Circular Reasoning and the Illogical Step of Faith

This past Friday, as I do most weekdays, I listened to the daily podcast “The Briefing” by Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. And, as he does most Fridays, he spends the latter half of the episode answering listener emails. In this particular episode (3/17/2023), a listener asked about giving an argument for the Scriptures being God’s Word that does not use circular reasoning. Dr. Mohler made a good point in that most anything and everything, it always comes back to circular reasoning in some way or another, not just the arguments for the infallibility of Scriptures.

We believe that the Word of God is the Word of God because the Word of God says it is, and therefore we believe it. I completely understand where the listening is coming from in his question, and I understand the answer that Dr. Mohler gave on this episode of The Briefing. However, I strongly feel that he missed a great opportunity to move away from circular reasoning, away from human logic, and closer to the divine. What way is that? The only way we can “escape” circular reasoning: Faith. Faith is how we are saved, and I know that Dr. Mohler knows and believes this. But faith is also how we take circular reasoning and point it to the divine. Faith is the worldly-illogical step that those drawn to God take, moving away from knowledge and towards knowing. We must remember, there is a vast chasm between the knowledge of God and knowing the Savior.

So, the next time you find yourself trying to use human logic to explain Scripture and you end up frustrating yourself (I have found myself in this position many times!), remember that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). While there have been many archaeological discoveries as of late that bring light to the reality of Biblical history, it will always be that step of faith, the illogically wonderful step of faith through which we are saved (Ephesians 2:8)!