WDJD: What Did Jesus Do? 

I recently completed my cover-to-cover, Genesis-to-Malachi, study of the Old Testament. I have over 1,000 pages of single-spaced typed notes. I’ve been focused on:

A Scripture-Saturated Biblical Theology of Biblical Counseling, Traumatic-Suffering, and the Embodied-Soul.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve moved into the New Testament. I just completed my initial study of the Gospels. I suspect that I may craft a number of blog posts from my study of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Today’s post, as the title suggests, focuses on a specific aspect of Jesus’s ministry:

Jesus: Soul Physician of Embodied-Souls.

What Does the Bible Teach About Biblical Ministry? 

As I’ve examined the Gospels, I’ve been following a foundational principle of biblical hermeneutics (the study of the Bible):

Before we make applications for today’s context, we first must make careful observations of the authoritative biblical text.

For much more on this, see: Scripture and Soul: How to Study the Bible for Biblical Counseling.

Some of the hermeneutical observational questions I’ve been asking of the text include:

• “What Did Jesus Do (WDJD) as our Soul Physician?”

• “What did Jesus focus on in His soul physician, soul care ministry?”

Some of the hermeneutical applicational questions I’ve been asking of the text include:

• “If we let Scripture paint a picture of the way Jesus ministered, what could it teach us about doing biblical counseling and one-another ministry today?”

• “How does Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, provide a model of comprehensive care for Christians to follow?”

• “How does Jesus, the Soul Physician, model comprehensive soul care for embodied-souls?”

So, in my study of the Gospels, my initial focus has been on collating everything Jesus did—His teaching, His healings, His interactions with the Pharisees, His one-to-one interactions with people, etc., etc., etc. Already I have over fifty pages of single-spaced typed notes simply collating answers to the question: What did Jesus do as our Soul Physician?

102 Gospel Passages; 618 Gospel Verses 

As many times as I’ve read the Gospels, preached the Gospels, taught the Gospels, written about and from the Gospels, shared my faith from the Gospels, and counseled from the Gospels, my recent collation surprised me. Specifically:

I have been surprised by the amount of time Jesus focused on ministering to, caring for, and healing the body—the embodied-soul. 

Jesus ministered to the whole person—the embodied-soul. Obviously, Jesus came to heal the sin-sick soul. The Gospels also make abundantly and consistently clear that Jesus came to heal not only the spiritually sick, but also the physically sick.

Don’t take my word for it. Take God’s Word for it. Study all the times in the four Gospels that Jesus focuses on body/soul, on embodied-souls, on ministry that is concerned with and brings healing to the whole person. 

1. Matthew 4:23-25
2. Matthew 6:11
3. Matthew 8:1-4
4. Matthew 8:5-13
5. Matthew 8:14-15
6. Matthew 8:16-17
7. Matthew 8:28-34
8. Matthew 9:1-8
9. Matthew 9:12-13
10. Matthew 9:18-19, 23-26
11. Matthew 9:20-22
12. Matthew 9:27-31
13. Matthew 9:34
14. Matthew 9:35
15. Matthew 10:1
16. Matthew 10:7-8
17. Matthew 11:2-5
18. Matthew 12:1-8
19. Matthew 12:9-13
20. Matthew 12:15
21. Matthew 12:22-37
22. Matthew 14:14
23. Matthew 14:15-21
24. Matthew 14:35-36
25. Matthew 15:21-28
26. Matthew 15:30-31
27. Matthew 15:32-38
28. Matthew 17:14-20
29. Matthew 19:2
30. Matthew 20:29-34
31. Matthew 21:14
32. Mark 1:21-28
33. Mark 1:29-30
34. Mark 1:32-34
35. Mark 1:40-42
36. Mark 2:1-11
37. Mark 2:17
38. Mark 2:23-28
39. Mark 3:1-6
40. Mark 3:10-11
41. Mark 3:14-15
42. Mark 5:1-20
43. Mark 5:21-24, 35-43
44. Mark 5:25-34
45. Mark 6:7
46. Mark 6:12-13
47. Mark 6:34-44
48. Mark 6:55-56
49. Mark 7:24-30
50. Mark 7:31-37
51. Mark 8:1-10
52. Mark 8:22-26
53. Mark 9:14-29
54. Mark 9:38-41
55. Mark 10:46-52
56. Mark 16:9
57. Luke 4:1-37
58. Luke 4:18-19
59. Luke 4:41
60. Luke 4:38-39
61. Luke 4:40
62. Luke 5:12-13
63. Luke 5:15
64. Luke 5:17-26
65. Luke 5:31-32
66. Luke 6:1-5
67. Luke 6:6-11
68. Luke 6:18-19
69. Luke 7:1-10
70. Luke 7:11-15
71. Luke 7:21-23
72. Luke 8:2
73. Luke 8:26-39
74. Luke 8:40-42, 49-56
75. Luke 8:43-48
76. Luke 9:1-6
77. Luke 9:11
78. Luke 9:12-17
79. Luke 9:37-43
80. Luke 9:49-50
81. Luke 10:9
82. Luke 10:17-20
83. Luke 11:3
84. Luke 11:14-28
85. Luke 12:11-12
86. Luke 12:32
87. Luke 13:32
88. Luke 14:1-6
89. Luke 17:11-19
90. Luke 18:35-43
91. John 2:23
92. John 3:2
93. John 4:43-54
94. John 5:1-15
95. John 6:2
96. John 6:5-15
97. John 7:31
98. John 9:1-41
99. John 10:21
100. John 11:1-44
101. John 11:47-48
102. John 20:30-31

If my math is correct, that’s 618 verses repeatedly highlighting Jesus focusing on ministry to the whole person—to the embodied-soul. That’s 102 Gospel passages where Jesus cares for the physical needs of people—healing their illnesses, compassionately feeding their hunger, miraculously raising them from the dead, freeing them from the embodied-soul impact of demon oppression, curing their lifelong sicknesses, giving sight to the blind, and so much more.

The Wonderful Counselor’s Comprehensive Care 

Since this is a blog post and not a book, I can only highlight a few of those 102 passages.

First, observe Jesus’s own self-description of His calling—He is the Soul Physician (Matthew 9:12-13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31-32). Each of these three passages are surrounded contextually by Jesus healing the sick, freeing those oppressed by demons, and preaching the good news.

• Luke 5:31-32: ³¹ Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Next, notice two passages from Matthew’s Gospel that seamlessly link preaching the good news of the kingdom with embodied-soul healing. These two passages are illustrative of numerous additional passages where Jesus weaves together addressing spiritual sickness through preaching and addressing physical sickness through healing.

• Matthew 4:23-24: ²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them.

• Matthew 9:35: ³⁵ Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

Now, consider how Jesus’s comprehensive embodied-soul ministry fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies about Messiah’s core calling.

• Matthew 8:16-17: ¹⁶ When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

• Luke 4:18-19: ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Next note how Jesus specifically used His comprehensive embodied-soul ministry as the mark by which to identify Him as the Messiah.

• Matthew 11:2-5: ² When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples ³ to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” ⁴ Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: ⁵ The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

And ponder the comprehensive embodied-soul ministry Jesus gave to His disciples.

• Matthew 10:7-8: ⁷ As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

• Luke 9:1-2, 6: When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demonsand to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ⁶ So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Summarizing the Textual Evidence 

In biblical hermeneutics, we seek to ask and answer observational questions. Here are two initial summaries.

• Question #1: “What did Jesus focus on in His soul physician, soul care ministry?”

• Answer #1: Jesus, the Soul Physician, models soul care for embodied-souls—for the whole person.

• Question #2: “What Did Jesus Do (WDJD) as our Soul Physician?”

• Answer #2: Jesus’s mission was an embodied-soul mission—ministering comprehensively to people holistically—spiritually/physically, applying the Good News to their souls and bodies—embodied souls.

Summarizing the Theology of Embodied-Soul Ministry 

There are theological reasons for Jesus’s embodied-soul ministry. I’ll likely say more about this in a future post. For now here are some introductory Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation (CFRC) theological realities about why Jesus’s ministry was embodied-soul ministry, and why all ministry is embodied-soul ministry. (For another introduction to a theology of embodied-souls see: Of Spirituality and Ice Cubes: A Psalm and a Palm.)

1. Creation: God designed us as good (Genesis 1:26-31), complex interconnected unities of body and soul (Genesis. 2:7). We do not minister to disembodied-souls (unless we’re physically raising the dead!).

2. Fall: When sinned entered God’s good world, it brought a curse upon creation (Genesis 3:14-19), including upon God’s embodied-soul image bearers (Romans 8:22-27). Physical sickness and satanic oppression are some of the signs of the curse of sin.

3. Redemption: The Kingdom of God is the breaking in of the rule of God—the rule of the King. Jesus’s healing miracles were signs of the beginning of the reverse of the curse; they were signs of the already/not yet inauguration of the King’s reign. Jesus explained this theological reality to the false teachers of the law in Matthew 9:1-8. Saying, “Get up and walk” was as “spiritual” as saying “Your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:5). Physical healings were signs of Jesus’s kingdom authority just as much as spiritual forgiveness was.

4. Consummation: When God’s Kingdom fully comes, what we groan for now will become reality—the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:22-27). The last enemy will be defeated and death will be swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:35-58). In the Gospels, King Jesus was giving us a foretaste of glory.

Soul Physicians Today 

In biblical hermeneutics, we carefully move from observations about the authoritative text to applications to our modern context. We are not Jesus. We are commissioned by Jesus.

We are moving from Jesus’s mission to our commission. If we miss this vital aspect of the hermeneutical process, then we might mistakenly conclude that, “Since Jesus raised people from the dead physically, our calling is to raise people from the dead physically.” “Since Jesus performed physical healing miracles, biblical counselors perform physical healing miracles.”

So, how do we move from the historical text to our modern context? In thinking through this application, I have been helped by some of the wording used by the ACBC 2024 Annual Conference: Care of Christ: The Counseling Ministry of Jesus. Their stated goal is to “examine how the Wonderful Counselor provides a complete model of counseling and care for Christians to follow.” I adapted language from their promo writing and from their promo video, and adopted these applicational questions as I examined Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

• “If we let Scripture paint a picture of the way Jesus ministered, what could it teach us about doing biblical counseling and one-another ministry today?”

• “How does Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, provide a model of comprehensive care for Christians to follow?”

• “How does Jesus, the Soul Physician, model comprehensive soul care for embodied-souls?” 

Here are five implications we can derive for today from the 102 Gospel passages about Jesus as Soul Physician of embodied-souls: 

1. Since Jesus, the Soul Physician, models soul care for embodied-souls, we should seek to minister comprehensively to the whole person.

2. Since Jesus’s mission was an embodied-soul mission, we should seek to minister to people comprehensively as embodied-souls.

3. Christlike soul physicians are soul physicians of embodied-souls.

4. We point people not to ourselves, but to Jesus, their Soul Physician of their embodied-soul.

5. As biblical counselors, if we minimize or neglect ministry to the whole person—to the embodied-soul—then we are not Jesus-like soul physicians.

What Might This Look Like? 

What does this look like in biblical counseling? I’m studying Genesis-to-Revelation to discern that. Since I’ve not crafted that material into a book…yet…here are some posts where I biblically explore the concept of being soul physicians of embodied-souls.

6 Biblical Counseling Convictions. As biblical counselors we seek to be Gospel-Centered/Christ-Centered, Theologically-Saturated, Relationship-Focused, Church History-Informed, Research-Aware Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Becoming Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls. This post outlines possible content for a book on biblical counseling, traumatic-suffering, and embodied-souls.

I’m Never More Christ-Dependent Than When I’m Doing Deep Breathing Exercises. This post explores how I apply biblical embodied-soul principles to my own life.

112 Biblical Passages on Being Embodied-Souls. This list will be much larger once I collate in all the additional passages I’ve found during my Genesis-to-Revelation study.

55 Resources for Counseling the Whole Person: The Bible, the Body, the Embodied-Soul, Research, Science, and Neuroscience. As the title suggests, this post provides direct links to dozens of (free) resources on the Bible and the embodied-soul.

Comprehensive Biblical Counseling and the Body: Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls. If you want a quick read, then consider this brief post summarizing biblical counseling and the embodied-soul.

The Body Keeps the Score; The Embodied-Soul Counts the Cost. If you want to think through the intricate interconnected innerworkings of the embodied-soul as it relates to suffering, sanctification, and soul care, this post is for you.