Scriptures and Logic
Introduction. Many colleges offer a course called “Logic” to help students learn the principles of inference and deduction. They define logic as “the science of reasoning, ... called inferring... The reasoning process may be thought of as beginning with input (premises, data, etc.) and producing output (conclusions).” These principles are fundamental to not only science, but most disciplines. When all facts (input) are gathered, inferences and deductions drawn from them will always be true. Doctors are trained in logical deduction to create a diagnosis. Lawyers use logical inferences and analysis to create their defense. Detectives use logical inferences and deductions to find the guilty. In this article we will explore how Christians must also use logic, inferences and deduction to find the truth.
The Sadducees needed a course in deduction. They had formed a conclusion based on faulty and incomplete data. Using a single scripture (Deut. 25:5-6), they had made an inference and drawn a conclusion. Wanting each tribe to remain intact, God had made a law that when a man died childless, his brother should take her as his wife and raise up a child for his dead brother, “that his name be not blotted out of Israel.” Using this law, they created a hypothetical situation where a woman ended up with seven husbands from among the brothers. They reasoned that since a woman could not have seven husbands after the resurrection, there was no resurrection (Mk. 12:18-27). They thought they could entrap Jesus with this reasoning and conclusion.
Jesus destroyed their conclusion by showing them true logic. He began by rebuking them for their ignorance of Scripture. First, He revealed that in the resurrection, everyone raised will be like angels and marriage will cease. This made their conclusion false and wrong. Second, He used the passage about Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3. When God told Moses “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” He was also revealing they were still alive. Since God can’t be “the God of the dead but of the living,” there was no dispute. As recorded in Genesis, their deaths centuries earlier only ended their earthly life. A new life awaited them and had begun. This unassailable logic amazed the multitudes and put them to silence. He then rebuked them again: “You are therefore greatly mistaken.” Jesus could have inferred the same thing from Enoch being taken (Heb. 11:5)
Jesus was the Master teacher! All disciples must learn from His example. Divisions over Scripture are always based on faulty reasoning. As it was in the days of Jesus and the Sadducees, so it is today. After carefully sifting all the facts found in Scripture, all inferences should lead to unity and truth. This is exactly what Paul told Timothy he must do. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2Tim. 2:15).
There are many examples of how logic was used in the Scriptures. When Moses and Aaron found the bodies of Nadab and Abihu, Moses immediately understood the problem: “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’” (Lev. 10:3). The facts were clear to him. First, knowing God’s righteousness and mercy, their death proved their sin. Moses then inferred from this that the “unauthorized and profane” fire they had offered did not treat God as holy and did not give Him the proper glory and respect. With Jesus’ warning that God still demands worship done in truth, we too must infer that all modifications today will fail for exactly the same reasons (Jn. 4:23-24; Jude 11).
David too was forced to search the Scriptures for an answer. After God struck Uzzah dead in 1 Chron. 15 while they were bringing the ark to Jerusalem, David too inferred they had failed to treat God as holy or glorify Him as God. They had failed just as Nadab and Abihu. He didn’t know why yet, but he was determined to find out. As he searched the Scriptures, he found God’s words to Moses per Num. 7:6-9 - no carts were to be given to Kohath because they were to carry the ark on their shoulders. With all the facts now in his hands, He could draw the right conclusion: “No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites.” “For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.” (1Chron. 15:2-13). There was a proper order and they had failed to seek it. That is what caused the death of Uzzah.
What Jesus, Moses, and David did we all must do. Only by approaching the Scriptures with logic and inputting all the data the Scriptures give on any topic can we draw the right conclusions. When all disciples do this, there will always be a single right conclusion leading to unity. The Holy Spirit revealed that this is the only way to approach division. Brethren must “all speak the same thing,” and there must be “no divisions among them.” When Scripture is approached logically, by inputting all the facts and then inferring the true conclusion, all Christians can “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1Cor. 1:10)
Since Jesus prayed that this would always be the outcome, this must also be our approach. The Holy Spirit was sent to reveal all truth to His apostles so “that they may be one as we are one.” All future disciples must also be united on the truths they revealed. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one,” “that they may be one even as we are one.” (Jn. 17:1-23). As Moses and David did, all disciples today must search through the Scriptures to find the reason for any division and remove it. When we have the same facts and draw the same conclusions, we will have unity on all doctrine.
There is no exception to this unity! When logic is used in closed systems like math and Scripture only one right answer is possible. Truth is rigid and always exclusive. Take the simple equation “2+2 = ?”. There can only be one right answer. Logic demands that with an input of 2 and another 2 added, the answer is 4. Any other number will always be wrong, no matter how many believe it. Since Jesus proved by example and in His prayer that inspired Scripture follows the patterns of logic, there is only one right answer. A division proves faulty logic. Once the Holy Spirit “guided them into all truth,” logic must reign. It is a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit to deny this, because once He accomplished what Jesus sent Him to do, division was only possible with error and sin.
Jesus and His apostles affirmed this logic many times. “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (Jn. 8:31-32). All logical conclusions must be formed exclusively from the facts in His word. When only those facts are used, all will come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved just as God desired (1Tim. 2:4). Only those who do not abide in His word will bring division as they add human wisdom to Scripture (2Jn. 9). All additional “facts” will always lead to a different conclusion, but it will always be a lie, never truth. “They will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2Tim. 3:16-4:4). Using anything outside of Jesus’ words is false data, and any conclusions drawn based on that data always “exchanged the truth of God for the lie.” (Rom. 1:25). Jesus warned the Scribes and Pharisees that any doctrine based on human tradition can lead only to fables and vain worship (Mt. 15:3-15).
The logic of this is unassailable. When Jesus’ disciples have the same love for the truth as a doctor or lawyer, they will draw conclusions based exclusively on facts. Since only the Scriptures contain these facts, Scripture is the only place to look for them. Even the most inexperienced detective knows that you will not find evidence about a crime by examining a scene that has nothing to do with the crime. When Eve sought evidence from Satan instead of God, her inferences that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes and desired to make one wise were not based on the truth of God’s word. When Eve used the logic of Satan’s lies instead of the logic of the truth, she died. All disciples who do not love the truth found exclusively in God’s word will be caught up in the same labyrinth of Satan’s lies. Thus, “all unrighteous deception among those who perish” is always caused by one thing: “Because they did not receive the love of the truth.” Those who love the truth know that truth can only be found in Scripture. If that fact eludes them, they will remain deceived by lies and ultimately perish (Gen. 3; Jn. 17:17; 2Th. 2:10).
Conclusion. The divisions among those who call themselves Christians is not only sinful, it is also illogical. It violates Jesus’ prayer for unity and the Holy Spirit’s plea that there be no divisions. Division is a surrender to the illogical conclusion that the Bible can’t be understood, is not clear enough, or is not the only place where truth can be found. Since the Bible is the inspired word of God and a precise discipline with only one answer to every question, there can’t be a division unless one or both sides are using the wrong facts, drawing the wrong conclusion, and turning aside to fables.
The Sadducees needed a course in deduction. They had formed a conclusion based on faulty and incomplete data. Using a single scripture (Deut. 25:5-6), they had made an inference and drawn a conclusion. Wanting each tribe to remain intact, God had made a law that when a man died childless, his brother should take her as his wife and raise up a child for his dead brother, “that his name be not blotted out of Israel.” Using this law, they created a hypothetical situation where a woman ended up with seven husbands from among the brothers. They reasoned that since a woman could not have seven husbands after the resurrection, there was no resurrection (Mk. 12:18-27). They thought they could entrap Jesus with this reasoning and conclusion.
Jesus destroyed their conclusion by showing them true logic. He began by rebuking them for their ignorance of Scripture. First, He revealed that in the resurrection, everyone raised will be like angels and marriage will cease. This made their conclusion false and wrong. Second, He used the passage about Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3. When God told Moses “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” He was also revealing they were still alive. Since God can’t be “the God of the dead but of the living,” there was no dispute. As recorded in Genesis, their deaths centuries earlier only ended their earthly life. A new life awaited them and had begun. This unassailable logic amazed the multitudes and put them to silence. He then rebuked them again: “You are therefore greatly mistaken.” Jesus could have inferred the same thing from Enoch being taken (Heb. 11:5)
Jesus was the Master teacher! All disciples must learn from His example. Divisions over Scripture are always based on faulty reasoning. As it was in the days of Jesus and the Sadducees, so it is today. After carefully sifting all the facts found in Scripture, all inferences should lead to unity and truth. This is exactly what Paul told Timothy he must do. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2Tim. 2:15).
There are many examples of how logic was used in the Scriptures. When Moses and Aaron found the bodies of Nadab and Abihu, Moses immediately understood the problem: “This is what the Lord spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’” (Lev. 10:3). The facts were clear to him. First, knowing God’s righteousness and mercy, their death proved their sin. Moses then inferred from this that the “unauthorized and profane” fire they had offered did not treat God as holy and did not give Him the proper glory and respect. With Jesus’ warning that God still demands worship done in truth, we too must infer that all modifications today will fail for exactly the same reasons (Jn. 4:23-24; Jude 11).
David too was forced to search the Scriptures for an answer. After God struck Uzzah dead in 1 Chron. 15 while they were bringing the ark to Jerusalem, David too inferred they had failed to treat God as holy or glorify Him as God. They had failed just as Nadab and Abihu. He didn’t know why yet, but he was determined to find out. As he searched the Scriptures, he found God’s words to Moses per Num. 7:6-9 - no carts were to be given to Kohath because they were to carry the ark on their shoulders. With all the facts now in his hands, He could draw the right conclusion: “No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites.” “For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order.” (1Chron. 15:2-13). There was a proper order and they had failed to seek it. That is what caused the death of Uzzah.
What Jesus, Moses, and David did we all must do. Only by approaching the Scriptures with logic and inputting all the data the Scriptures give on any topic can we draw the right conclusions. When all disciples do this, there will always be a single right conclusion leading to unity. The Holy Spirit revealed that this is the only way to approach division. Brethren must “all speak the same thing,” and there must be “no divisions among them.” When Scripture is approached logically, by inputting all the facts and then inferring the true conclusion, all Christians can “be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1Cor. 1:10)
Since Jesus prayed that this would always be the outcome, this must also be our approach. The Holy Spirit was sent to reveal all truth to His apostles so “that they may be one as we are one.” All future disciples must also be united on the truths they revealed. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one,” “that they may be one even as we are one.” (Jn. 17:1-23). As Moses and David did, all disciples today must search through the Scriptures to find the reason for any division and remove it. When we have the same facts and draw the same conclusions, we will have unity on all doctrine.
There is no exception to this unity! When logic is used in closed systems like math and Scripture only one right answer is possible. Truth is rigid and always exclusive. Take the simple equation “2+2 = ?”. There can only be one right answer. Logic demands that with an input of 2 and another 2 added, the answer is 4. Any other number will always be wrong, no matter how many believe it. Since Jesus proved by example and in His prayer that inspired Scripture follows the patterns of logic, there is only one right answer. A division proves faulty logic. Once the Holy Spirit “guided them into all truth,” logic must reign. It is a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit to deny this, because once He accomplished what Jesus sent Him to do, division was only possible with error and sin.
Jesus and His apostles affirmed this logic many times. “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (Jn. 8:31-32). All logical conclusions must be formed exclusively from the facts in His word. When only those facts are used, all will come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved just as God desired (1Tim. 2:4). Only those who do not abide in His word will bring division as they add human wisdom to Scripture (2Jn. 9). All additional “facts” will always lead to a different conclusion, but it will always be a lie, never truth. “They will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2Tim. 3:16-4:4). Using anything outside of Jesus’ words is false data, and any conclusions drawn based on that data always “exchanged the truth of God for the lie.” (Rom. 1:25). Jesus warned the Scribes and Pharisees that any doctrine based on human tradition can lead only to fables and vain worship (Mt. 15:3-15).
The logic of this is unassailable. When Jesus’ disciples have the same love for the truth as a doctor or lawyer, they will draw conclusions based exclusively on facts. Since only the Scriptures contain these facts, Scripture is the only place to look for them. Even the most inexperienced detective knows that you will not find evidence about a crime by examining a scene that has nothing to do with the crime. When Eve sought evidence from Satan instead of God, her inferences that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes and desired to make one wise were not based on the truth of God’s word. When Eve used the logic of Satan’s lies instead of the logic of the truth, she died. All disciples who do not love the truth found exclusively in God’s word will be caught up in the same labyrinth of Satan’s lies. Thus, “all unrighteous deception among those who perish” is always caused by one thing: “Because they did not receive the love of the truth.” Those who love the truth know that truth can only be found in Scripture. If that fact eludes them, they will remain deceived by lies and ultimately perish (Gen. 3; Jn. 17:17; 2Th. 2:10).
Conclusion. The divisions among those who call themselves Christians is not only sinful, it is also illogical. It violates Jesus’ prayer for unity and the Holy Spirit’s plea that there be no divisions. Division is a surrender to the illogical conclusion that the Bible can’t be understood, is not clear enough, or is not the only place where truth can be found. Since the Bible is the inspired word of God and a precise discipline with only one answer to every question, there can’t be a division unless one or both sides are using the wrong facts, drawing the wrong conclusion, and turning aside to fables.