Beware of debating the truth of the Gospel when the unbeliever doesn't yet have a basic intellectual grasp of the grace of the cross. We should ask ourselves, "Does this lost soul think I'm trying to win him or her to a 'Christ' who is not God? To a 'Gospel' of earning one's salvation? Before I run headlong into rational arguments, do they know what I am battling for?"

As evangelicals we agree that we must win unbelievers to the real Christ and the real Gospel, or not even bother. So, before giving them any logical reasons to believe we must first- at God's sovereign appointment- explain to them the Gospel, and Who Christ is, and that there is one God Who is three infinite Persons. We must explain as much of it as they will stand at the time. If these things are not spelled out up front then we may well be laboring to get them to believe something that we ourselves would never want to believe!

Hopefully it will be enough for them simply for us to patiently and lovingly explain to them the profound basics. The power of the Word and the explanatory breadth and depth of the Christian worldview may itself bring the person to their knees before Christ. It is its' own argument! It carries its' own persuasive power. Its' own converting power- Divine power. So, love requires that we continually return to the Word of God in seeking to be an instrument of the unbeliever’s conversion. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1: 16.) Many people would believe if they just knew what the true Gospel message was!

In our pursuit of showing how logical Christianity is we sometimes forget that there is a great fog which lays over the understanding of unbelievers that no logic can pierce by itself. Unbelievers need to miraculously hear the Voice of the one true God speaking in the Gospel. The Gospel cuts through, and echoes through the fog of sinful unbelief. If by God’s grace they will really listen to the glorious Voice they will also see the Speaker Himself, looming in the mist, then breaking through it with redeeming love. They will see the royal, bright, and shadowless Christ, and will know beyond doubt- supernaturally- that all beliefs not consistent with this One Person are surely false.

Explain the glorious Gospel- it is our hope. As a rule of thumb, let us ask first to be heard just on the substance and content of the Gospel. Nothing else. Then, if necessary, persuade their minds of the truth by logical, gentle, argumentation.