Zondervan recently released Heath Lambert’s new book, A Theology of Biblical Counseling. In the book, Heath argues for the sufficiency of Scripture for counseling.
David Murray has initiated a series of blog posts in response to Heath’s book and Heath’s views on sufficiency. At times, David applauds some of Heath’s views, while at other times he raises pointed questions about some of Heath’s views.
Heath, at the Association of Certified Biblical Counselor’s site, is blogging his responses to David’s views. You can find his first response post here: Biblical Counseling, the Sufficiency of Scripture, and the Use of Extra-Biblical Information.
A Biblical Theology of Biblical Counseling
For several reasons, I’d like to wade into this discussion. First, I consider both Heath and David to be good friends and co-laborers in Christ.
Second, my book, Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ Changes Lives, addresses these very issues. Gospel-Centered Counseling provides a systematic, pastoral theology for biblical counseling. I take the ten classic doctrines of systematic theology and collectively address them as eight ultimate life questions.
The first question probes bibliology, or the doctrine of the Bible. I word the first ultimate life question like this:
“Where can we find wisdom for life in a broken world?”
The first two chapters of Gospel-Centered Counseling address the sufficiency of Scripture and the question:
“Is it acceptable to blend our biblical worldview about people (the nature of human nature), problems (causes and cures), and solutions (symptoms and prescriptions) with a secular worldview?”
Would it be wise to merge our biblical understanding of God’s creation of us (people), our fall into sin (problems), and Christ’s saving work (solutions) with a secular psychology understanding of these issues?
Throughout chapters 1 and 2 of Gospel-Centered Counseling, I explore Colossians to demonstrate that Paul warns us against “integrating” secular counseling theory with biblical counseling theology. He warns us against integrating secular counseling therapy with biblical counseling soul care.
I believe that the supremacy of Christ’s gospel, the sufficiency of Christ’s wisdom, and the superiority of Christ’s Church provide us with all the treasures of wisdom we need to develop a comprehensive biblical theology and methodology of biblical counseling. That’s exactly what Gospel-Centered Counseling and Gospel Conversations seek to offer—a rich, robust, relevant approach to real life issues built upon Christ’s gospel of grace.
But What About Extra-Biblical Information?
Yet…questions remain. Questions like:
- “What about the complex mind/body connection and possible medical issues and treatments?”
- “What about descriptive research or what we might call research psychology?”
Does the Bible address the complex mind/body connection and issues of psychotropic medication? Does the Bible give us guidance about whether Christians could or should use the latest descriptive research about life struggles?
I’m convinced it does. In Colossians, Paul more than hints at it when he highlights Christ as Creator of everything, Lord of all. As Abraham Kuyper explained:
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”[i]
Paul’s words and Kuyper’s echo Genesis 1:26-28 and what some have called the “Creation Mandate” or the “Cultural Mandate.”
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:26-28).
I define the Creation Mandate as:
The God-given, repeated command that image bearers subdue and rule the earth as God’s vice-regents, under-shepherds, and under-scientists.
Analyzing Rocks and the Rock of Ages
We are to love God with all our being, including our physical brain and body, thus exalting God by exploring, enjoying, and expanding the physical realm. The scientist analyzing rocks can glorify God just as much as the preacher preaching about the Rock of Ages or the song writer writing Rock of Ages.
God created us in His image with the capacities necessary to relate and rule as He relates and rules. When God commanded us to subdue and rule the earth, He was encouraging us to exercise our under-sovereignty over the entire physical universe.
We are to be co-creators who tread and knead what God has created—advancing civilization, regulating natural forces, and exploring natural resources. The Creation Mandate is our calling, our vocation, to work like God works—in His power for His glory.
God created and ordered the material universe. Science investigates the material universe and affirms that order. Logically, then, as Christians we should embrace science, research, and medicine as disciplines that examine God’s creation in obedience to the Creation Mandate. As Steve Viars states, “…those ministering the Word through counseling should be friends of good science and desire to promote the research and development of hard data in every area of human existence.”[ii]
What About the Complex Mind/Body Connection?
In the rest of today’s post, we’ll examine the mind/body question. In my next post, we’ll explore the question about descriptive research.
Studying and treating the complex mind/body connection is part of the Creation Mandate. Neurological psychology, rightly undertaken, involves the scientific study of the physical brain, its normal functioning, abnormal functioning, and physical cures leading to a restoration of normal functioning. Such scientific research done in submission to the Creation Mandate has great potential for addressing these complex mind/body issues.
The Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Confessional Statement nuances the complex mind-body issue as follows:
We believe that biblical counseling should focus on the full range of human nature created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-28). A comprehensive biblical understanding sees human beings as relational (spiritual and social), rational, volitional, emotional, and physical. Wise counseling takes the whole person seriously in his or her whole life context. It helps people to embrace all of life face-to-face with Christ so they become more like Christ in their relationships, thoughts, motivations, behaviors, and emotions.
We recognize the complexity of the relationship between the body and soul (Genesis 2:7). Because of this, we seek to remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives. In our desire to help people comprehensively, we seek to apply God’s Word to people’s lives amid bodily strengths and weaknesses. We encourage a thorough assessment and sound treatment for any suspected physical problems.
A biblically-based, holistic approach to counseling respects all dimensions of personhood[iii] created by God in the full context of the Bible’s grand narrative. It is naïve and potentially harmful to treat people as one-dimensional beings.
While this means that we must take into account possible physiological contributions to life struggles, it also means that we should never view psychotropic interventions as the sole solution for life issues. Sadly, in a fallen world fallen scientists tend to see us simply as material beings, soulless machines. Thus, what could be part of the curative process can be used as justification to ignore the inner life issues that may well be connected to various emotional and mental struggles.[iv]
In addition to legitimate concern with a materialistic worldview, it is also wise to acknowledge that psychotropic medication is still in its infancy. We would be naïve not to take into account their side effects and the low current success rate in actually helping troubled people.[v]
Still, as part of the Creation Mandate, psychotropic medication and neurological psychology as part of a comprehensive, whole-person approach has biblical legitimacy. Psychotropic medication is an issue of Christian liberty and wisdom. Therefore, if a believer were to decide to take medication for depression, in conjunction with the ongoing ministry of the Word of God and the people of God, God’s people should respond with compassionate understanding, not with guilt-inducing attitudes.[vi]
The Rest of the Story
In my next post, we’ll ponder the questions about descriptive research—research psychology. What is the relationship between the sufficiency of Scripture and the role of descriptive psychological research?
Join the Conversation
Does the Bible address the complex mind/body connection and issues of psychotropic medication? If so, how would you summarize (in one blog post) what the Bible teaches?
[i]James Bratt, ed., Abraham Kuyper, 488.
[ii]Steve Viars, “’Brian’” and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” in Stuart Scott and Heath Lambert, eds., Counseling the Hard Cases, 65.
[iii]See chapters 6-7 of Gospel-Centered Counseling.
[iv]These concerns are not limited to the biblical counseling world. Psychiatrists such as Allen Frances and Edward Shorter believe that the right medication prescribed in the right dosage at the right time can save a life. However, we’ve convinced ourselves that a variety of merely human experience—temporary bouts of sadness or excitement or distraction—are in fact pathologies that need to be blasted at with drugs. See, Allen Frances, Saving Normal and Edward Shorter, How Everyone Became Depressed.
[v]For a nuanced perspective on the state of psychotropic interventions, see Charles Hodges, Good Mood Bad Mood.
[vi]For a comprehensive approach to understanding biblical counseling, medication, and the complex mind/body issues, see Laura Hendrickson, “The Complex Mind/Body Connection” in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling, 409-422.
