position, or some other subject, we are serious about something. And, more often that not, when we are seriously passionate about that thing, we stand ready to persuade others to join us in loving or liking or doing that thing.

For Christians, the most central thing about us is our belief in Christ. I pray that we all would take our faith in Christ and submission to his Lordship and share it with others. Praying that by the power of the Spirit they would be persuaded to turn from their sin and trust in him.