LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
The Sufficiency of God’s Word in counselling
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
Man’s Confusion
One result of the fall of man into sin is confusion. On his own, man is unable to discern how
desperate his condition actually is. That is why counselees are so frequently in “denial.” The
alcoholic says, “I don’t really have a problem. I can stop drinking anytime I want.” The man who
is inflamed with lust says, “It isn’t wrong to read Playboy. Erotic stimulation is perfectly normal
and I should not feel guilty.” The couple who have tired of each other reason in their minds,
“God wouldn’t want us to remain unhappy all our lives. Surely He would approve of our
divorce.”
Jeremiah explains why humans are so confused: “The heart is deceitful above all things and
beyond cure [or “desperately wicked”]. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). By nature,
we are so deceitful it seems we can’t even tell ourselves the truth. We lie to ourselves and say
“I’m not really bad” or “It isn’t my fault” or “I’m justified in how I feel or what I did.”
Not only are we unable to fully understand our own hearts without the light of God’s
Word, but other humans are also unable to analyze our inner motivations. Even the
psychological experts are at a loss to accurately explain why a person does what he does. That
is why psychiatrists fail so miserably in predicting whether a felon will repeat his crime upon
release from prison.
God asks, “Who can understand man’s heart?” Then He answers the question: “I the Lord
search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to
what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:9, 10). God alone is capable of discerning a person’s true
inner condition, and He reveals that condition through His Word: “For the word of God is living
and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,
joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
No psychological text can do that. No temperament analysis test can reveal a person’s real
nature or problem. Depending on such unreliable tools only increases the confusion which a
troubled person suffers.
Man’s Rebellion
The root of original sin was selfism, and the essence was rebellion. Satan rebelled against
God with the intent of setting himself up as the Most High. Rebellion always affects one’s
judgment, and Satan must have believed he could actually pull off the first palace coup. Since
that initial act of anarchy, Satan has led mankind into a perpetual series of rebellions and the
result has been chaos, destruction, and misery.
God warns us that rebellion is not a harmless and natural part of growing up, but that it is
desperately wicked. In fact, He says that “rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance
like the evil of idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:23). Divination (consulting evil spirits) and idolatry are two
of the most serious offenses against God, for they reflect man’s “in-your-face” attitude toward
God.
There are terrifying consequences for rebellion. Samuel warned Israel, “If you do not obey
the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against
your fathers” (1 Samuel 12:15). Perhaps the most frightening consequence of rebellion is that
God allows us to destroy ourselves: “Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is
injured, your whole heart afflicted” (Isaiah 1:5).
Rebellion is the desire to control one’s own life rather than to submit to God. It is described
in Psalm 2:1–3: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the
earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed
One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’ ”
What was true of ancient man is still true today. We are all rebels at heart. We don’t want
to listen to God. We have “rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the
Most High” (Psalm 107:11).
Why do we choose to rebel? Because it is part of our very nature to do so. Paul writes, “The
sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:7).
Since people have dismissed the concept of God, “ ‘there is no fear of God before their eyes’ ”
(Romans 3:18). Spiritual things are simply ridiculous to the natural man: “The man without the
Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to
him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians
2:14).
Modern man has dismissed the concept of God as an archaic relic of our superstitious past.
As a result, he has decided to rely upon his own experience, reason, and feelings to guide his
beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. Fallen, confused, and rebellious, man is dysfunctional in every
sense of the word. He is left in a state of darkness, groping for meaning and direction. Jesus
described it this way: “If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the
light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23).
Man’s Hopelessness
Another assumption of biblical counseling is that, left to himself and without God’s help,
man is hopeless and powerless to change his true inner nature and his ultimate destiny. Biblical
counselors recognize the fact that individuals are able to alter their thinking patterns, attitudes,
and behavior to a limited extent, and that the results of those changes can provide a temporary
measure of psychological relief. The assumption of man’s hopelessness is not an argument or
justification for fatalism—the passive acceptance of one’s lot in life—but a recognition of
reality.
T hink this presupposition through carefully. It is based upon the biblical doctrine of man’s
desperate need for God. Unregenerate man is “separate from Christ…without hope and
without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Unless he has been redeemed through Christ, a
person’s ultimate destiny is eternal separation from God, and his fear of death is natural and
rational. As life draws toward its end, a person may feel like Job: “My days are swifter than a
weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope” (Job 7:6). In contrast, Paul says that
when believers in Jesus Christ come face to face with death, they do not have “to grieve like the
rest of men, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
A primary goal, therefore, in biblical counseling is sharing the “blessed hope,” Jesus Christ
(Titus 2:13). What a contrast this is to integrated counseling systems that try to provide hope
for clients through innovative techniques of psychotherapies! While psychology points abuse
victims to their past, biblical counseling points them to present and future victory in Christ. In
contrast to “inner child” theories, biblical counseling seeks to move counselees toward maturity
in Christ. Instead of leading people through 12 steps of recovery, biblical counseling teaches
how to follow in Christ’s steps. The central truth, the primary focus, the philosophical
foundation, the reality of hope, the power for change, and the goals of biblical counseling are
all found in Jesus Christ.
The Sufficiency of Christ
It all boils down to this: No matter how it is worded, regardless of how cleverly it is
packaged, whether or not the motive is sincere, counseling that is merged with psychological
theory does not believe that Christ is sufficient to heal the troubled heart.
Some would reply, “We are not questioning the sufficiency of Christ. We are merely saying
that the Bible does not address many of the problems facing contemporary human beings and
that we need the valid findings and insights available from psychology to help hurting souls.”
That’s exactly my point! When you say the Scriptures are not enough, you are in fact saying
that Christ is not enough, for the Bible is about Christ from cover to cover. Its purpose is to
reveal His coming, His life, His mission, His teachings, His death, His resurrection victory, His
return to heaven, His current advocacy, His preparation of our heavenly dwelling places, His
imminent return, His future reign, and the eternity He has planned for all believers.
Every spiritual/mental/emotional human need is met in Christ. Jesus claimed as much
when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). In Him we can find meaning
and direction—the Way. We discover the answer to the deepest of all philosophical questions,
“What is truth?” In Him we encounter life at its deepest, fullest, and richest. He removes the
mystery of origins and destinies. When we walk close beside Him, He removes all fear, and He
heals the wounded heart.
Paul writes, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times,
having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, emphasis
added). He amplifies this promise in Philippians: “And my God will meet all your needs
according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, emphasis added). Sounds all-
inclusive, doesn’t it? All of these things He does with and through the written Word as the Holy
Spirit applies it to our hearts.
The solution to our deepest problems of living is not psychotherapy, but Christotherapy.
Rather than analyzing our painful dysfunctions, “let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and
sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
The Sufficiency of God’s Word
To claim the belief that Christ is sufficient while saying that the Bible is deficient simply will
not work, for the two are inseparable foundations: It is through the written Word of God that
we come to understand the living Word of God.
Jesus is called the Word of God (John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1; Revelation 19:13), and the
Scriptures are also called the Word of God (Psalm 119; Ephesians 6:17) because they both are
supernatural revelations about God.
Peter explained the connection this way:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our
Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us
his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine
nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1:2–4).
God’s provision for our needs—His grace—and the peace we so desperately seek are
available, Peter says, through “the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Furthermore,
God’s power has already given us “everything we need for life and godliness” (emphasis
added). That is all-inclusive. No essential need has been left unattended by our gracious God.
How did He provide for every need? “Through our knowledge of him.” And how do we obtain
knowledge about Christ? Through the written Word.
As earnestly as I know how, I plead with you to understand this vital truth: God has
provided answers in His Scriptures for every possible spiritual/mental/emotional problem that
mankind has ever and could ever experience. There are no truly unique problems that modern
man experiences. Sexual, verbal, and physical abuse have been with us since the days of Cain.
Marriage problems, poor self-esteem, addictions of every sort, Attention Deficit Disorder,
jealousy, violent rage, depression, and virtually every other psychological dysfunction are
recorded in biblical case histories.
It is astonishing that Christian psychologists are claiming that psychology has something to
offer that the Bible does not provide. Pastor John MacArthur, whose church was sued for
biblically counseling a young man who went on to commit suicide (although he was also under
psychiatric care), writes about the trial:
Most surprising to me were the so-called Christian psychologists and psychiatrists who
testified that the Bible alone does not contain sufficient help to meet people’s deepest personal
and emotional needs. These men were actually arguing before a secular court that God’s Word
is not an adequate resource for counseling people about their spiritual problems! What is truly
appalling is the number of evangelicals who are willing to take such “professionals’ ” word for
it.1
