My minister friends in other countries don’t know what to make of our American obsession with therapy, counseling, and psychological treatments of various sorts. They typically see this as a fruit of our national individualism and – quite frankly – another symptom of our cultural self-centeredness. They prefer to put their emphasis on preaching – the official proclamation of the Word of God by one commissioned for that work. (That will be the topic for next week’s Visit to the Pastor’s Study). The word of God preached, they believe is the primary (if not the exclusive) means for helping people as they face the challenges of being fallen people in a fallen world.
And I certainly understand and appreciate that very biblical emphasis.
However, the Bible also uses other terms for ministry of God’s word that brings about changes in people’s lives as the Holy Spirit uses that ministry of the Word.
One of those terms is the Greek word nouthesia or noutheteo. Put rather simply the word means “to speak and appeal to the mind as a way of changing the will.” As one expert on the Greek language – the language of the New Testament – put it: “(The terms) presuppose an opposition which has to be overcome. It seeks to correct the mind, to put right what is wrong, to improve the spiritual attitude….it denotes (a) word of admonition which is designed to correct, while not provoking or embittering.” It is “cure of souls by means of indefatigable exhortation, with a view to correction or amendment” of the person being spoken to.
And these nouthesia or noutheteo words are used in the New Testament (along with words for preaching) to describe ministry of the word of God that is designed to effect changes of life.
• In the Bible book of Acts, chapter 20, the apostle Paul summarizes his ministry to those in the Asian city of Ephesus as “not ceasing night or day to admonish everyone” – to “nouthetically confront everyone” as some translate it – “with tears.”
• Similarly, in the Bible book of Colossians, at the end of chapter 1, the apostle Paul gives a similar summary of his ministry by saying: We proclaim Christ, “warning (or “nouthetically confronting”) everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
And there are other similar references to this very personal type of Christian ministry.
But it’s interesting that the New Testament also makes it quite clear that all Christians are to be “nouthetically confronting” – or perhaps in a less-threatening sounding way: “speaking nouthetically” – to others: In gracious ways, speaking the Word of God to people’s minds with a view of seeing their wills changed to be in accord with the minds and will of God.
• In the Bible book of I Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul (in his list of exhortations in chapter 5) describes the work of those officially ministering to the Christians in this area of northern Greece as “speaking nouthetically” to them. Then, a couple of verses later, he charges the Christians themselves to “speak nouthetically” to those who are idle. Those who should be working but were not were to be graciously corrected by an appeal to the mind designed to change their wills.
• And to the Roman Christians, the same apostle Paul wrote that he was satisfied about them because they were “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to speak nouthetically to one another.” Coupled with their learning and their godly lives, people in this well-developed church had developed the skills for effectively speaking intelligently and thoughtfully to others in such a way that their ways of thinking and acting were corrected and made to line up with God’s ways of thinking and acting.
That – in a nutshell – is what is sometimes called “nouthetic counseling” or more popularly called simply “biblical counseling.”
And there is no doubt that the Bible adds this to preaching in the list of things necessary for forming disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am convinced that, along with training men to preach effectively, we must be training people – both men and women – to counsel effectively: To be faithful instruments of the Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ whose great work is to change people more and more into His glorious image. Jesus uses preaching for that, but He also uses biblical counseling:
• Pastors, evangelists, and Christian teachers need these skills to fulfill their biblical list of duties.
• According to the Bible book of Ephesians (in chapter 6), parents need these skills as part of their work in “bringing up their children in the child training and the “nouthetic speaking” – the biblical counseling – of the Lord.
• And all Christians can use at least basic skills in biblical counseling just so that they can be – as one fine book on Christian counseling puts it – Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands.
But the very fact that this is biblical counseling means that those who use this tool must understand the Bible and how to apply it to the minds, hearts, and wills of others. In other words, it takes training to be a faithful and an effective biblical counselor.
Our topic for today’s Visit to the Pastor’s Study is Becoming a Biblical Counselor. How do you start? What resources are available to you? And how can you get personal guidance so that you can be a more effective change-agent in the lives of others. If “body care” requires training, how much more does this work of “soul care”.
Dr. Kevin Backus is not only a biblical counselor himself, but he is passionate about training others to be biblical counselors. Dr. Backus received his Master of Divinity degree from Faith Theological Seminary, and both his Master’s degree and his PhD in biblical counseling from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Since 1982 he has served as the Senior Pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church of Grand Island, New York. In addition, he is the International Field Director of the Presbyterian Missionary Union, Chairman of the Department of Biblical Counseling at Western Reformed Seminary, Visiting Professor of Pastoral Theology at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and – in his spare time (!) – Chaplain of the Erie County (New York) Sheriff’s Office, and as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (formerly NANC). We’re thankful that, in his hectic schedule, Dr. Backus has made time to be with us today to help you know more about Becoming a Biblical Counselor.
Dr. Kevin Backus, welcome to A Visit to the Pastor’s Study…
Listen to the full program here:
Yours in the King of Kings,
Pastor Bill