A Word from Bob 

Today’s post began as a Twitter/X thread.

Comprehensive Biblical Counseling 

1/ A Thread on Biblical Counseling and the Body, Body/Soul, Embodied-Soul. #BibleCn #BiblicalCounseling #EmbodiedSouls #TheologicalAnthropology #Sufficiency

2/ Premise: Since the Scriptures provide a robust, comprehensive, sufficient, authoritative biblical theology (theological anthropology) of the Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation of the embodied-soul, therefore biblical counselors must be soul physicians of embodied-souls.

3/ For a beginning collation of Scriptures on the CFRC of Embodied-Souls, see, 112 Biblical Passages on Being Embodied-Souls.

4/ Biblical counseling that ignores, neglects, or minimizes the body, body/soul, embodied-soul is less than comprehensive biblical counseling. Some would say this neglect is “gnostic” or “pre-gnostic.” Historically, the more accurate designation would be “platonic” or “neo-platonic” with its false philosophy that only the soul matters (pun intended).

5/ To say that the biblical model of sanctification focuses on the inner man is to separate the inner/outer person in ways that the Bible does not. Sanctification is whole-person sanctification (see Romans 12:1-2, among many passages).

6/ To claim that physiological, biological, embodied-soul interventions is lesser than or less “spiritual” than soul-focused interventions, separates the body/soul in ways that the Bible does not. For biblical foundation see, Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes.

7/ One does not “need” to be a neuroscientist, nor does one “need” neuroscience research findings to develop a comprehensive, robust biblical approach to being soul physicians of embodied-souls. God’s all-sufficient Word provides us with the authoritative reason and motivation to focus on the whole person.

8/ At the same time, being “research-aware,” or “neuroscience-aware” is not “less biblical.” The Bible has a theology of science and of research, beginning with and embedded in our calling to fulfill Creation/Cultural Mandate in Genesis 1-2, and continuing throughout the Bible.

9/ For a biblical theology of science/research, see, 55 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: The Bible, the Body, the Embodied-Soul, Research, Science, and Neuroscience.

10/ For a biblical theology of soul physicians of embodied-souls, see, 6 Biblical Counseling Convictions. As biblical counselors we seek to be: Gospel-Centered, Theologically-Saturated, Relationship-Focused, Church History-Informed, Research-Aware Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls.

11/ Jay Adams’s focus on the “flesh,” “habituation,” “dehabituations,” and “rehabituation” provided a helpful biblical and neuroscience perspective on counseling the whole person. For historical perspective, see, Jay Adams, Nouthetic Counseling, and Neuroscience.

12/ Thus biblical counseling that addresses the body, body/soul, embodied-soul, and that is research-aware/neuroscience-aware is #BibleCn that is aligned with the Bible’s theological anthropology, and that is aligned with the history of nouthetic counseling as practiced by its founder, Jay Adams.

13/ Addendum Added: The secular world in Plato’s day tended toward a “monism” of “soul only”—only the soul matters. The secular world in our day tends toward a “monism” of “body only”—only matter matters!

14/ At times, in our reaction to the secular world, we biblical counselors must be careful not to pull the pendulum beyond or against biblical truth. We biblical counselors, in arguing against “body only psychology” are at risk of creating “soul-primacy or soul-only biblical counseling.” 

15/ Soul-primacy, soul-only BC: a.) Unbiblically divides the unified body-soul (embodied-soul). b.) Unbiblically minimizes the role of the body (embodied-soul) in progressive sanctification. C.) Unbiblically denies the Bible’s teaching on the Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation of the embodied-soul.

16/ As Paul Tripp notes, we must avoid unbiblical extremes. The world’s extreme is to “biologize” every issue. The biblical counseling counter-extreme is to “spiritualize” every issue. Biblically, we are soul physicians of embodied-souls.