As we start this "defence of the Gospel," we need to know what the Gospel is and why we need to defend it. The Apostle Paul believed that it was necessary to defend the Gospel in his day. He wrote: Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. And again he wrote, saying: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. In order to be able to defend the Gospel, we need to personally be saved, and know the doctrine of salvation in depth. We must learn and be well taught in all aspects of the Gospel. We must be experts on the subject of what God did to save our souls, as well as what man must do in order to be saved. When studying the doctrine of salvation, which is the meaning of the term soteriology, we must understand that knowledge of this doctrine will define how we would preach the Gospel.