The Laws of Logic

What They Are

The laws of logic are the rules every person uses to think, whether we have heard their names or not. We use them when we check a receipt, follow directions, or notice that a story does not add up.

Three of them hold up the rest:

• A thing is what it is. That is UnrollThe Law of Identity.
• A claim and its opposite cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. That is UnrollThe Law of Non-Contradiction.
• A claim is either true or false, with no third option. That is UnrollThe Law of Excluded Middle.

No one can argue against them without using them. If someone says, "The laws of logic are false," he means his sentence is true and its opposite is false. He has used the very laws he is denying.

Where They Come From

Why should the world follow rules of thought at all? The Bible's answer is the character of God.

John opens his Gospel this way:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

The Greek word for Word is logos. Our word logic comes from it. John was not writing a logic textbook. But the One through whom "all things were made" John 1:3 is not confused, and the world He made is not either.

God does not contradict Himself. "God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind." Numbers 23:19 Hebrews says "it is impossible for God to lie." Hebrews 6:18 Paul says, "He cannot deny Himself." 2 Timothy 2:13

So God does not obey the laws of logic as a rule handed to Him from outside. They describe the way He is.

Why It Matters for Reading the Bible

God invites us to think. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. Isaiah 1:18 Paul "reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving" that the Christ had to suffer and rise. Acts 17:2-3 The Bereans "examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true." Acts 17:11

That is also why a real contradiction would matter. If the Bible said something was true and false at the same time and in the same sense, one of those sentences would be wrong. Christians do not get to shrug at that. We are told to "test all things." 1 Thessalonians 5:21

That is the test the Supposed Contradictions are put to. Most of them fail on the words "same time and same sense." The lesson on Contradictions names the kinds of difference that cause it.

When an argument goes wrong, it usually goes wrong in a few familiar ways. Those are in Logical Fallacies.

How We Hold It

Logic is a tool. It can show that a claim does not hold together. It cannot make anyone want God, and it does not replace faith.

Peter puts the two side by side. "In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord." Then, "Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you." And he finishes, "respond with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15

Christ first. Reasons ready. And gentleness the whole way through.