This is the fifth in a series of blog posts reading through A Theology of Biblical Counseling, The Doctrinal Foundations of Counseling Ministry by Heath Lambert (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).
In yesterday’s post I highlighted five debatable areas raised by Heath Lambert’s critique of his Southern Seminary colleague, Dr. Eric Johnson. Today I’d like to examine the fourth of these: Has Heath stated Dr. Johnson’s position with sufficient accuracy and comprehensiveness? Heath’s representation of Dr. Johnson will be in bold and my response will follow (Let me say up front, that I do not doubt Heath’s integrity in any way. I believe he has sought to be truthful in his representation of Dr. Johnson. However, I do believe there is another way to read Dr. Johnson that is more accurate, especially if we define our terms more clearly).
1. “Johnson…does not believe that the Bible is sufficient for the work of counseling.”
Heath’s statement of Dr. Johnson’s position is true if “sufficient” here means “absolute sufficiency,” that is, the Bible has everything there is to say on counseling issues, that no other sources of knowledge, (eg. science) may be used in counseling. However, according to some parts of Heath’s book, no biblical counselor believes in absolute sufficiency for all counseling issues.
That was confirmed by ACBC counselor Joshua Waulk’s response to yesterday’s question, where he explained that biblical counselors welcome the involvement of other suitable professionals in addressing life challenges like autism, developmental delay, and bi-polar.
So, no one believes the Bible is sufficient in the absolute sense of no other sources of helpful knowledge exist. In that, Dr. Johnson, Heath, and I agree.
2. Dr. Johnson “argues that the Bible is sufficient only for salvation and doctrine.”
The precise phrase Dr. Johnson uses is “salvific sufficiency” or “salvific-doctrinal sufficiency,” but by that he does not mean that it is sufficient only for the purposes of Christian doctrine or being saved. From my reading of him, these phrases would also include such things as Christian ethics and how to live a godly Christian life. However, he would say that the Bible is not equally sufficient, or, more accurately, sufficient in exactly the same way, for doctrine and the types of issues addressed in counseling today (we’ll get to that next week). I would agree with Dr. Johnson here, and I think Heath would too.
3. Dr. Johnson’s “point is that it is a serious error to argue that Scripture provides sufficient resources for the work that counselors do.”
Dr. Johnson does not believe that knowledge from other sources is necessary for the work that biblical counselors do. However, he does believe that knowledge from other sources can be helpful (as do biblical counselors like Jay Adams, David Powlison, and Heath himself at times), and to refuse it can limit the help we might give to some people.
Say, for example, a Christian comes to us for counsel and direction in preparing for missionary service in Indonesia. There are many biblical verses and passages that we would want her to study. That would be our primary advice and direction. However, it would also be helpful to understand the history, geography, culture, and religions of that country. It may also be helpful to know the climate and diet challenges. Perhaps she will talk to others who have been there. That’s all part of “counting the cost” (Luke 14:28), of wise spiritual planning. It’s not necessary information, perhaps, but it is helpful information as we seek to care for this young woman’s soul.
In this case, the Bible is sufficient for giving us major spiritual principles to guide her, but there are other sources of knowledge that would also be important to study to help this Christian in living the Christian life.
4. Dr. Johnson says “Protestant Christian theologians have argued for Scripture’s sufficiency only in the categories of salvation and doctrine.”
As I said previously, from what I’ve read and heard of Dr. Johnson, he would include Christian ethics and how to live the Christian life under the heading “salvation and doctrine,” so I don’t think he would agree with this representation of his position. Also, as I said above, no one believes in the absolute sufficiency of Scripture for all counseling issues.
As it’s often difficult to talk about these things in the abstract, perhaps another example would be helpful. A young man comes to us for counsel because he is feeling so stressed and anxious that he cannot do his job properly, is struggling to sleep, and can’t pray with any focus. As the Bible has much to say about worry and anxiety, we prayerfully study the relevant passages while trying to understand what are the roots of his anxiety and stress. In this case, it’s a humble Christian who does not feel as gifted as his colleagues or up to his job. We encourage him to pray, to put his trust in God and to look to Him for wisdom and strength.
But we also get his job description and work through the expectations of the job and identify a couple of areas where he could do with extra training in order to boost his ability and confidence. Over a few sessions we notice that his body is incredibly tense and his breathing is rapid and shallow. So we get some YouTube videos on breathing exercises and relaxation techniques to help his whole body loosen up and slow/deepen his breathing to bring more oxygen into his blood. We consult a personal trainer to help him start regular exercise. We also use some of the recent findings from sleep science to help him build a pre-bed routine and take other sleep-enhancing steps.
A few months later, he is functioning well, sleeping well, praying well, and enjoying life again. When anxiety starts creeping up on him again, he goes back to the Bible passages we studied, prays, reads his job description to assure himself objectively that he has what it takes, does his breathing/relaxation exercises, exercises more regularly, and restarts healthy sleep habits.
Clearly, Scripture was essential and primary here, but there were other sources of knowledge which helped this young man deal with this counseling issue in all its dimensions – spiritual, cognitive, physical, etc. He now praises God for His all-sufficient grace that came to him not only through His Word and Spirit, but also through these other sources of knowledge.
Have I undermined the sufficiency of Scripture in this case? I don’t believe so. I think I’ve used God’s gift of Scripture in exactly the way God intended it to be used. But I’ve also used His gift of other non-biblical sources of knowledge on this topic. As Dr. Johnson asks:
“Is it possible that the omniscient God knows some additional, albeit secondary information about human beings, which is not necessary but is relevant and helpful to soul care, that he did not include in the Bible?” (Foundations of Soul Care, 118).
Where are we?
My conclusion after week one of reading this book is that there is much more agreement between biblical counselors and Christian counselors, between Heath Lambert and Eric Johnson, than is sometimes recognized. I also believe many of the disagreements would disappear if there was much greater clarity and consistency in communication, which would lead to much greater charity in relationships.