Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes: A Psalm and a Palm

A Word from Bob

Recently I posted a very personal blog entitled, I’m Never More Christ-Dependent Than When I’m Doing Deep Breathing Exercises.

Today’s post “takes out the personal story,” and focuses on an introduction to a biblical theology of the body.

We’re highlighting the spirituality of the body.

We’re examining biblically the spirituality of physiological interventions in biblical counseling and progressive sanctification.

The Spirituality of Our Physicality

I enjoyed a recent Biblical Counseling Coalition post by Dr. Charles Hodges entitled, They Shall Run and Not Be Weary. I’ve always appreciated Dr. Hodges’s biblical balance regarding being soul physicians of embodied-souls.

In his post, Dr. Hodges interacted with a recent neuroscience study comparing the effectiveness of medication and of running for addressing mood. As part of his conclusions, Dr. Hodges, asked:

“As biblical counselors, should we be encouraging those struggling with sadness to go out for a good run?”

“Do you encourage your counselees to include physical activity in their daily regimen when they face persistent sadness?”

I might add,

As biblical counselors and soul physicians of embodied-souls do we encourage our counselees to address issues comprehensively? Do we minister to them comprehensively, encouraging them to address life with all their heart, affections, mind, soul, spirit, will, emotions, and body—including going for a run, getting good sleep, maintaining a healthy diet, practicing deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and perhaps, cupping an ice cube?

Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes

Ice cubes?

Yes.

Cupping an ice cube in one’s palm is an embodied-soul physiological intervention. It is used to slow down and ground a person in the present moment. For some, this is an embodied-soul way to be still and be reminded, present-moment-by-present-moment, of our need for God, of the nearness of God, and of Christ’s call to come and rest in Him.

Some might retort, “Don’t hold an ice cube! Hold and read your Bible!”

Why not both?

Why not the Bible and ice cubes?

Why not feasting on the Word of God and breathing deeply in dependence on the Spirit of God? Both are spiritual.

Why not embodied-soul progressive sanctification that applies all the “overtly spiritual” disciplines, while also practicing progressive muscle relaxation—also a spiritual discipline of the embodied soul.

Of Elijah and Spurgeon

Some might distort this saying, “You’re equating the power of scriptural truth with the potential effectiveness of physiological interventions.”

No. I am applying scriptural truth concerning our embodied-soul.

Spirituality includes embracing physical weakness (2 Corinthians 1:8-9; 2 Corinthians 4:7-10; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

When we ignore the biblical importance of the body, we misunderstand what it means to trust God.

Emotions, including anxiety, fear, and phobias, involve physiological components that often may need to be addressed with physical interventions—and always with comprehensive body-soul interventions. This should always include a healthy diet, exercise, rest, relaxation, and sleep.[i] This can also often legitimately include other biological/physiological interventions such as deep breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation, or clutching a melting ice cube, etc.

Elijah in his despondency and fear needed his soul strengthened by the Lord’s presence and his body strengthened by food, drink, and rest (1 Kings 19:8).

Spurgeon in his sorrows, wisely explained to his students that “a mouthful of sea air, or a stiff walk in the wind’s face would not give grace to the soul, but it would yield oxygen to the body, which is next best” (Lectures to My Students 158). As John Piper notes, “very practically Spurgeon supplements his theological survival strategy with God’s natural means of survival—his use of rest and nature.” Eventually this annually involved a lengthy time of sabbatical that included Spurgeon resting his embodied-soul in the hot springs of France.

For additional teaching on the Scriptures and our embodied-soul, see, 45 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: The Bible, the Body, the Embodied-Soul, Research, Science, and Neuroscience.

For additional teaching on embodied-souls, see 112 Biblical Passages on Being Embodied-Souls.

The Scriptures and the Sacredness of the Body

Ponder this introductory biblical theology of the spirituality of the body.

God designed us as embodied-souls, as a complex unity (as Jay Adams said, a “duplex”)[ii] of body/soul (Genesis 2:7) and called our embodiment “very good” (Genesis 1:31). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our calling from God is to be His “under-shepherds” and “under-scientists” who rule over His physical creation (Genesis 1:26-28). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and so we are to honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our daily physical lives are an opportunity to glorify God in even the seemingly most “mundane” of activities—like glorifying God through our eating and drinking (1 Corinthians 10:31). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our sanctification is embodied sanctification. We are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is our true and proper worship. It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Our embodied-soul is vital in our future glorification. “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). It doesn’t get any more spiritual, any more sacred than that.

Bodily interventions—interventions designed to address the fact that God created us as embodied-souls—are sacred interventions. Deep breathing exercises (and ice cubes) are only secular if we make them secular.

Biblical Counseling and the Body, Part 1

Gregg Allison, in Embodied: Living as Whole People in a Fractured World, writes:

“The church has been infected with the disease of Gnosticism and neo-Gnosticism. The church elevates spiritual and immaterial matters and minimizes or even denigrates physical and material matters. The church is held captive to anti-body sentiments. As a result, a holistic sanctification—a full-orbed process of maturing as wholly developed Christians that includes making progress as embodied believers—is rarely envisioned and pursued” (Allison, 127).

How might we “gently” word this for our biblical counseling world?

Is it possible that in our biblical counseling world we at times have been infected with the disease of Gnosticism and neo-Gnosticism?

At times in our biblical counseling, do we elevate spiritual and immaterial matters and minimize or even denigrate physical and material matters?

In any way is the modern biblical counseling movement held captive to anti-body sentiments?

Might it be accurate to say that a holistic sanctification—a full-orbed process of maturing as wholly developed Christians that includes making progress as embodied believers—is too rarely envisioned and pursued in our actual ministry, interventions, and methods as biblical counselors?

Are we acting primarily as soul physicians of souls, rather than as soul physicians of embodied-souls?[iii]

Biblical Counseling and the Body, Part 2

Because the biblical counseling movement rightly worries that the world doesn’t account for spiritual realities, we then can be tempted to move to an unbiblical counter extreme. We overcompensate by undervaluing the physical and overemphasizing the immaterial.

If we are not careful, we can become just as “monistic” as the world, but in the opposite direction.

The world tends to focus only on the body and material matters, dismissing, denying or minimizing the soul, the spiritual (this is physical “monism”).

Christians and biblical counselors, if we are not careful, can tend to focus only or almost exclusively on the soul and immaterial matters, tending to dismiss or minimize the importance and sacredness of the body, of the physical (this is spiritual or spiritualized “monism”). (This way of thinking about human beings has more in common with Platonic philosophy, Gnostic theology, and Enlightenment secular thinking than with biblical theology.)

If we are not careful; if we are not biblical, we can become soul physicians of souls, instead of being biblical soul physicians of embodied-souls.[iv]

Puritan pastor Timothy Rogers (1658-1728), describes this well and wisely.

“There is danger that the bodily physician will look no further than the body, while the spiritual physician will totally disregard the body, and look only at the mind” (from Preface to A Discourse on Trouble of the Mind and the Disease of Melancholy).

“A Jar of Clay”

When we engage in deep breathing exercises, or cupping an ice cube, we are consciously acknowledging to ourselves and to God that we are a jar of clay.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).

When we breathe deeply, or cup an ice cube, we are embracing:

The spiritual importance of wise care for my body (1 Corinthians 6:13-20).

The need to master my body (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).

The validity of physical treatments for my embodied-soul (1 Timothy 5:23).

The value of physical training (1 Timothy 4:8).

The frailty of my body (2 Corinthians 4:7).

The impact of the fall on my body (Romans 8:19-25).

The relationship between my bodily weakness, my emotional/spiritual weakness, and Christ’s grace and strength (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Christ-Dependent and Scripture-Trusting

Todd Stryd’s excellent Journal of Biblical Counseling article, “‘Take a Deep Breath’—How Counseling Ministry Addresses the Body, summarizes well this biblical understanding of embodied-soul interventions in biblical counseling.

“Alongside the practice of creating space for reflection, the act of pacing our breathing can itself be an act of faith and trust. To slow down and steady our response, despite challenging circumstances, is an act of faith and trust in the promises that ‘God is near,’ and ‘He will never leave nor forsake,’ and ‘He dwells with you and will be in you.’ It helps us to ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Stillness involves both body and soul—and can pay attention to both” (67, emphasis added).

“The act of breathing in a strategic, attentive manner can be practically embedded into the way we help people live out their goals of love, virtue, and righteousness. We can use every resource at our disposal to achieve the goal of our faith. The Christian pursuit of body/soul balance does not belittle the utility of attentive breathing, but at the same time pursues much more. God’s people are encouraged to use both body and soul to pursue the kingdom goals of loving God and loving our neighbors” (74, emphasis added).

As I said in my more personal post:

“I am never more Christ-dependent than when I’m doing deep breathing exercises.”

Perhaps if we start cupping an ice cube, we could say it like this:

“We are never more Scripture-trusting than when we are clutching and reading a Bible in one palm and clutching an ice cube in the other palm.”

A Psalm and a Palm

Hmm. Makes me think… Perhaps I could summarize this entire post with this phrase:

“A Psalm and a Palm.”

Notes

[i] Numerous times in his writings, Jay Adams discussed the importance of these physical issues for biblical counselors, including sleep and sleep studies. For instance, in What About Nouthetic Counseling? Adams states, “I have profited greatly, for instance, from the results of the work done at the Harvard sleep labs (and elsewhere). This sleep study I consider to be a valid and worthwhile enterprise for such psychology” (31).

[ii] In A Theology of Christian Counseling, forty years ago, Adams championed the need for a series of biblical counseling books addressing and applying the embodied-soul nature of humanity. “There is an earthly side to man, but there is a heavenly or spiritual side as well. Man belongs to both worlds” (109). “The emphasis in the Scriptures, however, is upon the unity of these entities. That is why I prefer the term duplex (meaning ‘twofold’). This word stresses the unity of the elements (they are ‘folded’ together), rather than their separability” (110). “The implications for counseling that grow out of the fact of human nature’s duplex form are too vast even to list. Here is one of those places where an entire book (or series of books) is needed to explore these fully” (110). “My work is but suggestive, of course; much more work is needed to supplement and sharpen it” (118).

[iii] Interestingly, in his first book, Competent to Counsel, Jay Adams supported nouthetic counseling by stating and developing the concept that “The Nervous System Corresponds to the Nouthetic Approach” (p. 96/Header). For more on this, see, Jay Adams, Nouthetic Counseling, and Neuroscience.

[iv] As noted earlier, for much more on biblical counseling and the embodied-soul, see, 44 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: God Designed Us as Embodied-Souls. For an introduction to a possible book on this topic, see, 10 Questions About Biblical Counseling and Neuroscience: Becoming Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls.