Coherent (def.): clear, consistent, logical and reasonable (equitable/just). Coherent things are intelligible, they make sense. Christ Covenant Church seeks to a place that possesses coherent Christianity. The reason for this endeavor is the following: 1. Coherency is essential to the confirmation of something as truth especially as it relates to what you believe. 1.1. In Philosophy this is known as the Coherence Theory of Truth: an individual proposition (or belief) is only true if it is coherent with existing propositions or a system of propositions (or beliefs) already determined to be true (e.g.,) I [Scott Jarrett] am 54 going on 55. For that belief to be true, then it must cohere with other beliefs or truths such as: 1. My birth date is 11/1/69, 2. I am still alive. My statement/proposition (54 going on 55) sb considered true b/c it is logically coherent. 1.2. That coherency is essential to truth (or what we believe to be true) can be seen by considering Satan’s first attack against humanity. It was an attack on the coherency of God’s words (Gen 3:1-5) = Satan’s contribution to humanity’s first act of rebellion was his ability to get our original parents to believe that what He had said was incoherent. This then is the power of incoherency (and once more, why coherency is so essential): incoherency leads to distrust and ultimately open rebellion against God.1.3. As humans, we have been hard-wired to trust only those things that are coherent: that make sense because they are clear, consistent, logical and reasonable (Pro 29:18 “vision” [Heb., hazon = Prophetic vision that makes clear or coherent what God’s people are to do]) = Without such coherency, God’s people will be “unrestrained” in their moral behavior. IOW: they will become distrustful and disobedient to God’s Law. This is confirmed also by the author’s response to the first couplet (“But happy is he who keeps the law [Heb., torah = God’s special revelation or message – most especially His Law). When God’s Word -or what we believe about it is coherent (clear, consistent, logical and reasonable), it is much easier to trust it and obey His laws. 2. If the Bible is truth, then what it teaches (and Christianity believes) must be coherent[1]. 2.1. Jesus testifies to the Bible (or God’s Word) as truth (Joh 17:17).2.2. Jesus also testifies to the Bible’s coherency (Deu 30:11-14; Joh 1:1 “Word” [Grk., logos = Logic, the coherent word; in re: to the mind it refers to the function of reason/logic and calculation]) = Jesus’ identity as the divine Logos (“Word”) communicates to us not only the nature of God (as logical or coherent) but also the nature of Scripture (God’s divine written words – OT, NT): they are likewise logical (or coherent) giving us (humans made in the image of our logical/coherent God) the ability to know Him w/certainty (v18 “explained” [Grk., exegeomai = Exegesis; coherent explanation). [2] 2.3. Jesus uses logic – or the Law of Noncontradiction [A ≠ non-A][3] to prove the existence of life after death/resurrection and His deity – Mat 22:31-32 [Jesus also confirms plenary inspiration]; Mat 22:41-46)[4].2.4. Paul likewise uses a logical syllogism to prove the necessity of the resurrection to salvation/Christianity (1Co 15:12-20). 2.5. Other passages related to the Bible’s teaching as coherent (Psa 19:7b-9, 119:105; 2Ti 3:15-16 = None of these texts are truthful unless what the Bible teaches is indeed coherent; 1Pe 3:15 “defense” [Grk., apologia = Out of logic]).2.6. To say that the Bible’s teaching is coherent is not the same as saying that it is not (at times) difficult to understand (e.g., 2Pe 3:15-17) = According to Peter, the reason Paul could be difficult was not due to incoherency (i.e., what he wrote was unclear, inconsistent, illogical or unreasonable) but rather the moral instability (“unstable”) and intellectual deficiency (“untaught”) of others (“unprincipled men”).2.7. Oftentimes the incoherent (and therefore false) doctrines believed by many Christians today are labeled as incomprehensible. Incomprehensibility however is not the same as incoherency. The difference between the two from the standpoint of cognitive understanding is experience versus intellect. Though what is incomprehensible can be intelligible (it can be understood intellectually), it is beyond that person’s ability to understand experientially (e.g., hell). By contrast, what is incoherent fails to be something that can be understood both by experience and intellect (e.g., 2 + 2 = 3).[5] 2.8. Finally, coherency is necessary not only to our knowledge of God, but to distinguishing between the divine and the demonic. “If a transcendent God really does have a logic all His own, no criteria can exist in the realm of the transcendent to distinguish between Yahweh and Satan.” – Nash (ibid) “If the law of non-contradiction is irrelevant in the sphere of ...
