Syllogizomai (G4817) is the root of the English syllogize — to reason through formal logic, to deliberate. Appearing only once in the NT (Luke 20:5), it describes the chief priests and scribes reasoning together about how to answer Jesus's question about John's baptism. They discussed: if they said from heaven, Jesus would ask why they did not believe John; if they said from man, they feared the crowd. Their reasoning was not truth-seeking but defensive calculation.
The appearance of syllogizomai in Luke 20:5 captures a profound irony: Israel's most educated theological experts used their syllogistic reasoning not to discern truth but to protect their position. They reasoned correctly — both answers to Jesus's question would expose them — but they reasoned for self-preservation, not revelation. The contrast is with the wisdom that comes from above (James 3:17) — pure, peaceable, reasonable in the right sense. Human logical reasoning is a gift; what determines its value is its orientation: toward self-protection or toward truth. Jesus, who asked the question they could not answer, is the Logos — the divine Reason in whom all true wisdom is hidden.