Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 29:4 (Dec 1986)
Article: Of Logic And Lordship: The Validity Of A Categorical Syllogism Supporting Christ’s Deity
Author: Francis J. Beckwith

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JETS 29:4 (December 1986) p. 429

Of Logic And Lordship: The Validity Of A Categorical Syllogism Supporting Christ’s Deity

Francis J. Beckwith*

In attempting to demonstrate the Biblical basis for Christ’s deity to their students—in order to train them to properly respond to the objections of pseudo-Christian sects—theological professors often appeal to the classical passages (e.g. John 1:1). Although this can be extremely helpful, I believe that there is a very good argument (to my knowledge, unknown to cultists) based on the use of a valid categorical syllogism with its premises extracted from Biblical passages pertaining to Yahweh’s role in creation.

I. A Valid Categorical Syllogism

In logic there is a fallacy known as the fallacy of undistributed middle, which occurs when a term found in each premise of the syllogism is not properly distributed. For example:

All horses are four-legged creatures;
all cows are four-legged creatures;
therefore, all horses are cows.

In order for the middle term—”four-legged creatures”—to be properly distributed, it would have to be preceded in the first term by the phrase “all the”:

All horses are all the four-legged creatures;
all cows are four-legged creatures;
therefore, all horses are cows.

By adjusting the argument with the universal phrase “all the,” it has become valid (although it is unsound because the first premise is untrue). Hence for a categorical syllogism to be valid the middle term must be distributed—i.e., universalized by a term or phrase such as “all,” “no,” or “in every possible world”—in one of the premises.

II. The Biblical Passages1

Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, he who formed you in the womb: I, myself, Yahweh, made all things, I alone spread out the heavens. When I gave the earth shape, did anyone help me? (Isa 44:24; italics mine).

*Francis Beckwith is a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate in philosophy at Fordham University in New York City.

JETS 29:4 (December 1986) p. 430

Through him [Christ] all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him (John 1:3).

For in him [Christ] were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers—all things were created through him and for him (Col 1:6).

The first passage,

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