Biblical Counseling: More than Integration of Theology and Theories

People have been broken both spiritually and physically for thousands of years.  In the last century and a half, with the church focused on the former but not the latter, people began to look for help from other places. Sadly, there are now 400+ secular psychotherapies that downplay our spiritual identities at best, and disavow our failing relationships with God at worst.

But while all the counseling theories have been made possible through God’s common grace, it is orthodox Christian theology that places the highest value on humanity.  Our identities and worth are bound with God, regardless of what we go through (whether we/others are helpless to do what we should, or go too far doing what we shouldn’t) or what our distinct body/brain limitations may be.  We have been made in His image (Gen 1:26), and remade new in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).

God’s Word proclaims that we have been created saints—but because of the Fall, we are also sufferers (of the sinful impact from others) and sinners (who do what we don’t want to do even as we fail to do what we want to do).  We are created beings with both spiritual (inner/unseen) and physical (outer/seen) components, and our bodies/brains often suffer in ways that reveal and/or exacerbate the sinful tendencies of our spirits.

Reformed tradition as expressed by the creeds of the Protestant Reformation (i.e., Westminster Confession of Faith and the Heidelberg Catechism) reminds us that God’s sovereign predestination allows us to rest in His free grace and love… without any foresight of faith or good works… all to the praise of His glorious grace (cf. WCF 3.5)—thereby releasing us from any negative other-inflicted aggressions (i.e., guilt, shame, or trauma) or positive self-imposed concepts (i.e., self-worth, self-esteem, or self-actualization), while moving us to truthful identification as His children through godly sorrow, personal repentance, and faithful obedience made possible only by the power of His love.

Ultimately, God is the One who empowers change in our lives.  His method of help is to have us participate by humbly engaging one another, and lovingly praying to our God who comforts, heals, and grows us.  This requires counseling that neither presumes to know a client before he/she chooses to share, nor labeling their struggles as if they were generic experiences.  Jesus calls us by name (John 10:3) and values each hair on our heads (Matt 10:30).

He calls us to be one body of many members through His Holy Spirit—all rejoicing when one rejoices, and all suffering when one suffers (1 Cor 12:12-26)—well before Family Systems Theory came about.  He brings us together closer than Attachment Theory ever can, because we do not just attach to other human beings, but we can in fact be fused and can never be separated from our Maker again once we are joined through union in Christ (Rom 8:37-39).  He gives us so much more than Multiple Intelligences, because there is a purpose to the manifestations of the Spirit that are gifts for the common good (1 Cor 12:4-11).  We are in this together “from Him and through Him and for Him” (Rom 11:36).

The Biblical Counseling approach and goal is to have a broader perspective, beyond how counselees may have suffered in the past or how they may be suffering today.  It is about having hope for the future by growing deeper in the things that truly matter: what makes us more like Christ.  By understanding cognition, emotion, and volition on equal terms, we nurture overall growth as an essential part of God’s over-arching story.  Biblical counseling doesn’t just integrate theology and counseling—Biblical Counseling is a manifestation of our understanding of God as the Counselor who joyfully encourages any good efforts, compassionately shoulders the hard burdens, and gently restores us from all bad decisions.

“Yellow and Purple Flowers”  |  Imperfect Photography by Imperfect Evangeline  | (Matt 6:28-30).