Picture a friend wearing a finely-tailored suit streaked with mud. He may have foolishly walked into ditch or perhaps he was splashed by a passing vehicle. He might be completely oblivious to the mess or feeling ashamed of his appearance. In like manner, we bear the stains of both personal sin and external suffering in a fallen world. Sometimes we are blind to those stains, but at other times shamefully self-conscious. The biblical counselor comes alongside as a compassionate friend to help us recognize our soiled condition in the mirror of God’s Word (see Jas 1:22-25). This kind friend directs us to the Savior who washes clean our evil thoughts, comforts us in suffering, replaces our spiritual garments, and fashions us after the likeness of God. Paul grounds the church’s mission in the good news of salvation with the goal of growing into Christ-likeness (Eph 1). This good news (2:1-10) then compels the church to be united in Christ (vv. 11-22) since his character cannot be developed in isolation (3:17-19). Paul thus exhorts the church to live out gospel-cultivated oneness (4:1-3) and declares the hope of Christ for suffering sinners: “The truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (vv. 21b-24). In Christ, then, God provides every believer with the spiritual resources to counsel biblically through his calling, his Word, his Spirit, his church, and his Son.
God’s Calling Presents the Impetus for Counseling
God has called every believer to the ministry of counseling. As Paul encourages the church in Rome, “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another” (Rom 15:14). These “brothers” whom Paul affirms are not the educated elite, the professional priests, or the learned men of his day. They are not limited to elders, deacons, prophets, and apostles. Many of those listed in Paul’s letter are simple men and women: mothers and fathers, former slaves and fellow prisoners, ordinary Christians scattered throughout the network of Roman house churches (ch. 16). Yet every one of these Christians has been spiritually transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Romans 1-11, Paul displays the truth of the gospel with a powerful exposition: All are sinners, Christ is Savior, and God had planned salvation from before time began. Paul then follows with a practical exhortation to apply the gospel as they have heard and received (12:1-15:13): “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (12:2b). Finally, he closes with a personal encouragement for the fledgling church (15:14-16:27). His tone changes as he writes to them directly using the personal pronouns “I” and “you.” He affectionately calls them “my brothers” and lists many of them by name. He prays for them and thanks the Lord on their behalf, sharing with them his future dreams for ministry and his own present struggles. And in this closing context, Paul emphatically affirms the church’s ability to counsel: “I myself am satisfied about you” (15:14a). He is convinced in Christ that these believers can live out the gospel with one another as they mutually counsel with Christ-like character, biblical comprehension, skillful competency, and Christian community.
Christ-Like Character
Biblical counselors exude the character of Christ as Paul commends the Roman church for being “full of goodness” (Rom 15:14b). They are “full” of godliness like a net packed to the breaking point with fish (see John 21:11) or a drink brimming over the side of a cup. God-likeness so characterizes the believer’s life that it spills over onto everyone else around. Our God graciously empowers his people to do good works (Eph 2:10; see 2 Thess 1:11) and to bear good fruit (Gal 5:22-23; Col 1:10) which is brought “to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).
Biblical Comprehension
Second, Paul commends the Romans for being “filled with all knowledge” (Rom 15:14c)” as Jesus demonstrated when he rebuked the Evil One with God’s Word (Matt 4:1-11). Likewise, counselors following in the steps of Christ must be filled with the knowledge of the Scriptures (Col 2:2-3) in order to speak that truth in love (Eph 4:15). Here, Christ-like character merges with biblical comprehension (see 1 Cor 13:2). As Paul Tripp explained, “The combination of powerful truth wrapped in self-sacrificing love is what God uses to transform people.”[1] Those “filled with all knowledge” must also be “full of goodness” just as our Lord perfectly blended steadfast love with faithfulness (Exod 34:6) and grace with truth (John 1:14). Without abolishing the law, Jesus loved the rich, young ruler even as he walked away from eternal life (Mark 10:17-23). In this manner, biblical counselors communicate God’s Word from hearts of sacrificial love (e.g., 1 Thess 2:8).
Counseling Competency
Third, Paul affirms the skillful competency of biblical counselors: “You yourselves are able to instruct one another” (Rom 15:14d). Counselors are competent to lovingly place God’s Word upon another person’s heart. As Jay Adams described the purpose of instruction, exhortation, warning, and correction: “To bring about correction by verbal confrontation out of deep concern for the counselee.”[2] Biblical counsel often warns against wrong conduct (e.g., Acts 20:31; 1 Cor 4:14; Col 1:28; 1 Thess 5:12; 2 Thess 3:15), but also encourages in the midst of suffering (e.g., 2 Cor 1:3-11). Thus, Paul exhorts the church to counsel people according to their nature: “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess 5:14). Despite the unique diversity of each person and their situation, believers have sufficient resources to counsel one another.
Christian Community
Finally, biblical counselors serve within the Christian community. Paul describes the church in Rome using relational plurals: “my brothers,” “you yourselves,” “one another” (Rom 15:14), for such “one another” ministry can only be practiced in community (e.g., 12:9-21; 13:9-10; 14:1-15:13). Our Lord calls every member in his body to be competent to counsel (Col 3:16) and undergirds this call with spiritual resources sufficient for effective ministry.
God’s Word Sets the Foundation for Counseling
According to the apostle Peter, “[Christ’s] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Pet 1:3). Thus, God’s revelation in his Word can sufficiently minister to any believer in every situation (vv. 1-2, 4-8). Sufficiency, of course, does not make the Bible a textbook on science, medicine, or psychology. Scripture is comprehensive, but not exhaustive—sufficient to the end for which it was designed. As Heath Lambert wrote, “The Bible is sufficient because Christ is sufficient, and God shows us in his Word how to encounter him in all of life’s complexities.”[3] The God who sovereignly decided what to reveal in his holy Word provides essential counsel for wise living. Therefore, any claim that God’s Word is not enough for spiritual care, disparages either God’s wisdom or his goodness. According to Wayne Grudem, “The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.”[4] Let us then consider four spheres of life and godliness in which the Bible is sufficient.
To Convert the Soul
First, God’s Word grants life to the believer (Ps 19:7; Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:18; 2 Tim 1:10; 1 Pet 1:23). This encouragement resonates with Timothy as Paul warns his child in the faith: “In the last days there will come . . . false teachers who “oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith” (2 Tim 3:1-8, 12-13). He then exhorts him, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (vv. 14-15). These “sacred writings” refer to the Old Testament Scriptures which Timothy had learned as a boy, studied as Paul’s disciple, and now passed on by preaching to the church (2 Tim 2:15, 24-26; 4:1-5; see 1:13-14). Timothy’s mother and grandmother (2 Tim 1:5b) must have taught him from Scripture how the Almighty God had created heaven and earth (1 Tim 4:4). Mankind then rebelled and went their own way until God sent the Law to expose their sin (1 Tim 1:8-10). Yet Timothy would have also learned from Scripture how God’s grace (2 Tim 2:1) from Abraham to Moses, David and the prophets, paved the way for Messiah to come (2 Tim 1:9-10). Paul then instructed Timothy about God’s Son who gave his life upon a cross to save repentant sinners through their “knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Tim 2:25). This good news so captivated Timothy that Paul could boast with confidence, “I am reminded of your sincere faith” (2 Tim 1:5a). So, just as with Timothy, biblical counselors trust God’s Word to convert the soul.
To Comfort the Sufferer
Timothy faced many trials in his youth, growing up without a godly father (see 2 Tim 1:5) and being despised as a half-Jew (see Acts 16:3). Only the Word of Christ could heal his soul of its anxious timidity (2 Tim 1:7) and concern over physical ailments (1 Tim 5:23). As a true believer, Timothy takes comfort that “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor 4:17). Paul then urges him still further to endure his suffering as a minister of the gospel (2 Tim 1:8, 12; 2:3, 9-10; 3:1-7; 4:5). For the gospel declares not only the reality of the Fall, but also the grace of redemption and the coming glories of Christ’s eternal kingdom (2 Pet 1:1-11). Likewise, biblical counselors come alongside suffering brothers and sisters in Christ, searching the Scriptures for the comforting hope of God’s everlasting promises (e.g., Ps 119:25, 49-50; 130:5; Rom 15:4; Col 1:5). We can show them biblically how to set aside the past, trust in God through present trials, and face the future without anxiety.
To Convict the Sinner
Sometimes, though, counselors will instruct or correct the sinner. So Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof” (2 Tim 3:16a-c). The inspired word of an infinitely perfect God speaks without error about his creation: “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov 2:6). None would be so foolish as to assume authority over their Creator (see Phil 2:10-11) since the one who made the world must know it best. Thus, Scripture teaches us authoritatively how to live like Christ and is profitable for reproof as it convicts the sinner (Rom 3:20; 7:7). “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life” (Prov 6:23; see Ps 119:105). God’s Word brings sinners into the light to show how they have strayed and to lead them back to peace and wholeness. Such conviction and repentance will surely produce gladness (e.g., 2 Sam 12:1-14; see Pss 32; 51), for “faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Prov 27:6a; see Rev 3:19) and joyful is the fruit of repentance (Luke 15:7). As counselors, we do not rely solely on human expertise or cleverness, but on God’s authoritative Word to convict the sinner and to offer mercy (Prov 28:13).
To Conform the Sanctified
God’s Word progressively conforms the believer to Christ-likeness through instruction (Ps 119:11; e.g., 2 Tim 2:15, 24-26) and reproof (Eph 5:8-14). It then profits us “for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16d-17). “Correction” restores a thing to its original condition, like setting upright a fallen object or supporting a friend who has fallen down. Thus, God’s corrective Word restores convicted sinners (Matt 18:15-17; Gal 6:1; 2 Tim 2:25) as we exhort one another to repent and confess our sin to the Lord. For “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Forgiven saints begin to walk in the light of God’s Word as “training in righteousness,” like preparing for a race, requires spiritual conditioning (1 Cor 9:24-27). “Training” can also describe a father’s efforts to raise his children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4b; see Heb 12:5-7, 11). So, believer strive to develop new patterns of righteousness (1 Tim 4:7b-10; 6:11; 2 Tim 2:22) which God has guaranteed for those being conformed into Christ’s image (Rom 8:28-29; see John 17:17). God then “super-equips” us for every good work (2 Tim 3:17b), including the ministry of biblical counseling. For this reason, Paul encourages Timothy to center his ministry on the Scriptures because its divine origin will fully prepare him for Christian service. This same promise still applies to all believers today who “guard the good deposit” of God’s Word (1:13-14).
God’s Spirit Provides the Power for Counseling
The Holy Spirit draws the believer to salvation, pricks his conscience, convicts him of sin, and reveals his need for wisdom. Thus, Paul exults in “him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Eph 3:20). As counselors, we seek the Lord for wisdom (Jas 1:5), listen with compassion (v. 19), and ask good questions. We prayerfully understand each person’s story as embedded in God’s greater story, for the Spirit opens hearts and minds to know God through his Word (e.g., Acts 16:14). Then, as the Spirit assists us, we realize how the Spirit has already been long at work in every believer’s life.
Yet God’s Spirit interprets God’s Word only for God’s children (1 Cor 2:12-14; 12:3). Apart from the Spirit, unbelieving man cannot know truth at all: “They cannot comprehend spiritual truth because they are spiritually dead (Eph 2:1), unable to respond to anything except their own sinful passions.”[5] They neither honor God’s Word nor live in right relationship with God. Thus, counseling apart from the Spirit is impotent because true and lasting change only comes by the Spirit’s renewing power and the Spirit only comes by conversion (Titus 3:5-6; Ezek 36:26-27). Therefore, consider the Spirit’s effective ministry through God’s Word, prayer, the counselor, and the counselee.
Ministry through God’s Word
First, God’s Spirit ministers through the Word which he inspired: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21b). A Spirit-filled person (Eph 5:18) is a Scripture-saturated person (Col 3:16-17). Thus, the Spirit teaches sound doctrine (1 John 2:27), rebukes those who stray (John 16:8-11), reveals truth to his disciples (vv. 13-14), corrects the crooked (Gal 5:22-23), and trains up in righteousness (vv. 16-18; John 17:17). He comforts and encourages as the “Wonderful Counselor—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD” (Isa 9:6; see 11:2). The Spirit ministers through the Word of Christ and speaks the truth in love out of submission to Christ. As Jesus promised his disciples, “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). God’s Spirit also offers hope through God’s enduring Word. As Paul prays, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. . . . May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom 15:4, 13).
Ministry through Prayer
Paul exhorts believers to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17), “in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Eph 6:18a). Therefore, biblical counselors pray with and for their counselees as an act of humility before an all-wise, all-powerful God. Prayer acknowledges God’s sovereign presence and recognizes the indwelling Spirit’s power to comfort us in affliction (2 Cor 1:3b-4a), to establish our hope in Christ (Eph 1:18), to deliver us from temptation (Luke 22:40, and to set the captives free (Isa 61:1). The Spirit convicts the world concerning sin (John 16:8) and elicits confession by pricking the guilty conscience. Prayer reminds us that lasting change and restoration can only be accomplished through the power of Christ’s Spirit (2 Cor 13:7-9; Phil 1:9-11; Col 1:9-12).
Ministry through the Counselor
God’s Spirit ministers through his Word and through prayer, yet God has also chosen to work through human instruments. First, he daily transforms the counselor to be steeped in his Word and increasingly dependent on prayer (2 Cor 3:17-18). God’s indwelling Spirit produces a new creation (5:17) by renewing the counselor’s mind into the likeness of Jesus Christ’s (Rom 12:2). God’s Spirit then informs us with his wisdom to help others (Eph 1:17), so “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (3:16). In this way, the Spirit energizes each person’s specific training, experience, knowledge of the Word, and compassionate heart. He does not replace our skill any more than a farmer’s dependence on God (1 Cor 3:6-7) replaces the need to cultivate soil, study weather patterns, plant in the proper season, and protect the crops from harm (Luke 8:11-15). Instead, God’s Spirit works through the counselor’s competence to listen well, ask good questions, and love people the way God does. He brings to mind sufficient Scriptures for every situation and provides ample opportunities for application (Matt 10:20; Luke 12:12). “Men and women who are walking and growing in the Spirit are those who are qualified to come alongside sinning brothers and sisters to gently restore them to the spiritual blessing that flows from obedience. Without the Holy Spirit, biblical counseling cannot exist.”[6] Thus, believers are indwelt, instructed, and empowered by the Spirit to counsel one another.
Ministry through the Counselee
One great encouragement when counseling fellow believers is to know that God’s Spirit already works within them. The Spirit fights against the flesh to help us walk with God (Gal 5:16-17). For at the cross, Christ took our sin upon himself and gave to us his righteousness. He made our new life possible and declared the victory over sin (Rom 8:2-6). Thus, Paul exhorts, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (v. 9). Although Christian living is hard work, Paul claims that it is ultimately God who produces growth in godliness: “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal 3:2-3). Christ’s Word dwelling richly in the believer then produces the fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23) instead of the works of the flesh (vv. 19-21).
Christ abides with us by his Spirit (1 John 4:13) and empowers victory over sin once “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24; see 2:20; 6:14; Rom 6:6). All who belong to Christ have had sin cancelled and nailed to the cross (Col 2:14). Therefore, succumbing to the flesh is like returning to the cross by cover of darkness, pulling out the blood-stained nails, and cherishing those sins for which Christ died (see Heb 6:4-6). Instead, Paul commands, “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:10; see Eph 4:1). Christ has purchased victory in the Spirit against the flesh, for sin was crucified on the cross and will one day be eradicated. So, “if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal 5:25; see vv. 16, 18). We follow our Father’s marching orders when the same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead is alive in him, putting to death the sinful flesh (Rom 8:9-11). The Spirit then takes charge of the believer’s life and guarantees we will one day stand before the Lord holy and blameless and above reproach (Col 1:22). Such true and lasting change cannot take place apart from God’s Holy Spirit.
God’s Church Cultivates the Community for Counseling
Human beings were made in the image of God for relationship with God and with each other (Gen 1:26-27; 2:18). Throughout history, then, this godly community has been our context for transformation. God’s people trust that although help is found outside the church, it must never be found apart from the church. Surely those who were graciously forgiven are best positioned to graciously help their fellow strugglers. Thus, a healthy church should expect its members to care for and counsel one another with the Word. Hebrews 10:19-31 describes three ways in which the church cultivates the proper community for the confident assurance, communal agitation, and courageous admonition of biblical counseling.
Confident Assurance
First, the church equips one another based on the confident assurance availed to us in Christ. As the writer of Hebrews exhorts his fellow believers: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus” (10:19; see 2:11; 3:1). Christ shed his blood so that sinners declared righteous in him might gain access to the Father “by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (10:20). The word “new” describes a freshly slaughtered sacrifice which never ages. So, Christ’s death effectively continues to free us both from sin’s penalty and its power. This “living” way then leads us to salvation and to abundant life (John 10:10b), for Christ’s body had been broken as his shed blood removed the “veil” between God and man. That temple curtain, torn in two from top to bottom, depicted our Savior’s stricken body to provide believers free access to the throne of God (Matt 27:51).
Believers now can enter confidently not on the basis of our good works, but “since we have a great priest over the house of God” (Heb 10:21; see 4:14-16). Therefore, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (10:22).[7] The church invites believers to boldly approach the Lord in prayer as we are declared righteous both spiritually in regeneration and symbolically in baptism. As children run with assurance into their daddy’s arms, so also God’s people seek their heavenly Father in the face of suffering. The verbs, “sprinkled clean” and “washed” imply past action at the cross with results continued in the future. “The atoning work of Christ is so complete that it continues to cleanse us. . . . There is no sin that God will not wash away when we come to Him on His terms. . . . As counselors, we must help disciples understand the fullness of their forgiveness in Christ. . . . In Christ, the believer’s conscience has already been cleansed of guilt. When a sinner comes to Jesus and receives salvation, guilt is removed. Even if feelings of guilt remain, the actual legal guilt is gone because, in the body of His Son, God judged the sin that caused the guilt (Rom 8:1).”[8]
Therefore, because of Christ and his sanctifying work, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). The church which gathers for worship and for fellowship proclaims the source of her hope in Jesus Christ. Thus, salvation connects us both to God and to his people, not just in heaven, but even now. The church expresses her worship with songs and sermons and biblical counsel, declaring her hope in God alone who never breaks his promises (6:17). The church united attests Christ’s loving sacrifice as an “anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast” (vv. 19-20) grounded in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, enthronement, and intercession for the church. As God’s children boldly seek forgiveness for their sin and comfort for their suffering, the church rejoices in the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Isa 53:5), hearts sprinkled clean by our Savior’s sacrifice, evil consciences removed, sins forgiven, and guilt taken away (6:7). The church also reminds repentant believers of the baptism which symbolized their inner cleansing and the message of God’s grace (1 Pet 3:21-22).
The church, likewise, encourages suffering believers with the sacrifice of Christ who “was despised and rejected by men. . . . Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isa 53:3-4). As our high priest, he was able “to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). He was sinned against, surrounded by hateful people in a fallen world, and afflicted on our behalf. So, the church reminds the suffering that they are heard in prayer, comforted in grief, and accepted by God through union with Christ. They are children of the forever faithful God and recipients of his grace. The church equips each other with this confident assurance in Christ Jesus as we joyfully enter our Father’s presence.
Communal Agitation
Second, God’s church provides the right environment for communal agitation: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Heb 10:24). This command for productive agitation is like mixing concrete so it does not harden. The word connotes a sudden convulsion or violent emotion, yet the church directs this energy in a positive way like the irritant in an oyster that becomes a pearl of “love and good works.” The plural pronouns and the “one another” command reveal that godly provocation takes place in the context of community. The church intentionally stirs up one another to love such disparate people united only by their common bond in Christ. Spiritual transformation then grows from this church community that does not “neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, . . . and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:25). The gathered church encourages one another through corporate worship, loving fellowship, learning God’s truth, and rejoicing in the presence of Christ. These Hebrew Christians who had received this letter were suffering greatly for their faith (see vv. 32-34) while others had apostatized to Judaism (see 3:14). Meeting together with the church had lost priority over self-preservation, so the writer exhorts them not to fall into this habit.
Instead, the church must agitate one another to love and good works by remembering God’s greatest work upon the cross. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and forgive one another as God in Christ forgave us (Eph 4:32). Christ then restores repentant sinners to his church through God’s abundant grace (Prov 28:13; 1 John 1:9) and calls them to do the good works he has set apart for them (Eph 2:10). Sadly though, sin or suffering may compel us to neglect the church, so our mutual encouragement must keep on going. We must continually remind each other that we are the Savior’s Bride, fellow worshipers, heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ who wait with anticipation that glorious Day as it draws near. The church must not neglect to meet together, for she loves a Savior who is greater than both our suffering and our sin.
Courageous Admonition
Finally, relationships within the church enable courageous admonition. The writer of Hebrews adds a warning: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins” (Heb 10:26; see 3:12; 6:4-6). Continued sin, despite full knowledge of the truth (2:3-4), openly rebels against the Almighty Creator. Christ’s sacrifice then is ineffectual for those who fall away from the living God. As those who never possessed salvation in the first place, they face “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (10:27). The church must warn these unrepentant sinners to dread the wrath of God, for “anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (vv. 28-29; see Num 35:30; Deut 17:1-6; 19:15; Matt 18:16). Apostates stare down Jesus to his face and try to crush him underfoot. They scoff at Christ’s shed blood and deny God’s Son. They curse the covenant which affords forgiveness and grieve the Spirit of saving grace. Such defilement of the Savior then results not just in physical death, but spiritual—not just separation from the camp, but eternal separation from God. “For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:30-31). Those who deny the Son’s protection are fully exposed to the Father’s wrath. So, the church must lovingly call sinners to repent (Matt 18:15-17; see Gal 6:1) and sufferers to return to fellowship. This exhortation to genuine repentance can only take place in the church community as biblical counselors courageously admonish professing believers to live according to God’s promises and commands.
God’s Son Establishes the Pattern for Counseling
Every believer is a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 3:17-18; 5:17); therefore biblical counselors simply uncover what God in Christ has already accomplished (2 Tim 1:5-7). Christ’s charge in Matthew 28:18-20 establishes him as the church’s commander, commissioner, and counselor in making disciples.
The Church’s Commander
Jesus calls his church to make disciples based on the sovereign authority bestowed on him by his Father (John 5:17-19; 10:17-18, 25; 12:49-50): “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’” (Matt 28:18). The risen Savior had appeared to many of his followers, yet their lives were still endangered by the wicked rulers. In addition, Jesus told his anxious disciples that he would leave them once again (John 16:16). Yet to carry on his Spirit-empowered work (vv. 13-15), he commanded with authority: “Therefore, go . . .” (Matt 28:19a). Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus had demonstrated full authority over nature (Mark 4:35-41), demons (5:1-20), disease (vv. 21-34), and death (vv. 35-43). He also possessed the power to lay his own life down and to take it up himself (John 10:17-18), for after three days in the tomb he rose again to conquer sin and death. Jesus also had divine authority to forgive iniquity (Matt 9:6; Mark 2:7; Rev 1:5) and astonished many because “his word possessed authority” (Luke 4:32). Following his resurrection, Christ’s authority increased still more as “God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph 1:20-21). The risen Christ now reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords who created the universe and holds it in his hand (Col 1:15-17). He appoints kings and presidents and prime ministers and turns their hearts like channels of water (Prov 21:1). He is God’s divine Son who sits in supreme authority at his Father’s right hand (John 1:1-2).
Therefore, Jesus’ disciples follow the pattern of our commander-in-chief by leading others to be like him. Our counselees must not simply become an improved version of themselves, but must become like Christ. The Great Commission commands all believers to be globally minded missionaries, but also directs the local church to one another ministry. Christ calls his church to counsel biblically because many still don’t worship him as Lord. Many have never heard the gospel and do not have access to a saving relationship with Christ. So, the church submits to the authority of the risen Christ, for “the God of salvation has not given us a mission that is dependent on human resources. . . . Thanks be to God that the resurrected Jesus has rendered the devil powerless, and that His delegated authority will grant us the victory (Heb 2:14; 1 Cor 15:57).”[9] The command of Christ establishes the foundation of the Great Commission.
The Church’s Commissioner
The main goal of the Great Commission is to “make disciples” by multiplying followers of Jesus Christ. Three actions support this one imperative: going, baptizing, and teaching to obey. “Going” precedes disciple-making since a believer cannot make disciples without already being one. So, Christ has commissioned his church to go and make disciples, for God’s Word alone possesses the cure for souls in the person of Christ. “As you are going” means living like Christ before your counselees (e.g., 1 Cor 11:1) and keeping Christ central in the conversation (Col 1:27).
Disciple-makers, however, do not simply go into the world, but also bring disciples into the church. Baptism follows repentance and the receiving of God’s Word (Acts 2:38, 41) as the outward symbol of the inward change in a believer’s life (1 Cor 12:13a). Baptism brings joy and glory to Christ as the lost are brought to a relationship with him and with his church.
Third, Christ’s church also teaches disciples how to rightly relate to God and to one another (Matt 22:37-39). Discipleship trains them to consistently live out gospel truths and to obey everything Christ commanded (28:20a). It gives Jesus all the glory as the one who teaches with authority and treats his Word as our rock-solid foundation (Matt 7:24-25). So, we exhort one another to obey (Jas 1:22-25) and to conform our lives to him (John 8:31-32; 15:1-8). Biblical counseling reflects this central theme of God’s redemptive work in Christ (Col 1:28-29; see 2:2-3, 8-10) as the church proclaims God’s Word (John 5:39-40; Luke 24:25-27, 44-45; Heb 1:1-3) and declares Christ’s death and resurrection as the controlling motivation for our growth in godliness (2 Cor 5:14a; see Titus 2:11-14). “The fact that someone needed to die for us reminds us of our sinfulness and helplessness; the fact that Jesus did die for us reminds us that He loves us. And the fact that Jesus rose from the dead assures us that the Father accepted His sacrifice and that Jesus is a living and active Savior who is with us by His Spirit to help us to follow Him.”[10]
Biblical counselors trust in Christ’s presence and his power as the ultimate source of our spiritual strength. He will never leave his children nor forsake them (2 Tim 4:16-17; Heb 7:24-25), for the God who commands (Phil 4:11-12) is the God who supplies (v. 13). The church also presents Christ as the final hope for all of life’s problems beyond this present age. Then, in eternal glory, God promises a perfect soul (1 John 3:2), a perfect body (1 Cor 15:42-44, 45-49; see 2 Cor 5), and a perfect place in the new heavens and the new earth (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1-4). Biblical counselors must make disciples by teaching them to trust each word that Jesus promised and to obey everything he commanded.
The Church’s Counselor
When Jesus decreed the Great Commission, he did not tell his disciples to sit in a building and wait for people to come to them. Instead, he commanded, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” Thus, Jesus promises his church, challenged beyond our abilities to reach lost people for Christ: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20b). He keeps this promise by sending his Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17, see v. 26; 15:26) who empowers us to make disciples until our task is finished (Heb 13:5b). This Wonderful Counselor indwells believer and anoints each counselor’s ministry of compassion (Col 3:12; see Matt 9:36). Through his church, then, Christ will “bring good news to the poor; bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and [open] the prison to those who are bound” (Isa 61:1; see Col 1:13-14).
Christ came to comfort and heal the wounded (Ps 147:2-3) . . . both physically and emotionally. . . . Biblical counseling is ‘broken people helping other broken people find healing through the power of the gospel and in the power of the Spirit as they apply the living principles of Scripture (Heb 4:12) to life.’ . . . Our Lord came to break enslavements to sin and to help people come out into the light of day and truly deal with sin (Eph 5:11).[11]
The church will make disciples through the life-changing power of Jesus Christ (Titus 3:3-7). For the gospel is not just a message to believe, but a Person to follow (Matt 11:28-29). “Gospel-centered counseling promotes personal change centered on the Person of Christ through the personal ministry of the Word.” [12]
Conclusion
God’s children have been blessed “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph 1:3b) as God’s divine power grants “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet 1:3). These resources, available to every believer, are necessary for effective spiritual growth. In summary, biblical counseling takes place when God’s redeemed people minister God’s effective Word by the power of God’s Holy Spirit in the community of God’s gathered church for the glory of God’s beloved Son. Faithful dependence upon these spiritual resources reflects the church’s dependence upon the Lord.
[1]Paul Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands (P&R, 2002), 21.
[2]Jay Adams, Romans, Philippians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians (Timeless Texts, 1995), 125.
[3]Stuart Scott and Heath Lambert, Counseling the Hard Cases (B&H, 2012), 13.
[4]Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994), 127.
[5]John MacArthur and Wayne Mack, Introduction to Biblical Counseling (Word, 1994), 135.
[6]Paul Tautges, Counsel One Another (Day One, 2009), 103.
[7]Sprinkling is an Old Testament concept by which the people cleansed (Ezek 36:25; see Heb 9:14). When animal sacrifices were made on their behalf, the sprinkling signified the benefits of that sacrifice—their sins forgiven and evil consciences cleansed. “Bodies washed with pure water” relates the New Testament concept of believer’s baptism with the heart cleansing they had already experienced (1 Pet 3:21; see Eph 5:25-26).
[8]Tautges, Counsel One Another, 163-64.
[9]Ibid., 30-31.
[10]Robert Jones, “The Christ-Centeredness of Biblical Counseling,” in Scripture and Counseling (Zondervan, 2014), 117.
[11]Ernie Baker and Jonathan Holmes, “The Power of the Redeemer,” in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling (Harvest House, 2013), 40-41.
[12]Robert Kellemen, Gospel-Centered Counseling (Zondervan, 2014), 16.
