Is Faith in Jesus Logical and Reasonable?

Published On: October 16, 2025

In an age that prizes scientific thinking and empirical evidence, many dismiss faith in Jesus as intellectual surrender—a blind leap into comfortable fantasy. But is this characterisation fair?

Far from it, if you ask the Christian. The Christian tradition has always insisted faith and reason are allies, not enemies. Far from being irrational, faith in Jesus Christ represents the most coherent and well-founded response to reality itself…

FAITH AND REASON WORK TOGETHER

The Bible never asks us to believe without evidence. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”—note the word evidence. The apostle Peter commands believers to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). This isn’t the language of blind credulity.

Faith is trust based on sufficient grounds. We exercise faith constantly in our daily lives—trusting bridges to hold our weight, trusting pilots to fly planes safely—because evidence demonstrates their reliability. Similarly, faith in Christ is reasonable trust placed in a person whose trustworthiness is demonstrated through evidence, experience, and revelation.

THE UNIVERSE POINTS TO A RATIONAL CREATOR

Romans 1:19-20 declares that God’s “invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” Creation itself provides powerful evidence for a rational God.

The universe operates according to consistent mathematical laws.
DNA contains information—and information always requires an intelligent source.
The fine-tuning of physical constants necessary for life suggests intentional design rather than cosmic accident.

This matters profoundly: if a rational God created reality, then seeking Him through reason makes perfect sense. The order we observe in nature reflects the mind of an orderly Creator. Science depends on the assumption that the universe operates by consistent, discoverable principles. But consider this: why should we expect such consistency unless reality was designed by a rational Creator?

ALL REASONING REQUIRES FAITH

Here’s an often-overlooked truth: reason itself requires faith. Every system of thought rests on foundational assumptions that can’t be proven but must be accepted. Atheists have faith in the reliability of their senses, the uniformity of nature, and the validity of logical laws—yet none of these can be proven without circular reasoning.

Proverbs 1:7 states, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Reformed thinkers like Cornelius Van Til and Alvin Plantinga have demonstrated the Christian worldview uniquely provides the necessary foundation for rational thought.

Laws of logic reflect God’s consistent nature.
Moral reasoning finds grounding in God’s character.
Scientific inquiry assumes an ordered creation by a rational Creator.

Without God, these pillars of reason hang suspended over an abyss, with no foundation to support them.

PROPHECY AND HISTORY VALIDATE JESUS

Christianity rests on historical claims that can be investigated. Luke begins his Gospel by explaining he “carefully investigated everything from the beginning” based on eyewitness accounts (Luke 1:1-4). Paul appeals to over 500 witnesses of the resurrected Christ, most still alive when he wrote, effectively inviting fact-checking (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

The Old Testament contains remarkably specific prophecies fulfilled in Jesus:

Isaiah 53’s suffering servant
Psalm 22’s crucifixion details written centuries before crucifixion was invented
Daniel 9’s precise timing of Messiah’s coming.

The statistical probability of one person fulfilling all these prophecies and others like them by chance is astronomically remote.

Archaeological discoveries consistently validate biblical accounts. The historical reliability of Scripture exceeds that of other ancient documents by orders of magnitude. The transformation of Jesus’s disciples from terrified deserters to bold martyrs demands explanation—people don’t die for what they know is a lie.

THE GOSPEL RESOLVES HUMAN BROKENNESS

Christianity’s explanatory power extends beyond cosmology and history to the human condition itself. We all recognise something is deeply wrong with our world and ourselves. We pursue pleasure but find emptiness. We seek meaning but encounter absurdity. We crave justice but see wickedness triumph.

The gospel provides a logically coherent solution: humanity’s brokenness stems from rebellion against our Creator. Sin isn’t merely bad behaviour—it’s fractured relationship with the source of life itself. Jesus’ death and resurrection offer restoration: justice satisfied through substitutionary atonement, relationship restored through grace, human dignity affirmed through God becoming man.

No other worldview resolves this tension so comprehensively. Atheism struggles to ground objective morality or ultimate meaning. Eastern religions dissolve the self rather than redeem it. Only Christianity accounts for both human nobility (made in God’s image) and human depravity (corrupted by sin), offering real hope for transformation.

THE INTERNAL TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT

Reformed theology also recognises the Holy Spirit works internally to confirm truth. Jesus promised that “the Spirit of truth” would “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). This isn’t subjective emotionalism—it’s God enabling recognition of truth, working alongside external evidence. The Spirit’s witness explains why identical evidence convinces some while leaving others unmoved.

CONCLUSION

Faith in Jesus is eminently logical when properly understood. It’s supported by creation’s testimony and validated by fulfilled prophecy and historical evidence. It’s necessary as the foundation for reason itself, and confirmed through transformed lives across two millennia. The Acts 17:11 Bereans were commended for examining evidence carefully. That same honest investigation, undertaken with humility and openness, leads countless thinking people to rational faith in Christ.

So no, faith isn’t intellectual copout. Far from it. As Jeremiah 29:13 promises: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Reasonable faith begins with honest seeking—and discovers the God who made our minds, and His invitation to use them fully in knowing Him.

IS FAITH IN JESUS LOGICAL AND REASONABLE? RELATED FAQs

What did CS Lewis mean by his “Liar, Lord, or Lunatic” argument? CS Lewis argued Jesus’s claims to divinity leave only three options: He was either lying, delusional, or telling the truth. Since Jesus’ moral teachings and personal character make the first two options implausible, we must seriously consider He is who He claimed to be—Lord. This forces us to confront Jesus’s identity directly rather than dismissing Him as merely a “good moral teacher.”

How does Reformed theologian Francis Schaeffer connect faith to reality? Schaeffer argued Christianity uniquely corresponds to reality as we actually experience it—what he called “true truth.” He demonstrated secular worldviews cannot adequately explain personality, morality, or meaning, leading to philosophical despair. Only the Christian faith explains both the universe “out there” and our human experience “in here,” providing what Schaeffer called “substantial healing” for our fractured understanding of reality.
Did the apostles have anything to gain by fabricating Christianity? The apostles gained persecution, poverty, and martyrdom—hardly incentives for deception. They had everything to lose and nothing worldly to gain by proclaiming a resurrected Christ. The transformation from cowardly deserters to bold witnesses willing to die for their testimony is powerful evidence they genuinely believed what they preached, having encountered the risen Jesus firsthand.

What is the “transcendental argument” for God’s existence? Reformed apologist Cornelius Van Til developed this argument, showing that logic, science, and morality are only possible if God exists. Atheistic worldviews cannot account for universal, immaterial, unchanging laws of logic or objective moral standards. The very tools skeptics use to argue against God (reason, morality) actually require God’s existence to be meaningful—making atheism self-refuting.

How did Tim Keller address the problem of suffering and evil? Keller arguet the existence of evil actually requires God. We can only call something “evil” if an objective moral standard exists—but atheism provides no basis for objective morality. Furthermore, Christianity uniquely offers a God who entered into human suffering through Christ’s crucifixion, providing both philosophical answers and emotional comfort that no other worldview can match.
What role does the “sensus divinitatis” play in Reformed apologetics? John Calvin taught that all of us possess an innate “sense of the divine”—an inborn awareness of God that sin has suppressed but not erased. Alvin Plantinga developed this into Reformed epistemology, arguing that belief in God can be “properly basic” like belief in other minds or the external world. This means faith in God can be rational even without arguments, though arguments certainly support and confirm what we intuitively recognise.

How does the resurrection of Jesus differ from other religious miracle claims? Unlike myths that developed over centuries, the resurrection was proclaimed immediately in Jerusalem where it could be easily disproved if false. The empty tomb was never disputed by Jesus’s enemies—they accused the disciples of stealing the body rather than denying it was empty. Multiple independent sources, the inclusion of women as first witnesses (embarrassing in that culture), and the disciples’ radical transformation provide historical evidence unmatched by miracle claims in other religions, which typically lack eyewitness testimony and historical verifiability.

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