Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 131:524 (Oct 1974)
Article: The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling Part IV: Scriptural Counseling Is Spiritual
Author: Jay E. Adams

BSac 131:524 (Oct 74) p. 291

The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling
Part IV:
Scriptural Counseling Is Spiritual

Jay E. Adams

[Jay E. Adams, Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.]

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of articles entitled “The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling,” which were the W. H. Griffith Thomas Memorial Lectures given by Dr. Jay E. Adams at Dallas Theological Seminary, November 6–9, 1973.]

We have seen how the Scriptures must permeate Christian counseling from start to finish. The counselee’s problem can be understood only as it is evaluated biblically. The solution to his problem, likewise, must be found in the Scriptures. How the latter is applied to the former, how a concrete plan of action may be formulated and carried out-all of these steps in counseling are dependent upon the Scriptures.

When a Christian comes to his pastor for help, therefore, he should expect him to help, like the Levite, by the use of the Scriptures. God Himself said: “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and men should seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts” (Mal 2:7; cf. also Neh 8:7–9). There should be no question, then, for either the counselee or the counselor over whether the counsel that the Lord’s messenger gives should be scriptural Counsel. To be obedient to God, the New Testament minister can do no less than his Old Testament predecessor.

But there is another angle from which this matter may be approached. The reason why Christian counseling depends so heavily upon the Scriptures at every point is because the Scriptures are the peculiar product of the Counselor Himself. When I say that the Counselor Himself is the Author of the Scriptures, I refer, of course, not to the human counselor, but to the Holy Spirit, who is called by John “the paraclete” (counselor) and by Isaiah “the Spirit of

BSac 131:524 (Oct 74) p. 292

Counsel” (Isa 11:2). He is the Spirit by whom God breathed out His Words in written form in the Scriptures, the One who patiently spent long years bearing along men of God that by His holy superintendence they might write inerrant counsel. It should be no surprise, then, to find that He works through the Bible when carrying out His paracletic functions. This, as a matter of fact, is precisely what Paul asserted in Romans 15:4 when he explained: “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through pers...