Do the laws of logic transcend the universe?

3 Apr 2023

The laws of logic must transcend the universe. They cannot be classified as creation. The created order consists of three parts of material, space, and time. As Genesis 1 teaches, God created the heavens and the earth ex nihilo – from nothing. The immaterial triune God did exist, for there the Spirit of God hovered. Yet, before God created all things by speaking, time space, and material did not exist.

There are only two options, either: (a) the laws of logic are created, that is, there are only found within a universe of time, space, and material. Alternatively, (b) they not created, that is, they precede time, are universal, and they transcend the material universe.

Only (b) correctly depicts the true being of the laws of logic. 

It is clear that Logic must transcend the material of the world. One can only observe the material world via empirical means, that is, through the five senses. However, the laws of logic cannot be proved via empiricism. In fact, the laws of logic are not substantival, they are abstract. There is no such thing as the non-contradiction particle, or the identity atom. If I close my eyes, and simply begin with the proposition “I exist,” I am directly employing the use of the law of identity. Thus, I have discovered a law of logic without the five senses, and thus the laws of logic are not material.

Logic is not within space but transcends location. The laws of logic exist and apply, regardless of geographic location. As the law of non-contradiction states, a tree is a tree and not a stone, whether we are in China, Brazil or Australia. A planet keeps its identity in every galaxy. Furthermore, one must accept that the laws of logic go beyond our universe, for it is the law of identity that makes God distinct from his creation.

Logic precedes time. There are three proofs of this concept: 

Firstly, if the law of logic did not exist before the creation of the world, in eternity, then, God could not decree anything before the creation of the world. In order for God to have decreed our salvation, as Ephesians 1 teaches, then in the mind of God the decree of election must be distinguished via the law of identity from other decrees, and the law of contradiction must be true, for a decree must be able to be a decree and not a non-decree. 

Secondly, if the laws of logic did not exist before the creation of the world then God could not have been eternally triune. In order for the father is not the son, the son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father, the laws of logic must have existed. 

Thirdly, if the laws of logic did not exist before the creation of the world, then God in eternity could have never made the decision to create the world. The decision to create must be distinguishable from the decision to not create. It is only once the laws of logic that God can act in an intelligible way.

Logic therefore must transcend the universe, and have being in God himself.