The Scriptures Are sufficient for Biblical Counseling
In the same way that an automobile owner’s manual is the best source for information regarding a particular car, the Bible is the best source for understanding the world God made. The biggest problem people have, living with one another and in the world, is that they try to live in it without looking at the directions and without asking the creator for help. Just as it is a function of pride for a man never to ask directions, so it is a function of pride for a person to try to muddle along in life without ever asking for directions.
The Bible is the place people should be going to find out how to live their lives in a broken and messed up world. It is the place people should go when they realize they are broken and in need of help. The Bible tells us what the problems are. It also tells the solution to those problems. The role of the biblical counselor is to help the pilgrim move along the way. He stands as a beacon pointing to Christ. He takes the person’s particular problems and shows the person the Biblical answer to all his questions.
As we have mentioned elsewhere, 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 says that the Bible is given to us by God so that we might teach one another, rebuke one another, correct one another and train one another. The goal of this is that we might all be complete, able to meet every obstacle, and equipped with every tool necessary to lead a godly life (by godly life, I mean the life God created us to live). Our primary tool therefore is the Bible. With it we help others live in righteousness as they walk with God in a sinful world.
One of the innate understandings people have about themselves is that everyone is moving from a state of immaturity to maturity. In accord with this, and along with the Apostle, biblical counselors strive to bring every man to maturity in Christ (Col. 1:28, 29). Ultimately, maturity means being Christ-like. And of course only God does this work (Rom. 8:29). But God uses intermediate means to accomplish his goals and, in the area of helping people with their problems in living, we are those means. God uses people to help other people understand where they stand in God’s economy. But these people are only helpful as they bring their friends to the Word of God for illumination and the power to change.
Finally, and this is the basis for my belief in the sufficiency of the Word of God for biblical counseling, the Bible itself tells us that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). In some ways it sounds like I’m using the thing I’m trying to prove in the proof itself, but because the world was made by God, it stands to reason that he has given us directions for how to live in it. Those directions are sufficient for us to live well in the world he made. It is the presupposition I bring to the counseling room. God wants us to know and worship him, and he has given us the means and the information we need to do that. He has also given us the power to be the people he wants us to be. It is the work of the biblical counselor to help others come to Christ for healing and restoration.