A Survey of Jay E. Adams’ Practical Use of Scripture in Counseling

I would like to survey Jay E. Adams’ book, Lectures on Counseling. The book has five lectures, and since the topic in our class is about the role of biblical instructions in counseling, I think the most relevant is the 5th lecture, which is about the use of Scriptures in counseling. This lecture was published by J. E Adams as a booklet in 1976.

There are 11 chapters in this booklet. We cannot cover all of them. We will just do a running commentary of significant content that needs emphasis. As a whole, this is how Adams describes the character of the booklet:

The controlling design of this book is to be as concrete, informative, and practical as possible (p. 177).

And then he told us that biblical counseling isn’t easy. There is no such thing as instant holiness. Just like bodybuilders, it takes time, discipline, and action to build muscles.

Unfortunately, that is not in the minds of most counseling cases. This incident is common:

A parent dragging his rebellious daughter for counseling, “whom they have failed to discipline for the past seventeen years,” and says they expect the counselor to fix her instantly. Such parents “are not happy when they learn that they may have to spend from six to eight weeks establishing Christian communication and developing biblical relationships with their daughter” (p. 180).

The use of the Scriptures in counseling involves the interaction of no less than five essential factors. These are:

• A biblical understanding of the counselee’s problem

• A clear understanding of the Holy Spirit's telos in scriptural passages appropriate to both the problem and the solution

• A meeting of man’s problem and God’s full solution in counseling

• The formulation of a biblical plan of action

• Commitment to scriptural action by the counselee

Chapters 2 to 6 covered all of these five essential factors. However, due to the limitation of time in lecture preparation, I will just touch on chapters 2 and 3, which are about biblical understanding of the problem and understanding the telos of the specific biblical text you are using in counseling.

Let Psalm 119:99 be our guide:

I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation (Psalm 119:99).

If a counselor possesses such confidence in the authority of the Bible, this should be his prayer:

I am confident, oh God, that in following your word in counseling, I can identify problems and lead people to the solution, none other than but your grace demonstrated in the life and works of Jesus your Son.

Grace and peace!