The Big Idea

Proverbs teaches us not only wisdom for living, but also wisdom from living.

Proverbs illustrates that we gain wisdom for living from reflecting on our life experiences and from observing life.

Wisdom from King Solomon, Tremper Longman, and David Powlison

I’m continuing my cover-to-cover, Genesis-to-Revelation study of the Bible’s teaching on Soul Physicians of Embodied-Souls: Biblical Counseling, Traumatic Suffering, and Embodied-Souls. So far, I’ve studied from Genesis to Proverbs. I have over 1,000 pages of single-spaced typed notes.

As I’ve studied Proverbs, I’ve been fascinated by the “sources of wisdom” that Solomon uses. I wanted to learn more about wisdom literature, so I’ve been reading Tremper Longman’s book, The Fear of the Lord Is Wisdom: A Theological Introduction to Wisdom in Israel. I’ve also been re-reading David Powlison’s writings on the Bible as our lens for assessing all information.

Here are some of my ponderings.

Sources of Knowledge for Biblical Counseling 

In our biblical counseling discussions on the sufficiency of Scripture and extra-biblical sources, we all agree on the ultimate source of knowing: Scripture/Revelation. God’s all-sufficient, authoritative Word is our lens, grid, eyes for assessing all other sources of knowledge.

In these discussions, we often discuss several categories of extra-biblical knowledge, such as:

1. Common grace sources of knowledge.
2. General revelation as a source of knowledge.
3. The Creation/Cultural Mandate: Science, neuroscience, and research as sources of knowledge.

In assessing sources of knowledge, we often leave out one important biblical category: wisdom (hokma).

We often talk about wisdom for living.

Solomon talks about wisdom from living.

In The Fear of the Lord Is Wisdom, Longman lists the following sub-categories for sources of wisdom from living:

• Experience.
• Observation.
• Tradition.
• Correction/Learning from Mistakes.

Longman explains and illustrates how biblical wisdom literature models the use of these sources of knowledge. Solomon teaches his son wisdom through:

• His life experiences: Wisdom he accumulated as an older person from years of living.
• His observations of life: Wisdom he accumulated through observing life, including observing the ant, the fool, the sluggard, the temptress, etc.
• Tradition—the Wisdom of the Elders: Accumulated knowledge and wisdom handed down generation-by-generation, from his father’s father and beyond.
• Correction: Wisdom learned through “the school of hard knocks”—what he and others have learned through their sin, errors, and mistakes in living; what they’ve learned from observing and experiencing the consequences of foolish living.

Proverbs, Wisdom, Sages, and Biblical Counselors 

From his study of biblical wisdom literature, Longman concludes that:

“The wise person learns about God’s world from all sources.”

“The wisdom tradition of the Old Testament encourages learning from a wide variety of sources and not just the Bible.”

Longman applies the Old Testament use of wisdom from observation and experience inside and outside of Israel to biblical counseling. He states that the Christian/biblical counselor “is about as close as we get today to the ancient sage.” And how do wise, sage biblical counselors learn?

“In the final analysis, sages in the 21st century will not only be avid students of Scripture, but will also learn from many other sources.”

Longman understands that what he says can be perceived as controversial.

“This perspective goes against certain Christian traditions that wrongly understand sola scriptura as meaning that we learn about ourselves and our world only from the Bible and that other, secular sources of knowledge are so corrupted that they are of no use.”

“In response to this latter view, we first of all note that the sages of Proverbs learned from their experience…from observations…from their mistakes.”

The sages of Proverbs also “appreciated and utilized the wisdom of the broader ancient Near East.” They used “the fear of the Lord” (a God-focused way of living and thinking) to assess wisdom observations from outside Israel, “but that did not stop them from appropriating its good insights based upon experience and observation.”

Under the Sun? Or, Under the Son? 

But are these experiences and observations on par with Scripture? No.

How then do we assess wisdom that comes from experience and observation? In Ecclesiastes, another wisdom literature book, we see two ways of assessing experience/observation: I call them:

1. Under the Sun: Looking at life and assessing experience/observation apart from a Christ-centered worldview.

2. Under the Son: Looking at life and assessing experience/observation from a Christ-centered worldview.

As we look at life under the sun, we must assess it under the Son.

Longman combines two biblical truths from wisdom literature. First, he values wisdom for life gained through experience, observation, tradition, and learning from mistakes. Second, he highlights “the fear of the Lord” as the foundation for assessing such “wisdom.”

According to Longman, like the sages of Proverbs, in order to assess human experiences and observations, we must:

• Live in the fear of the Lord.
• Maintain a vibrant relationship with God.
• Listen attentively to God’s Word.
• Live and think within the framework of a Christian worldview formed by Scripture.

Powlison on Assessing Life Under the Sun through Wisdom Gained Under the Son 

As I read Longman, I heard echoes of David Powlison. Both Powlison and Longman value many ways of knowing. Both Powlison and Longman see Scripture as the “under the Son” lens through which we assess “under the sun” observations.

In a 2012 article, Powlison had much to say about the value of secular psychology. Biblical counselors, according to Powlison, must start by looking for the good in secular psychology. To do otherwise equals “sectarian contentiousness.” Here’s Powlison in his own words:

“To make true sense of the psychologies, our critical thinking must intentionally look for the good. This has to be underlined. Sectarian contentiousness only sees the bad, and does not produce redemption. But as in all the other mixed cases needing redemption, there is good in Psychology.”

“Secular researchers and clinicians know reams of significant facts about people and problems, about strengths and weaknesses. (We may not have noticed or known some or many of those facts.) In encountering psychological information, I’m listening, so tell me anything and everything you know about everybody and anybody.”

“Secular theories seek to answer crucial questions and address hard problems. (We may not have thought to ask those questions or address those problems. I want to take to heart hard questions that need answering.)”

“Secular therapies often embody helpful skills in knowing, in loving, and in speaking so as to catch the ear of strugglers. (We may be relatively clumsy. O skillful God, make me more probing. Make me more patient and kind. Make me more able to speak constructive words, according to the need of the moment, that I might give grace to those who hear.)” (18)

“We gain much and lose nothing by being appropriately attentive to and appreciative of their strengths.” (19)

“Secular therapists describe troubled people so vividly! Their desire to help is so palpable!” (19)

“We gain a point of contact with non-Christian psychologists when we wed something true and clear to the very things they know, care about, pursue, and do.” (20) 

Powlison on the Usefulness of Secular Psychology 

In a 1993 article, Powlison explained how biblical counselors, like the wisdom sages, observe and examine data from the world God created.

“Every wise biblical counselor engages in lifelong empirical researches, informally if not formally.” (21)

He also noted how, like the sages of Israel, our eyes remain open to the findings of those outside the faith.

“In this process psychologists, sociologists, historians, counselees, the non-Christians who live next door, USA Today and Agatha Christie may contribute to our grasp of the styles and how they develop. Often in counseling or reading—and even in our own repentance!” (21).

Powlison explained the difference between an “only Scripture” view and “the Scriptures as our lens” view. Do we only view Scripture? Or, do we view everything through the lens of Scripture?

“Biblical counselors who fail to think through carefully the nature of biblical epistemology run the danger of acting as if Scripture were exhaustive, rather than comprehensive; as if Scripture were an encyclopedic catalogue of all significant facts, rather than God’s revelation of the crucial facts, richly illustrated, that yield a world view sufficient to interpret whatever other facts we encounter; as if Scripture were the whole bag of marbles rather than the eyeglasses through which we interpret all marbles; as if our current grasp of Scripture and people were triumphant and final.” (32)

In a 1996 article, Powlison illustrates how biblical counselors might engage with, assess, and even benefit from secular psychological theory using Adler as a specific example.

“Take as an example Alfred Adler’s Understanding Human Nature. He has a seventy-page section that is one of the finest descriptions of total depravity I’ve ever read. What’s interesting is that Alfred Adler doesn’t believe in total depravity; he doesn’t believe in sin. But he dissects things right down to why people pick their noses. He gets into the dirt of life and looks at the tricks and the chaos and the self-centeredness. He cares to help.” (38)

In a 1988 article, Powlison further develops the crucial need for contemporary biblical counselors to “appreciate” secular psychology.

“Perhaps it seems a paradox, but the final crucial issue for contemporary biblical counseling is the need to define more clearly the nuances in our relationship to secular thinking. The relationship of presuppositional consistent Christianity to secular culture is not simply one of rejection. Half of what biblical presuppositions give us is a way to discern the lie that tries to make people think about themselves as autonomous from God. But the other half of what biblical categories do is give us a way of appreciating, redeeming, and reframing the culture of even the most godless men and women.” (5) 

In Powlison’s Affirmations & Denials, he continues to develop his thinking on how biblical counselors engage with the observations of the secular world.

“We affirm that God’s providential common grace brings many goods to people, both as individual kindnesses and as social blessings: e.g., medical treatment, economic help, political justice, protection for the weak, educational opportunity. Wise counseling will participate in and encourage mercy ministries as part of the call to love.”

“We affirm that numerous disciplines and professions can contribute to an increase in our knowledge of people and how to help them. Scripture teaches a standpoint and gaze by which believers can learn many things from those who do not believe.”

“We deny that secular disciplines and professions are entirely benighted by the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic effects of sin. The operations of God’s common grace can cause unbelievers to be relatively observant, caring, stimulating, and informative.”

“We deny that the Bible intends to serve as an encyclopedia of proof texts containing all facts about people and the diversity of problems in living.”

In a 2018 article, Powlison had even more to say about the benefits of engaging with secular counseling theory.

“But it is a true common grace that secular theories and practices always retain an instinct for the first word in that definition of human flourishing: love. Like most thoughtful people and most religions, they value human kindness and certain other aspects of person-to-person goodness. They witness and grieve the pain and misery caused by bad behavior, bad feelings, bad thoughts, and bad experiences. They know that caring for others is better than narcissism, arrogance, manipulation, revenge, and self-righteousness. To be cherished is far better than to be despised. Hope is far better than despair. Safety is far better than danger. Sanity and realism are far better than paranoia and delusion. Treating others well and being treated well is far better than all forms of using, misusing, mistreating, abusing, and betraying. A constructively purposeful life is far better than a pointlessly self-destructive lifestyle. To be part of the solution is far better than being part of the problem. And so forth!”

Applications for Biblical Counselors Today 

What can we learn about wisdom for living from biblical wisdom literature? Solomon in Proverbs, Tremper Longman, and David Powlison all indicate that:

1. The Bible does not teach us to avoid extra-biblical sources of knowledge.

2. The Bible teaches us to use the Bible to assess extra-biblical sources of knowledge.

3. As we look at life under the sun, we assess it under the Son.

4. In biblical counseling, there is a legitimate role for wisdom/hokma: learning from observing the created world, from experiences in the world, and from the observations and experiences of unbelievers—all assessed under the Son, not under the sun.