The 'Jesus the Logician' Project: Matthew 9:2-7, Mark 2:3-12, Luke 5:18-25
January 16th, 2005 | 09:50 PM |(5 years, 6 months, 2 weeks, 9 hours, 35 minutes ago)
These three passages all cover the same event with only minor variations in wording. Here is the incident as Luke recorded it:
And behold, some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in, and to set him down in front of Him. And not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, right in the center, in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” — He said to the paralytic — “I say to you, rise, and take up your stretcher and go home.” And at once he rose up before them, and took up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.
(Luke 5:18-25, NASB)
Jesus’ logic in this passage is an example of the sorites logical form. (Sorites is multiple enthymeme arguments strung together to reach the same type of conclusion.)
Here is how Jesus’ reasoning works in this passage:
| 1. | The scribes and Pharisees started with the major premise that only God can forgive sins. | A = B |
| 2. | Jesus stated a related major premise which the scribes and Pharisees also agreed with: Only God can heal the paralyzed man. | C = B |
| 3. | Jesus then demonstrated that he could heal the man by doing so. | C = D |
| 4. | Healing the man proved that he was God. | D = B |
| 5. | Thus, he proved that he has the authority to forgive sins. | D = A |
It’s also interesting to note that Jesus also used a bit of anthypophora logic in this incident. By starting with the statement that the man’s sins were forgiven, Jesus raises the initial question of whether or not he actually has the authority to forgive sins, and thus whether or not he is equal to God. Even though he didn’t ask the question to be answered, he made a statement which caused the scribe and Pharisees ask the question in their own minds.
(This article has been posted to the ‘Jesus the Logician’ Project.)
