SIX CRUCIAL ISSUES 1
Six Crucial Issues in Contemporary Biblical Counseling
Issue No. 1, The “Same Old Issues” Still Face Us
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
Summary
In our contemporary society, there needs to be a clear distinction between Biblical
counseling and secular psychology counseling. Powlison (2010, pp. 241-259) lists Six Crucial
Issues in Contemporary Biblical Counseling including: 1. The “same old issues” still face us, 2.
The questions touching on human motivation must be explored and integrated more firmly
within both our theory and practice, 3. The relationship between human responsibility and
human suffering needs a great deal of clarification, 4. We need to press much further in
understanding the biblical data about the counselor-counselee relationship, 5. Biblical counseling
must be contextualized to new audiences and 6. The relationship of biblical counseling to secular
psychology needs to be publicly clarified. These stated issues are all vitally important, but
selected item is crucial issue number one, “the foundational issue” to continue to be biblical.
Issues two through six are newer and build on this foundation.
“Counseling in the Christian church continues to be significantly compromised by the
secular assumptions and practices of our culture’s reigning psychologies and psychologies” (p.
241). The purpose of nouthetic counseling is “to correct sinful behavior patterns by personal
SIX CRUCIAL ISSUES 2
confrontation and repentance” (Adams 1970, p. 49). The basis of Biblical-nouthetic counseling
is to counteract the infiltration of secularism and bring counseling back into the church. The
church provides soul care for sufferers and sinners. Scripture is sufficient and counseling is a
theological task. The concern about encroachment of secularism in the church is the possibility
of diminishing the authority of the Word of God and its power to transform hearts and lives.
Hebrews 4:12 reads: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
