Teaching to Observe

Chapter Four

The Relationship of Counseling to Teaching

If, as I have been saying, teaching is an essential element of biblical counseling, it will be of value to consider the relationship of each to the other. Teaching is but one necessary element in a process that also involves listening, encouraging, empathizing, admonishing and the like. In terms of the relationship of the two to one another, counseling, therefore, is larger than teaching.

That counseling is larger than teaching is an important fact. Because during the last thirty-odd years feeling, emotion and experience have been emphasized in counseling to the detriment of teaching and content, it is possible that in the next few years a reaction will take place. In any such reaction the tendency would be to swing to the opposite extreme, overemphasizing cognitive factors: teach people truth and they will respond positively. According to this erroneous notion, counseling virtually equals teaching. In an article in The Christian Research Journal, winter, 1995, Bob and Gretchen Passantino wrote, "This school, the cognitive, is one of the fastest growing schools in modern psychology (p. 23)." Nothing could be more tragic than for Christian counselors to swing to the opposite extreme in a reactionary fashion.

Certainly we must protest against both extreme views. The reaction that I have in mind may be creeping into the church already in some circles associated with biblical theology. According to some in those circles, contrary to biblical example and precepts, hortatory material ought not to be included in sermons. Moreover, Keswick-type teaching has for several generations stressed a quietistic approach to sanctification: learn the truth and yield to it. God will do the rest. At Keswick-sponsored meetings in Trinidad, when I was teaching Romans 12:13-21, some of the leaders expressed surprise at the fact that I encouraged action and obedience rather than simply calling for "yielding." The Keswick approach is very close to the other. Exhortations to obey seem all but nonexistent in these sorts of teaching; the Holy Spirit is thought to "do it for you instead of you." In any discussion of teaching in counseling, as a result, teaching must be given the place of an important, but not all encompassing, element.

Just what does teaching do for counseling? What purpose and function does it serve in the process of changing believers so as to help them conform more closely to the Word of God? Teaching serves to accomplish two essential purposes:

(1) it sets parameters for counseling, including goals and practices;

(2) it provides the directions and information needed for counselees to know how to make changes that please God.

In short, teaching is associated with the acquisition of the fundamental materials for constructing a system of counseling and the biblical content from which the counsel that is disseminated to counselees is obtained.

Consider the former first. Many counselors think that they provide biblical counsel when they use the Scriptures in counseling. But we must ask, for what purpose are the Scriptures used? The answer to that question is basic to a determination of whether or not the counseling is truly biblical. The materials out of which a biblical system of counseling is constructed must be mined from the Scriptures and put together according to a biblical pattern. If they are not, the system-no matter how well intentioned those who build it may be-will not be biblical. What do I mean by that? Simply this: you cannot construct a Christian system from pagan principles and practices.

Let's take an example. Many Christians today have become enamored with the Hallesby-La Haye Four-Temperament system. According to their belief, all persons fit one of four categories (or one of the blends of these). But where did this idea originate? It was the view of Hypocrites, a pagan Greek. According to him the four temperaments were the result of an excess or diminution of four humors (fluids) residing in the body. Temperaments, therefore, were determined by somatic factors. The entire structure of Hypocrites' theory collapsed when the four humor idea was proven false. To construct a supposedly "Christian" counseling system from materials salvaged from the ruins left behind after the demise of Hypocrites' humor hypothesis is to build using poor materials. There is nothing biblical about dividing mankind into four groups (or various combinations thereof) according to four supposed temperaments. Indeed, there is even less reason for Christians doing so than Hypocrites had!

Why, then, have so many Christians become enchanted with this defunct, unbiblical system? There are at least three reasons that can be given. First, the system is simple, easy to learn. It is even fun to place people in its various pigeon-holes. Secondly, the four temperament theory (despite protests to the contrary) lets people off the hook. You can hear its devotees excuse themselves for various behaviors with lines like these: "Well, you see, that's just how I am; after all, I'm a..." (and here they mention a supposed temperament type). Thirdly, they want to be biblical. Here is where many are attracted to this and many other false, basically pagan systems. In articulating the view, the fact that Hypocrites is its originator is either not mentioned or downplayed. Instead, much Scripture is used to support and illustrate the correctness of the view. Individuals from the Bible, like David, Peter, John, etc., are said to fit into one of the four (or sixteen, if you prefer that version) temperament pigeon-holes constructed out of the pagan materials. Whether they actually fit or not, each is stuffed into a compartment and thus made to fit. It is easy to do this by conveniently omitting certain traits or adding others that the text is made to teach about each. Thus the system is "validated" for the naive counselor because unless he thinks basically and digs deeply enough to examine the structure out of which the system is built, he may easily be taken in by the vast amount of the Bible used. But the supposedly strong point-the use of much Bible to support the view-is its weakness. How? The problem is precisely this-the Bible is used.

What do I mean by that? Just this: rather than going to the Scriptures to obtain principles and practices out of which to construct a counseling system, the four temperament counselor borrows a system already intact. He may modify it in certain respects, but the fact that it was hammered together by unbelievers, from the world's materials (views), according to non-Christian presuppositions, and provided with non-Christian principles, seems never to occur to him. The Bible is not used as the Source of the presuppositions and materials; rather, it is used to support the ideas embodied in the system. Indeed, to see this, and recognize the fact that there is no need to fit biblical personalities into the pigeon-holes, is a dead give away. It might just as readily be your neighbors along the block. To use biblical personalities to illustrate the principles, you see, does not make the system Christian; it only deceives many Christians about what is going on. In other words, biblical materials are used only to supposedly "validate" non-Christian concepts of God, man and the world. Because of this dangerous (near blasphemous) use of the Bible, people are duped into thinking the system is biblical. What they fail to see is that while much Scripture is quoted, this is done to support what is insupportable, namely, the adoption of unbiblical views that clash with the Bible. In the process, the Bible is bent to conform to the system. That is the wrong use of the Scriptures.

Please don't get the idea that I am picking on the four temperament people. I have singled them out only because by analyzing a system so simple it is so much easier to demonstrate the widely-followed but faulty methodology used in constructing many systems of counseling that their devotees call biblical. In far more subtle ways, the same thing is done by others as well.

The other purpose of teaching in counseling has to do with the content learned by counselors and taught by them to counselees during sessions as the basis for analysis of their problems and the life changes that they must make. Because it is with this side of teaching that much of the rest of the book is concerned, I shall say little about it here. Teaching in biblical counseling leads to life-learning; it is teaching to observe.

Now, back to the proper way in which to construct a biblical counseling system. Let's consider a few examples, beginning with fundamental presuppositions. I shall mention only two (we could begin with the fall and subsequent nature of man, redemption and what it does, etc., etc.): the Bible is the inerrant Source of truth from God concerning life and godliness, and God provided in the Bible all that one needs for life and godliness. These presuppositions underlay all else. I shall not argue the first as it is an assumption held by all Bible-believing Christians. Those who do not accept this proposition could not be expected to concur with much else in this volume. If they have read this far, what I have to say probably is already being viewed with a morbid curiosity and superiority anyway! It is not for them, but for believers who are already committed to the inerrancy of the Scriptures, that I write.

It is, therefore, the second presupposition that is up for discussion among believers today. The subject is often referred to as the sufficiency of the Scriptures. The issue resolves itself into this: does the Bible supply all that is needed to develop a system of counseling and all that is needed to enable Christians to love God and their neighbors as God requires? Passages such as II Timothy 3:15-17 (especially v. 17) affirm the fact (see my book How to Help People Change, which is an exposition of these three vital verses) and the consequent "adequacy" of the "man of [from] God" who, using the Bible properly, is capable of bringing about the changes necessary for successful counseling. In addition to the passage in II Timothy, Peter says that God "has given us everything for life and godliness" through His valuable and great promises (II Peter 1:3,4). That is Peter's plain, unmistakable statement of the same truth that Paul penned in II Timothy 3. These verses record the fulfillment of Christ's prediction of the Spirit's work: "But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). How? Consider John 14:26; 17:17.

These verses set forth clearly the sufficiency of Scripture "all truth" means all that is necessary for us to know (Deuteronomy 29:29). What a marvelous fact that is-the truly biblical counselor not only has truth, but all truth: all he needs to be thoroughly furnished for every good work, thereby making him adequate for the task of changing the lives of God's children in ways that will enable them to walk in God's paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

Since, as we have seen, counseling is a matter of sanctification, making changes in lifestyle that are in accord with God's will, a matter of providing all that is necessary for life (eternal life = salvation) and godliness (behavior more and more pleasing to God = sanctification) is to provide all things necessary for counseling. If what He has provided in the Bible is sufficient for leading people to saving faith in Christ and for enabling them to grow in grace, then what He provided cannot help but be sufficient for Christian counseling. Notice-how Paul's words have similar import: the Scriptures are able to make one "wise about salvation." They teach the way of salvation. But, being a God breathed revelation, they also offer all that is necessary for "teaching" believers (they set forth God's standard for godliness); they "convict" (of sin when one fails to attain to that standard); they "correct" (point the way out of sin by repentance, confession and forgiveness) and disciple one by "training him in righteousness" (i.e., show him how to avoid falling into the same sin again in the future by replacing old patterns with new, holy ones). The process described in those words is a description of the process of biblical change that is brought about by ministering this all-sufficient Word in counseling. And if that were not enough, in three ways Paul declares the "man from God" (the minister of the Word) to be "adequate," through the use of the Bible, "fully supplied (or equipped) for the work of counseling, and for "every good work" to which He calls him in the process of changing the lives of the sheep in His flock. In the Scriptures, biblical counselors have all that they need to counsel. What more can they teach, what better can they teach than the all-sufficient Word of the living Creator?

So our proposition is that special revelation (the Scriptures) was given because general revelation (the knowledge of God obtained through the creation) does not afford knowledge of the way of salvation or sanctification. Special revelation was provided for the very purpose of doing what general revelation could not do. On this, note the division of the two revelations (and what each does) set forth in Psalm 19 (which, incidentally, is special revelation about both revelations-apart from which we couldn't even know those facts). Special revelation adds much more, but also interprets for us what general revelation is all about. Our understanding of general revelation would be impossible apart from Psalm 19, Romans 1, etc.

It is not right to speculate about what we may learn from general revelation concerning counseling as some have done. The Bible says nothing about learning anything concerning counseling from general revelation. Nor does it say that general revelation comes through unsaved persons (as is erroneously alleged by some who love to parrot, with little understanding, the sentence "all truth is God's truth." We can't even determine what truth is apart from special revelation). What it says about counsel from the lost is found in Psalm 1, where God warns against following the "counsel of the ungodly" and urges us instead to "meditate" in His Word "day and night." When we turn to the Scriptures, we find that to spoil the Egyptians of jewelry and of clothing is one thing, but to turn to them for ideas, beliefs, values, help that are the substance of the sort of thing one needs for giving counsel, he is forbidden to do so (cf. Leviticus 18:3,4; Jeremiah 42:13-22; 43:7). It is important not to turn to general revelation (or to unsaved persons, who have no revelatory powers at all) for the materials to construct a counseling system or for its content; these can be found only in special revelation. This is a fundamental presupposition.

So much for presuppositions (we could go on to list others, but this crucial one will have to suffice). What about principles that guide counselors? We said that these also are to be obtained from the Scriptures. Take a simple example. In Proverbs 18:13,15,17, for instance, utterly essential principles concerning listening (one element in counseling) are found. Nothing as simple, yet as trenchant, can be found anywhere else in the literature of counseling. The counselor who works out all of the implications of each of these principles of counseling and follows them will hardly go wrong. Their instruction is invaluable to him.

Another principle that guides biblical counselors is found in James 4:12. It teaches that no one is to talk about his brother negatively behind his back (the verb katalaleo, to "talk him down" is used). This principle governs all the Christian counselor does, encourages and allows in counseling sessions. He may not indulge in or permit others to talk negatively about persons who are not present. Remembering Proverbs 18:17, he encourages all involved persons to be present.

Another principle' rightly inferred from Titus 3:10, in contrast to those whose counseling is sloppy, disorganized and hit or miss, is that ordinarily sessions will continue over at least a period of a month or two. If counseling is to be cut short after one or two sessions, as Paul tells Titus, when it becomes evident that the counselee is schismatic, then one may rightly understand that he assumes sessions in larger numbers will often be held when the counselee shows no schismatic tendencies. Those who think that any contacts greater than one session long are unbiblical simply have not thought through the implications of this (and other) passages that indicate otherwise. I cannot cite all of the principles to be gleaned from the Bible for counseling in this place. Please see my many books on the subject for more. But these three are illustrative of what I am talking about.

Practices that are the natural and necessary outworking of biblical presuppositions and principles, as well as those specifically spelled out in the Scriptures, also must have their foundation in special revelation. These are numerous. The practice of church discipline set forth in my Handbook of Church Discipline is but a systematized statement of those teachings found in Matthew 18:15 and following, I Corinthians chapters 5 and 6, and II Thessalonians 3: 14,15. The very nature of teaching in the milieu (see Deuteronomy 6) and by example as well as by precept (see I Corinthians 11:1, etc.) are two practices crucial to all biblical counseling. The latter is not mere apprenticeship; as we study the gospel of John we see that it has theological roots in the interrelationships of the members of the Trinity itself. As we shall see, what to teach, how to teach it, etc., are all factors in one way or another taught in the Bible. These, of course, are but two examples of practices-that have to do with teaching in counseling-that are either biblically directed or biblically derived.

The ministry of counseling then, it is plain to see, is intimately bound up with teaching, which turns out to have an essential and central place in both the development of a biblical counseling system and the giving of counsel itself.

Just one other matter may be mentioned in closing. Biblical teaching enables Christian counselors to grow in wisdom and prudence, two characteristics vital to the pursuit of change in counselees. That one has the priceless privilege of working with the Word of the living God in counseling, with all of its attendant benefits, should not be down-played. It is a blessing no other sort of counselor can ever know in any other way.

    Preface
  1. Does Counseling Require Teaching?
  2. Your Sufficient Textbook
  3. But Should You Teach?
  4. The Relationship of Counseling to Teaching
  5. What is Biblical Teaching?
  6. When Does the Counselor Teach?
  7. Characteristics of a Competent Counselor-Teacher
  8. Terms for Teaching and Learning
  9. Defining What You Have Considered
  10. Fundamental Laws of Learning
  11. Reaching in Teaching
  12. Preparing to Teach
  13. Teaching and Language
  14. The Use of Antithesis
  15. Techniques of Teaching
  16. What Does a Counselor Teach?
    17. Conclusion

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