5 Examples of LOGIC (!) in God's Word!

 From time to time, you might hear someone say that God isn’t logical, or that logic is “man’s reasoning” and shouldn’t be used. In this case, of course, they attempt to contrast “man’s reasoning” with God’s reasoning.

As demonstrated in a previous blog post, these statements are presumptuous and impudent against our Creator. It is Almighty God who is logical and reasonable, and man who tends to be illogical, irrational, and short-sighted.

So here are a few examples of logical reasoning in God’s Word. There are far too many examples to list all of them — entire books, such as Ecclesiastes, are filled with logical reasoning — but we’ll look at some of them.

First, one of the simplest forms of logical reasoning is an “if-then” statement. If one thing is true, then it logically follows that something else is also true.

If you start with a correct premise and reason logically, then you will arrive at the right conclusion. If you start with a wrong premise and reason logically, then you will arrive at the wrong conclusion. As the saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out.”

Here’s a goofy example found in a geometry textbook. Given a wrong premise, that all chickens have three legs, we next discover that Henry Penny is a chicken. It logically follows, then, that Henry Penny has three legs. The logic is sound; the conclusion is wrong because the premise was wrong.

Believe it or not, God’s Word uses logical reasoning from both right premises and wrong ones in order to establish the truth. How? We’ll see momentarily!

Now, let’s take a look at our first example.

1. Matthew 7:7-11

In Mat. 7:7, Yeshua/Jesus begins with the statement, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Then, He proceeds to explain.

First, there’s an unspoken premise in this section, which is the premise that God is good. The whole Bible establishes this, so it’s not necessary to mention in this passage, but it is part of the thought process.

Next, the Savior says, “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?” (vv. 9-10).

Finally, He wraps up His explanation with an “if-then” statement: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (v. 11).

If even the wicked can be attentive to their children’s needs, then how much more will our perfect Father in heaven be attentive to us? It’s simple logic, and should leave no doubt in our minds that God is always available to those who seek Him. He won’t do everything we want, but He will do what’s best for us.

2. Matthew 12:22-30

In Mat. 12:22, Yeshua cast a demon out of a blind mute, and restored the person’s sight and ability to speak. The onlookers marveled, but the Pharisees were jealous. In an attempt to slander Jesus and protect their power over the people, they suggested, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons” (Mat. 12:24).

The Messiah answered this charge with logic and demonstrated the absurdity of the accusation. First, He established a basic premise: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (v. 25). He followed it up with an “if-then” statement: “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” (v. 26).

But He wasn’t done. Next, He pointed to the Pharisees’ hypocrisy, saying, “And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges” (v. 27).

As noted above, God’s Word sometimes demonstrates the absurdity of a false premise by showing the logical outcome of accepting it. This is one of those times. If the Pharisees accused Christ of casting out demons by the power of Satan, then the same could be said of them if they claimed to cast out demons.

Now, it’s obvious that human beings, of their own power, cannot cast out demons. Only someone more powerful than a demon could compel it to leave.

Having ruled out the possibility of casting out demons by Satan’s power, Jesus now pointed to the only remaining possibility: “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (v. 28). In other words, His power to cast out demons had to come from God.

3. Matthew 22:41-46

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes never fared well in their debates with Jesus. On one occasion in particular, He ambushed them with a question they couldn’t answer.

In Mat. 22:41-46, we find,

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” They said to Him, “The Son of David.”

43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:

44 ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?

45 “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?”

46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

Now Jesus was a descendant of David, but He had another point in mind. If the Messiah was no more than a common, physical descendant of David, then why would David call Him Lord?

The Pharisees couldn’t bring themselves to acknowledge the logical conclusion — that the Messiah was more than a man, that He was the Son of God — so they simply refused to answer the question at all.

We could go on with many more examples of Yeshua/Jesus using logical reasoning to confound His enemies, but let’s move on to some other examples in the New Testament.

4. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

In this passage, Paul shows that the whole Christian faith depends on belief in the resurrection of the dead. He does it by taking the false premise that there is no resurrection, and then demonstrating the logical outcome of that belief.

Paul laid it all out with a series of “if-then” statements:

• “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen” (1 Cor. 15:13)

• “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God” (vv. 14-15)

• “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished” (vv. 17-18)

• “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (v. 19)

It all boils down to this: If there’s no hope of resurrection or of a future life, then what’s the point of following Christ? Thus, the whole Christian faith hinges on the resurrection of the dead.

5. Hebrews 8:7

In the Book of Hebrews, the writer speaks of the need for the New Covenant and shows that the Old Covenant could never deliver salvation. He sums it up with this statement: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second” (Heb. 8:7).

Again, simple logic. One thing leads to another; one premise leads to another logical conclusion.

Hopefully, these examples demonstrate once and for all that the God we serve is a very logical Being, and that His Word is likewise logical. Our Creator gave us brains for a reason: He expects us to use them! He gave us the ability to use logic and reason for a purpose: He expects us to do so.

Yes, we must always trust God’s judgment over our own (Prov. 3:5). His thoughts are far above ours (Isa. 55:9). His capacity for logic, reason, mathematics, creativity, and every other thought process is far beyond anything we can even comprehend.

But without using the tools that God gave us — His Holy Spirit, His Word, and the brains He put in our heads — it’s impossible to understand what He wants of us. Without logic, it’s impossible to understand our Creator or His Word, because both are logical!