Reasoning

by Terry Wane Benton

The exercise of thought upon ideas to sort the true from the false, the stronger idea from the weaker idea. It is thinking through the available evidence to reach a conclusion. The book of John sets forth a propositional statement that says God came in human flesh, then reasons from one piece of testimony to another to prove the proposition is actually true. God either did come in the flesh, or He did not. John reasons upon testimonial evidence to conclude that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. There is reason for faith in Jesus Christ. It is not a blind leap of unreasonable faith. Some can be unreasonable, but the basis for trust in Jesus is not unreasonable.

Those who use reasoning take the words Jesus spoke and reach the necessary inference that only God could have sent Him, and Jesus spoke things that only God could promise and fulfill. We take the eyewitness testimony of His miracles and necessarily infer that “no man can do these miracles except God be with Him.” We take the prophets' words about the coming Messiah, compare them to Jesus, and reach the necessary implication that only Jesus could be the prophesied Messiah of the Jews’ scriptures. We conclude that Jesus is the Christ of God, and He is divine. The evidence clearly implies it, and there is no other option because of the total evidence. Therefore, it is a necessary inference and an inescapable conclusion.