BC300 Course Notes
BC300 Course Notes
BC300 Course Notes
INTRODUCTION TO
BIBLICAL COUNSELING
CLASS NOTES
SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO THE FOLLOWING AUTHORS AND SCHOLARS WHO CAME
BEFORE ME AND ASSISTED MY THINKING IN THE COMPILATION OF THIS MATERIAL. IF, IN
ANY WAY, THIS MATERIAL DOES NOT REPRESENT THEIR ORIGINAL THOUGHT IT IS THE
FAULT OF THIS AUTHOR AND IN NO WAY SHOULD REFLECT ON THEM. I AM INDEBTED TO
THEM: DR. DAVID POWLISON; DR. ED WELCH; DR. JOHN STREET; DR. DAVID SMITH; DR.
JAY ADAMS; AND OTHERS. PERMISSION FOR REPRODUCTION OF ANY PORTION OF THE
SYLLABUS MUST BE OBTAINED FROM THE PROFESSOR. THANK YOU.
C. Identify and develop the personal qualities that are necessary for effective
counseling.
D. Recognize and understand how and why biblical counseling differs from all other
kinds of counseling.
G. Build upon a correct theoretical basis when pursuing future studies in biblical
counseling.
1. _
2.
3.
of
(what this whole side represents)
Resources God has given us for Key references for the heart
change: given in class:
Refer to diagram
• Mark 7:22-23
• Proverbs 4:23
• Jeremiah 17:9
C. ____________ definitions
D. Thoughts on __________________
5. Conclusions
• The “heart” is not basically good – even as a Christian you struggle with unruly wants, sinful
desires, wrong drives, “needs”, sinful passions, misplaced expectations, “remnant sin”
• I Cor. 10:31
2. We turn to other things (other “gods”). What are substitute gods called?
• Romans 1:25
5. Psalm 18 – A template
• Rock
• Fortress
• Deliverer
• Refuge
“A god is that which we look for all good and in which we find
refuge in every time of need. To have a god is nothing else
than to trust and believe him with our whole heart. As I have
often said, the trust and faith of the heart alone make both
God and an idol… That to which our heart clings and entrusts
itself is, I say, really your God.” - Martin Luther
• Luke 16:13
• 2 Timothy 3:1-4
“The human heart is like a cauldron constantly bubbling forth idols.” (John Calvin)
3. You need a heart like Solomon’s, humbled and ready to learn how better to
help God’s people – 1 Kings 3:7-9
4. Too many Christian’s have believed the lie – that only “professionals” can
properly counsel others.
b) Is guilt bad?
f) Did God intend the Bible to contain sufficient answers for the problems
people face in our technological society?
(1) Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
(b) “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2) ____________ (3:1-5)
(a) Satan focuses on Eve and her benefit rather than God and His glory.
(b) “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
(b) Is God’s Word reliable and capable of defining your condition and its
consequences?
(c) [Obs. 1] The inner person affects the outer person (4:5)
(g) [Obs. 4] God gives counsel and guidance for change (4:6-7)
(h) Cain refuses God’s counsel and kills his brother (4:8)
“Trust is not a passive state of mind. It is a vigorous act of the soul by which
we choose to lay hold on the promises of God and cling to them despite the
adversity that at times seeks to overwhelm us.” - Jerry Bridges (Trusting God)
(a) Moses and the Israelites were being worn out by Moses’ inexperienced
leadership (18:13)
(b) Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, recognized the problem and offered counsel
(18:14-23)
(a) Approaching a believer who has sinned against you (Luke 17:3)
(1) ____________ – “Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with
all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another…”
Dr. Ernie Baker © The Master’s College 10 10/28/2011
BC300 – Introduction to Biblical Counseling
(2) ____________ – “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly,
encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.”
(a) Belief: The Bible rejects the concept of counseling. Paul said to Timothy,
“Preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2). Preaching is all that is needed to deal
with problems people have!
(a) Belief: People don’t want preaching and they are not really helped
through preaching. They are changed and helped through a
discussion/counseling type ministry (group or individual) where their real
needs are discussed and addressed.
(1) ____________?
(a) Certain believers have spiritual gifts that are more directly connected with
counseling than others.
(2) ____________?
2. Of every ____________
(1) “I’m not called to counsel; I’m called to preach, teach and pray.”
(a) Then you must preach better than the Apostle Paul because he had to
counsel as well as preach (Acts 20:25, 27, 31)!
(2) “Counseling isn’t one of my spiritual gifts. It’s just not my cup of
tea.”
(b) The amount you counsel will vary based on your giftedness, spiritual
graces, maturity and experience.
(c) Pastors/elders especially are called to exhort in sound doctrine (Tit 1:9)
(b) Because it is not an optional ministry, if you are not counseling, you are
already neglecting a primary area of ministry.
(4) “The demand from inside and outside my church will become too
great!”
(b) Church members are always first priority, then fit-in outside counseling if
hours remain.
(c) You must properly train your congregation to counsel others inside and
outside the church. You are to model biblical counseling and then equip
others to counsel as well.
(a) If you are trained in theology you are the specialist for biblically-based
counseling!
(c) Even people with theological degrees are not qualified if their theology
does not inform their counseling theory and anthropology.
(6) “I don’t want to get involved because I’ve seen too many pastors fall
into sin that way.”
(b) If you practice psychological counseling you are far more prone to fail
here because it is focused upon how people feel. Delving into people’s
feelings is not counseling.
(a) If you allow people’s feelings to run your ministry then your preaching is in
trouble too.
(b) Actually, proper counseling shows a caring shepherd. They know you
love them enough to deal with their tough problems.
(8) “I don’t want to get involved in counseling because I know too many
pastors who got involved in counseling and it changed the way they
preached. They ceased being expositors of the Word and became
psychologically oriented.”
(a) Proper counseling will actually make your sermons more practical.
(1) Your primary goal is not to dig into the subconscious, or get proper behavior,
or constructive thought patterns, or self-esteem, or well-functioning families; it is
to please the Lord; to grow in Christ-likeness (note diagram/1 Cor. 10:31).
(2) Romans 8:28-30, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the
image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and
these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also
justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
b) Example: Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-
control; against such things there is no law.”
(a) Noetic (from nous “mind”) depravity means that every part of man is
affected by sins curse. It does not mean that man acts as sinfully as
possible.
(b) Rom 3:10-18 – “as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even
one;”
(1) _____________
(b) Inspiration – The process by which the Holy Spirit divinely guided the
writing of Scripture so that, while men wrote words of their own choosing,
the final written product accurately conveys exactly what God intended.
(guaranteed)
(d) The Bible is not just the thoughts of men about God; it
is God’s words that He gave through men to tell about
Himself.
(2) _____________
(c) Inerrancy – The conviction that, because the Bible is God’s very word, it is
completely free from error in everything it teaches (for the original
autographs).
(3) _____________
(a) Isa 55:11 – “…It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire…”
(b) Infallibility – The Bible will not fail in its ultimate purpose of revealing God and the way of
salvation to humans.
(4) _____________
(a) 2 Pet 1:3 – “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and
godliness...”
(b) Sufficiency – God has provided, in His Word, all that man needs to know concerning matters of
the soul.
(c) “Psychology is the science that systematically studies and attempts to explain observable
behavior and its relationship to the unseen mental processes that go on inside the organism and
(b) The use of allegory and typology will be dictated by the author and not the
reader.
(c) The normal usage of language (narrative, poetic, didactic, etc) will impact
the meaning of a text.
(a) Biblical counselors will seek to interpret the meaning of a passage from
the immediate context in which the passage is found.
(b) If the immediate context does not clarify a passage then the context may
be enlarged (ex. chapter, book, testament, etc) until the passage’s
interpretation becomes clear.
(c) Examples:
(a) The biblical counselor will look for and focus on what the Bible focuses on
in terms of diagnosing the nature and causes of problems and providing
solutions for problems.
(b) If the Bible does not emphasize something, biblical counselors will not
emphasize it either.
(3) Ps 19:7-11
(b) “…examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so”
(1) Acts 20:32 – “…the word of His grace, which is able to build you
up…”
c) Indwelling Demons
d) Poor Socialization
e) Past/Present Victimization
f) Inborn Temperament
g) Genetic/Biological Determinism
h) Circumstantial Determinism
(1) Drugs
(5) Psychoanalysis
(7) Ventilation
(d) 2 Cor 5:21 – “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf…”
(b) Tit 2:3 – “looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory
of…Christ Jesus.”
b) _______________ – “for ‘whoever will call on the name of the Lord will
be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not
believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And
how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they
are sent? Just as it is written, ‘how beautiful are the feet of those who
bring good news of good things!’”
c) Biblical counseling points out sin and naturally leads
people to the cross.
a) Mark 7:21-23
b) Luke 6:43-45
c) James 1:13-16
d) James 4:1-3
(1) “Idols are the thoughts, desires, longings, and expectations that we
worship in place of the true God.” – Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart,
23.
(2) Heart idols are those things in our lives that we allow to shift our
focus off the one true God.
(1) When you desire anything more than you desire God, His approval,
and pleasure
(3) When you want something that is legitimate, but you are willing to be
ungodly to get it
(4) When you respond in an ungodly way if you do not get what you
want
(5) When you try to force people to give you what you want by ungodly
words or actions
(2) Their difficult circumstances are the context in which their hearts are
being revealed.
(1) When you became…, which of your desires was not being fulfilled?
What did you want that you were not getting?
(2) Right now, what would have to happen for you to be happy?
(5) If you could change your situation in any way, how would you want it
changed?
(6) Tell me what it is that you think about more than anything else.
(7) Why does what so and so did (or, why does what happened) bother
you so much?
(9) By the time you come to the end of your life, what do you most want
to have accomplished?
(1) Help them to understand that they have turned away from
worshipping and serving the true and living God to worship a false god.
(1) Make it clear that God demands and deserves to be the absolute and
unrivaled ruler of their hearts.
(2) Exo 20:4-5 – “…I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…”
(3) “He loves You too little who loves anything together
with you, which he loves not for Your sake.” - Augustine
Principle: Change will be no greater than your knowledge and acceptance of God’s Word
(3) We must make a decision to “put off” the old man (22).
Principle: True freedom comes from the continual study of and obedience to the Word of God as the Spirit applies
it to our minds.
• Put off, be renewed, put on—new clothes do not fit well over old.
New “armor” won’t fit well over old clothes.
• Be renewed—can not skip it or else hypocrisy occurs (i.e. external
change without internal change)
• Put on—can not stop with the other two or else you are not truly
changed
• Usually this is the opposite of whatever the “put off” is and
addresses heart motivations (remember the two great
commandments)
This life, therefore, is not righteousness but “The Scriptures give the needed
growth in righteousness but growth in hope, directions, and goals, the
righteousness, not health but healing, not Holy Spirit provides the power, and
being but becoming, not rest but exercise. Christian discipline is the method.”
We are not yet what we shall be, but we are Jay Adams
growing toward it; the process is not yet
finished but is going on. This is not the end
but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in
glory but all is being purified
Martin Luther
b) Giving life to those who are dead in their trespasses and sin (John
6:63; Gal 5:25).
a) Change is ____________________:
(1) Since the Holy Spirit is the agent of change, we should expect Him to
use the means He has chosen to produce that change (i.e. changing the
heart with grace).
(3) Since the Holy Spirit is the agent of change, there is hope in any
situation and with any person who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord.
a) _______________________
(1) Phil 2:5-9 – “…being made in the likeness of men…”
(2) Mark 2:15 – “…many tax collectors and sinners were dining with
Jesus…”
b) _______________________
(2) John 15:18 – “…the world… has hated Me before it hated you.”
c) _______________________
(2) John 6:61 – “But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at
this, said to them…”
d) _______________________
a) John 3:1-16 – “…no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is
born again…”
a) Through __________________
(1) At His baptism (Luke 3:21-23)
b) Through ___________________
a) Phil 1:7 – “For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all,
because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in
the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of
grace with me.”
d) Prov 27:9 – “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man's counsel
is sweet to his friend.”
a) Heb 1:1-2 – “…in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…”
b) John 1:14,18; 14:9 – The Word was made flesh…; no man has at any
time seen God, but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the
Father; he has declared Him; He who has seen me has seen the Father.
c) 1 Pet 3:18; Eph 2:14,18 – Christ died to bring us to God; we were afar
off from God, but we have been made nigh by His blood; we have
access to the Father through Him.
b) 1 Cor 2:2 – “…nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified.”
3. In its _____________
c) N.T. examples
4. In its ___________________
c) Instruct, Remind
b) Eph 5:26 – sanctified and cleansed by the washing of the water of the
Word
c) 2 Cor 3:18 – transformed into the image of Christ by the Spirit of God
a) __________ Man
b) __________ Man
(1) Rom 12:2
a) The Past 1
(3) A person creatively interacts with and interprets past events while
incorporating his interpretations into his “manner of life” either
positively or negatively. Two people may experience the same event
and yet respond to it quite differently because of the way they have
learned to interpret their circumstances.
(5) The Christian should seek to interpret his past as coming from God
and for God’s glory.
(6) Every unbeliever will distort his past with an explanation that doesn’t
honor God’s truth. He will resist the truth and endeavor to believe the
lie.
1
The following 13 biblical principles about the past have been adapted and adopted from an article in The Biblical Counselor,
July, 1993 by John Bettler, Director of CCEF, Laverock, PA).
Dr. Ernie Baker © The Master’s College 66 10/28/2011
BC300 – Introduction to Biblical Counseling
(a) Romans 1:18
(7) A person is not always aware of the assumptions, values, and habits
that shape his “manner of life.”
(9) Exploring a person’s past may help to reveal to that person his
“manner of life.”
(13) God is sovereign over all the events of a person’s life and works
through these events, whatever they may be, to make Christians more
like Christ.
b) The Present
(4) Prov 13:20 – he who walks with the wise becomes wise
c) The Future
(1) 1 John 3:2-3 – we know that when He shall appear we shall be…
(2) Phil 1:6 – will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus…
3. In what situations do you struggle with anger (James 4:1,2; Proverbs 11:23)?
5. What are the situations of life that you find particularly difficult (I Corinthians 10:13,14)?
7. Where have you experiences regular problems in you relationship to the Lord?
11. Where have you struggled with regret, being tempted to say, “If only…”?
12.In what experiences from the past do you have a hard time letting go?
13. Where do you tend to struggle with envy? What do you find yourself wanting that others have and you don’t?