BOOK REVIEW: Theology of a Christian Counselor

The Theology of Christian Counseling is a reprint of Jay Adams’ 1979 book More Than Redemption. It deals with biblical counseling from a theological perspective without developing theology outside of aiding people to grow and change through progressive sanctification. It is a theology in the loose sense of the word because the chapters are issue-oriented rather than progressively coherent from one biblical theme to the next. However, I imagine if Adams intended on writing a comprehensive Christian counseling theology it would double the length. At several occasions Adams comments that more development or writing is needed in certain areas he has broached. He is correct in his assessment that helpful counseling (produces genuine change to a person) must be biblical in every area. He writes, “The Bible is the basis for a Christian’s counseling because of what counseling is all about (changing lives by changing values, beliefs, relationships, attitudes, behavior). What other source can provide a standard for such change?”[1]

Even with my disagreements Adams’ foundation for reclaiming an authentic biblical counseling approach is rock solid. He writes in the opening chapter:  Man “...was made to be dependent on God’s counsel for all his life, and who was capable of being changed and developed by that counsel. That is the first crucial factor to grasp at the outset: man was created in such a way that for his own good, and God’s glory, it was necessary to depend upon divine counsel and to be changed by it.”[2] All counseling, secular or sacred, acknowledges the need for change, but without a theological premise these changes will be sought after with selfish motives. The counselee desires freedom from pain, depression, anxiety and stress for all the wrong reasons. In the end, the change is no more than a treason on the soul. The pain, depression, anxiety and stress are manifested in altered forms cheating the counselee out of true, lasting change.

Biblical counseling maintains, as Adams develops, that we are not good people in need of reformation, but enemies in need of a surrendered spirit. For example, contrast what is commonly mistaken for forgiveness in an American world view with a biblical perspective of sin and forgiveness. Adams writes, “God punishes persons and He forgives persons, some try to distinguish between sin and the sinner: “God hates sin; loves the sinner.” Such separation isn’t possible. God sends sinners to hell; they, not their sins, are punished eternally.”[3] Please do not mistake this as harsh and unloving because the Bible, and biblical counseling, never leaves man without hope or a counselor without an answer. God, Himself is the solution to man’s sin through the redemption in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is normal and logical to feel unsatisfied and without hope when living outside of the loving, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Adams does an admirable job relating core components of biblical counseling some completely overlooked by secular counseling. Guilt results from man’s sin, and misery is the result from God’s divine judgment of sin. Secular psychology defines guilt as an emotional discomfort produced by the conscience, but biblical counseling defines it as culpability before God.[4]   The defining of terms in counseling reveals the authority in counseling. When guilt is a struggle between man and his own psyche rather than between an immoral man and a moral God it shatters man’s responsibility to anyone but himself (even the counselor). Only sound biblical theology produces counseling that acknowledges (1) God as creator of man, (2) Man’s responsibility to God, and (3) God’s judgment of all sinners.

One of the more interesting parts of Adams’ work is chapter 8: “Counseling and the Human Life.” In this chapter he shares that the goal of counseling is the renewal of the image of God. This leads him to conclude that true counseling can only be affective with a true believer. An unbeliever has no spiritual life, so the renewing process can not take place. Adams speaks for himself by saying, “It is only the Christian, then, who can be counseled. Anything short of effort to bring about the renewal of the divine image in man is an unacceptable  goal because likeness (alone) is God’s goal for man. That is why only Christian counseling, stressing salvation and sanctification, is adequate.” He goes on to add that when the renewal process is attempted in with unbelievers (which often is the case with secular psychology) it ends with legalism or behaviorism, but never Christlikeness.[5]

There are several areas where Adams’ Calvinism and reformed theology shine bright. His discussion on the will of God in chapter 3 gives a decision making in the will of God approach, which is the only logical position for in Calvinism.[6] But it leaves counselors, pastor and Christians in a quagmire. We are to assume that an infinite God who plans every detail of salvation leaves other critical decisions to us within spiritual parameters. The discussion and charts Adams gives present the issue more as a mathematical equation rather than a living relationship with God.

Another area the book is lacking is Adams’ confusion of the church and Israel, which gives away his reformed, Presbyterian theology.   He is correct in saying that “The heart, the inner, non-bodily side of man-all of it without exception-is ‘deceitful and desperately wicked.’ Man needs a new heart.” But he is incorrect to associate our need for heart change with God’s promise to restore Israel with a new heart in the New Covenant (Ezekiel 36:25,26).[7] If we do not reject this point we are theologically bound to be post-millenialists because the new heart of the New Covenant is associated with the Second Coming of Christ, which ushers in the Millenial Kingdom.

Even with the flaws Adams’ book is well worth the time it takes to read. It would be better titled a practical theology because it lacks theological precision. However it does accomplish Adams’ goal which was to speak where theology touched counseling and he does that quite well. Certainly his foundation is accurate and needed. The solution to man’s problem is not found within himself but within the pages of Scripture, and if counseling is to work it must be biblical.

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[1]. Jay E. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1979), xiii-xiv.

[2]. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 3.

[3]. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 195.

[4]. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 146–52.

[5]. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 120–21.

[6]. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 26–31.

[7]. Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 142.