As taught by Timothy O'Day. In this equipping time lesson, we learn about the Bible's sufficiency for counseling.
The Bible Is The Counselor's Sufficient Tool
#3 in a series on Counseling in the Church
Acknowledging the Sensitivity of the Topic
Today I want to help you see that the Bible is the counselor's sufficient tool in the task of counseling. By that I mean it is the only tool necessary to help people with their questions, problems, and troubles. For many, claim makes sense. For many others, it is offensive.
Before I take us into the subject matter of our lesson this morning, I want to start by acknowledging the fact that the topic of sufficiency is a sensitive topic for many. To some, that may sound strange, but in due course you will understand. Counseling by nature is a sensitive topic because it is a discussion of how to help people with their deepest problems. And there are serious problems in this world, problems that are difficult to understand and even more difficult to address. Moreover, there are bad counselors in the world that try to address these problems.
So when people with problems encounter people who, in claiming that the Bible is a sufficient means of dealing with their problems, give them very bad counsel, the sufficiency of the Bible in regard to counseling is called into question. In addition to this, many people—Christians included—go to secular counselors and find help for their problems. So to say that the Bible is sufficient also comes across as an attack on those that many find helpful. I found myself in such a situation once in a group setting. I was with an organization that was making a recommendation on hiring a counselor to keep on retainer for various churches to use. When I recommended we contract with a biblical counselor, there was a woman who vehemently disagreed. In the course of our conversation, it came out that she had visited a biblical counselor and had received what I have to call very poor counsel. This counselor, for this woman, had poisoned the well.
Being a sensitive topic, I will aim to be sensitive but clear in what I have to say. I simply ask that you would aim to be understanding and patient with me as I talk about these matters because, simply put, we live in an age where many (most?) Christians do not believe the Bible is sufficient for counseling and think that we need to submit to secular counseling assumptions, techniques, and goals.
Why We Need to Talk about Sufficiency
Since we live in this kind of age, we need to talk about the sufficiency of the Bible. As I said last week, as Christians Scripture is our authority. The Bible is God’s word, so it is everyone’s authority whether they recognize it or not. God’s authority is not an insufficient authority that leaves us looking to other authorities. We can look to Scripture and find what we need. Before jumping into talking about sufficiency, let me give you two reasons why we need to talk about the sufficiency of the Bible when we talk about counseling.
First, every counseling system is undergirded by theology. Every counseling system is built on beliefs about God, human nature, human purpose, and the goal of life. Or, like I said last week, every counseling system has a belief about human identity, the human problem, and the human goal that will shape the assumptions undergirding how they think and treat problems, and how they assess success with those problems.
Secular systems, even when practiced by Christians, will inevitably bring in secular assumptions into counseling. This does not mean that secular counseling systems get everything wrong. It does mean, however, that they necessarily get things wrong.
Second, biblical counselors believe the Bible is sufficient for counseling because this is what the Bible teaches about itself. The Bible claims to be the sufficient source for the Christian to understand himself, his problem, and how he can overcome his problems. Since the Bible is God’s authoritative word, we cannot dismiss this claim. Remember: if the Bible says it, God is saying it.
Consider with me 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Last week, I referenced these verses to argue that Scripture is God’s very word, so it is trustworthy, authoritative, and eternal in its helpfulness to us. Now let’s focus in on verse 17 and examine it’s claim. What we read in this verse is that God gives his word to us for the end that his people would be complete and equipped for every good work. Good works do not simply refer to religious practices, but all of life. 1 Timothy 5:10, for example, lists hospitality and raising children as good works. Put differently, God is saying to us that he gives us Scripture so that we will know how to live in a way that is pleasing to him for all of life.
What Sufficiency Means
John Frame defines the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture this way: “Scripture contains all the divine words needed for any aspect of human life.” He ties his definition closely to what the Westminster Confession of Faith says in regard to sufficiency as well. I won’t read the whole section, but hear what it says in part: “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.”
Notice in this statement Scripture is said to be sufficient for doctrine and for life. Everything you need to know in order to glorify God is in the Bible. Frame goes on to make write, “Scripture contains Rivne words sufficient for all of life. It has all the divine words that the plumber needs, and all the divine words that the theologian needs.”
But this is not to say that the Bible is a sufficient tool for the plumber in the practice of plumbing. To say that the Bible is sufficient does not mean that there isn’t other information in this world that you need to know for certain ends.
What Sufficiency Doesn’t Mean
Let’s check off a few things that sufficiency doesn’t mean.
First, the doctrine of sufficiency does not mean the Bible contains all knowledge. The plumber, for example, is going to be a poor plumber indeed if he merely uses the Bible to execute his trade. The Bible is sufficient for teaching the plumber all that he needs to know in order to glorify God as he works in his trade. If he comes to me for counsel on how to best fix a plumbing issue, I will be a poor counselor indeed and the Bible would not be a helpful tool as a how-to manual for the most efficient way to arrange piping.
The Bible does not claim to contain all knowledge; but it does claim to contain all that you need in order to live a life that is growing in Christ, empowered by the Spirit, to the glory of God. This is our greatest need and addresses the core of our all or problems.
Second, the doctrine of sufficiency does not mean that every other form of counseling is useless. There can be helpful points made in secular counseling models. What biblical counseling argues is that if it is truly helpful, then it is already contained either directly or by good and necessary consequence in the Bible. So secular counselors, or Christians using secular models, can and will say things that are true and helpful, but they are doing so from a position that is compromised and carries with it worldly assumptions opposed to what the Bible teaches.
Third, the doctrine of sufficiency does not mean there is no room for considering medical or physical issues in counseling. The Bible does not claim to be a medical guide, so it is not sufficient as a tool to perform brain surgery. The Bible teaches that humans are spiritual and physical beings. That means your spiritual state can influence your physical condition and vice versa. Biblical counselors should work with medical doctors to deliver full care for individuals.
Putting all of this together, Heath Lambert offers this summary statement as to why biblical counselors practice counseling from the perspective of the Bible’s sufficiency for the task of counseling: “Counseling conversations are focused on the goal of sharing wisdom with people about how to respond to the challenges of living life when problems abound. The Bible is a sufficient source of wisdom to inform these conversations such that the resources of secular psychology are completely unnecessary to those who wish to accomplish counseling success. This does not mean that secular psychologists never say anything true or helpful. It means that their findings are not necessary for counseling faithfulness, and that, when their findings oppose the Christian worldview, they are often at odds with counseling faithfulness. This also does not mean that biblical counselors reject medical science since many problems that human beings face are physical in nature, and so fall outside the bounds of the subject matter of Scripture and the competency of biblical counselors.”
Common Grace and Extra-Biblical Information
In his book A Theology of Biblical Counseling, Lambert points out why secular counseling strategies can sometimes be helpful but should also be viewed with caution by the Christian. He does this by pointing to the doctrine of common grace and the doctrine of sin.
He defines common grace as “the good kindness of God that he shows to all people regardless of whether they have experienced the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ alone.” It is common because it comes to all people and it is grace because it is undeserved. Common grace is manifested in three primary ways. First, moral provision, meaning that even though mankind is sinful and rebellious against God, people do not perform all of the evil that they could perform. They are restrained by God through a moral compass he gives them. Second, God gives physical provision. God provides rain and sun on the just and the unjust (Matt 5:43-45). Regardless of their eternal standing with him, God provides for the physical needs of people out of his abounding grace. Third, God bestows on all people intellectual provision. This is the area most pertinent to our understanding of extra-biblical information in counseling. Simply put, all people can know correct information, regardless of your standing before God. The minds of all people work because God gives intellectual gifts to understand.
In these senses, everyone experiences God’s grace and we should be grateful for his kindness. This world is a much more pleasant place because of common grace.
Common grace is also why secular counselors can say true and helpful things even when they do not know what the Bible says and teaches. Instead of being opposed to this information, we should be grateful for it and call it a gift from God—because it is.
Common Grace and The Corruption of Sin
But, as Lambert points out, you have to consider the doctrine of common grace along with the doctrine of sin. Sin corrupts human nature fully, meaning that every aspect of our humanity is broken by sin, including our intellect. Ephesians 4:18 speaks to this reality when speaking of unbelievers it says,
“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
Sinful hearts cloud the way we think. Sin corrupts our reasoning. So, even though we can say that unbelievers can know true things because of common grace, we need to set that next to the reality that not everything unbelievers argue for is true because of the doctrine of sin. While unbelievers can embrace truth, the more fundamental and foundational truths are denied by them. Romans 1:18-23 says as much,
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
In reading these verses, we should not come away thinking that those far from God are wrong about everything; they are wrong about the most fundamental thing: who God is. All of your thinking is downstream from who God is, so if you get him wrong your thinking will be wrong in other areas as well.
Lambert puts it this way, “The closer unbelievers get in counseling to issues having to do with God, the ultimate meaning of life, and the problems that plague humanity, the greater will be the impact of the noetic effects of sin on their thinking and the more cautious Christians must be in accepting the information they produce.”
Weighing The Offerings of Secular Psychology
Lambert offers 3 ways in which we can consider the extra-biblical information from secular counseling models, listing them as observation, interpretation, and intervention.
Observation refers to the information that psychologists come to through their careful work. Observations, in a sense, just base data. Statistics on pornography or drug use fall into this category. Data from conversations fall into this category. While the data can always be incorrectly gathered, observations can usually be trusted as correct because they do not deal with fundamental issues of life.
Interpretations, on the other hand, refer to how one should understand the given observations. Your interpretation of your observations will depend on primary commitments. In other words, your theology will determine your interpretation of the raw data. This is why Christians should be careful in adopting the interpretations of data that come out of secular-based counseling. Secular models of counseling have the wrong understanding of God, human nature, and salvation. As such, their interpretations will be influenced to lead Christians away from a biblical worldview.
Interventions refer to the application of one’s interpretation of data. All counseling is intervention into another person’s life with the goal of helping them. All counseling makes observations, interprets those observations, and then intervenes in light of those interpretations in order to help people.
We should not question the sincerity of people in secular therapy in their desire to help people. We should question, however, the foundation upon which they stand that defines what is actually helpful.
Here is the upshot of all of this. While secular counseling models can provide helpful tools, they must all be weighed by the authority of Scripture. Since, however, Scripture is sufficient for counseling because it contains all that we need for life and godliness, we should devote ourselves to understanding what Scripture says instead of devoting our time to studying secular models and methods of counseling.
What This Means for Us
This means that you need to know Scripture. In response to a question about marriage and the resurrection, Jesus says in Matthew 22:31-33,
“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead but of the living.’ And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.”
In this answer, Jesus shows us that knowing Scripture is not merely knowing the words of Scripture. Rather, knowing Scripture also requires knowing the application of Scripture to problems as well. This is what counseling is and why counseling is so hard. Many people look at Scripture and claim that it is not sufficient for counseling because, simply put, they do not know Scripture. It is not as if Scripture has been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.
The Bible is sufficient for counseling, but are you competent? One of the main reasons people turn to secular counseling models is because secular counselors actually have things to say and things to practice. The church as a whole has failed to show that the Bible has answers to everyday problems. We need to change that. It doesn’t matter if the Bible is sufficient if we are not conversant and competent with it. The Bible is sufficient, that is without question. The real question remains: are you competent? None of us are as competent as we need to be, so we all need to grow in this for the good of our neighbors and the glory of God.
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