As current culture continues to dismantle the imago Dei, successful evangelism requires the church to raise up biblically sound, intellectually strong Christians capable of teaching more than Christian doctrine. To engage with and counter cultural assaults, church leaders have an obligation to instill a biblical standard of how to think and not merely what to think.
While the larger context of the relationship between faith and reason usually enjoys center stage when discussing logic and Scripture, a narrower focus on specific arguments in Scripture proves beneficial. This paper considers three New Testament examples to argue that biblical authors, in addition to cherishing Scripture, held a high view of logic and reason such that logic and reason are authoritative in the life of both the believer and non–believer.
When addressing unregenerate Jewish leaders, Jesus had several different replies available (e.g., Scripture, parable, rebuke). Instead of using one of these more common responses, Jesus employed a constructive dilemma embedded within a question to expose these men as failed leaders (Lk 20:1–8).
Paul’s defense of the resurrection of Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 is central to the Christian faith. In this chapter, Paul incorporated an extended defense of the resurrection in which his use of logic and reason is notable. First Corinthians 15:13–14 employs a hypothetical syllogism format to reason to the truth and defense of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus directly in refence to heresy. In 2 Peter 2, Peter utilized an extended conditional clause to alleviate the fears of the saints by showing they will be taken care of even as the ungodly are punished (vv. 4–10a).
Consistent with wider scholarship, the position of this paper maintains that logic is part of the nature of God, thereby establishing it as authoritative in the life of both the believer and non–believer just as other characteristics of God are authoritative. The authoritative nature of logic and reason, hereafter logic, are consistent with but never overriding the written Word due to the distinct nature of each. This is, due to the fact that logic is a part of the nature of God while the written Word reflects the nature and will of God.