10 Common Mistakes Biblical Counselors Sometimes Make, Part 8

A Word from Bob: You’re reading Part 8 of a 10-part blog series on 10 Common Mistakes Biblical Counselors Sometimes Make.

• Mistake #1: We Elevate Data Collection Above Soul Connection.
• Mistake #2: We Share God’s Eternal Story Before We Listen Well and Wisely to Our Friend’s Earthly Story.
• Mistake #3: We Talk at Counselees Rather Than Exploring Scriptures with Counselees.
• Mistake #4: We Practice Half-Biblical Counseling If We Address Sin but Neglect Suffering.
• Mistake #5: We Fail to Follow the Trinity’s Model of Comforting Care.
• Mistake #6: We Tend to View People One-Dimensionally.
• Mistake #7: We Devalue Emotions Rather Than Seeing Emotions as God’s Idea.

Mistake #8: We Minimize the Complexity of the Soul-Body Interconnection

Because we are soul physicians and soul care-givers, our tendency is to focus on matters of the soul. Most biblical counselors are not trained in the medical field, so we wisely avoid offering medical guidance.

Yet, that appropriate emphasis on the soul can morph into a sole focus on the soul. I’ve seen this show itself in several ways while supervising counselors:

• We ignore the exploration of physical symptoms.
• We minimize the need for a complete physical workup.
• We fail to take seriously issues like diet, exercise, rest, and sleep.
• We are unaware of the biblical teaching on the interconnection of the body and soul.
• We are unread on the potential impact of emotional trauma on the physical brain (as some say, “the body keeps the score,” or as I say, “the physical brain sometimes has a mind of its own”).
• We demonize even the consideration of psychotropic medications even for the most severe issues such as schizophrenia, bi-polar depression, or major depression.

To avoid these and other errors, we need a Creation-Fall-Redemption understanding of our soul-body connection.

Creation: Designed by God, We Exist as a Complex Soul-Body Unity 

In Part 6 we read the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s statement on the mind-body connection. We repeat the most pertinent part here:

“We recognize the complexity of the relationship between the body and soul (Genesis 2:7). Because of this, we seek to remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives. In our desire to help people comprehensively, we seek to apply God’s Word to people’s lives amid bodily strengths and weaknesses. We encourage a thorough assessment and sound treatment for any suspected physical problems.”

Genesis 2:7 is foundational.

“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

From the beginning, God created us as a complex, unified combination of dust and divinity, brain and mind, body and soul, spirit and flesh. “Flesh” (basar) in the Old Testament depicts the unity of body/soul, emphasizing that we do not “have a soul,” rather, we are “embodied souls.”

Fall: Depraved by Sin, We Are Now a Fallen Embodied Soul 

Since Genesis 3 we are a fallen combination of soul-body. We are fallen embodied souls in a fallen world with a fallen physical brain in a fallen physical body.

Our bodies no longer function the way they were meant to be. Our liver in our fallen body can become diseased. It can be impacted by the environment outside our body and by what we take into our body. Our physical brain in our fallen body can become diseased. It can be impacted by our external environment (such as social interactions and relational trauma), and by what we take into our body.  

Redemption: Renewed by Christ, We Await Our Final Glorification 

In the New Testament, Paul explains that we have the treasure of the glory of God embedded in bodies that are jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). Later in the same chapter, Paul describes our outward life (our flesh, our body, our temporal existence) as fading away, yet our inward person (our soul, our spirit, our eternal existence) is being renewed daily.

In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that like all creation we groan for the day when our redeemed inner person will be glorified. And we “wait eagerly for the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).

The Complex Interconnectedness of Our Body and Soul

The life of Elijah in 2 Kings 18-19 illustrates the impact of our body on our soul. Elijah’s traumatic external situation and his broken, tired, and weary body impacted his inner life. Part of God’s solution for Elijah’s spiritual depression was soul related—regaining a biblical perspective. Part of God’s solution was body related—rest, food, and sleep. And part of God’s solution was situational—protection and removal from his unsafe environment.

Likewise, the Bible illustrates the impact of the soul upon the body. In Psalm 32, when David refused to confess his sins, his bones wasted away and his strength was sapped (32:3-4). The soul impacts the body; the body impacts the soul.

What Church History Teaches About Physicians of the Body and Physicians of the Soul 

Sometimes when we initiate conversations about the role of the body, some may suspect us of having surrendered to the modern psychiatric worldview. So, I find it helpful to study how our forerunners in the faith perceived these issues.

Though Martin Luther held a strong spiritual focus, he did not see every issue as a spiritual issue in terms of cause and cure. Luther worked hand-in-hand with physicians because he saw ministers as physicians of the soul and doctors as physicians of the body. For Luther, the wise physician of soul or body distinguishes causes then prescribes the appropriate cure.

In one table talk, Luther states that though Satan was the first cause of sickness and death, this did not negate the need for physical remedies:

“Generally speaking, therefore, I think that all dangerous diseases are blows of the devil. For this, however, he employs the instruments of nature.”^[i]

Since this is the case, when one battles sickness, the battle is on two levels, both the spiritual and the physical:

“God also employs means for the preservation of health, such as sleep for the body, food, and drink, for he does nothing except through instruments.”^[ii]

Therefore, it is appropriate and necessary to treat the whole person:

“Accordingly a physician is our Lord God’s mender of the body, as we theologians are his healers of the spirit; we are to restore what the devil has damaged. So a physician administers theriaca (an antidote for poison) when Satan gives poison. Healing comes from the application of nature to the creature . . . . It’s our Lord God who created all things, and they are good. Wherefore it’s permissible to use medicine, for it is a creature of God. Thus I replied to Hohndorf, who inquired of me when he heard from Karlstadt that it’s not permissible to make use of medicine. I said to him, ‘Do you eat when you’re hungry?’^[iii]

On the other hand, when convinced that an issue was spiritual in nature, Luther did not hesitate to call for spiritual, rather than medicinal cures. He writes to his friend John Agricola concerning John’s wife:

“Her illness is, as you see, rather of the mind than of the body. I am comforting her as much as I can, with my knowledge.”^[iv] 

Two concepts stand out in Luther’s response. First, it was important for Luther that causes be sensed. Second, even when he sensed that causes were spiritual, Luther did not believe he was the expert with the last word on everything. This passage and others reflect a pastor who was willing to refer to physicians when the issue was physical and to other Christians when the issue was spiritual, but beyond his realm of expertise.

Luther continued by telling Agricola:

“In a word, her disease is not for the apothecaries (as they call them), nor is it to be treated with the salves of Hippocrates, but by constantly applying plasters of Scripture and the Word of God. For what has conscience to do with Hippocrates? Therefore, I would dissuade you from the use of medicine and advise the power of God’s Word.”^[v]

Luther speaks to those today who maintain a materialistic worldview which assumes that every issue is biologically-based and, therefore, treatable only by psychotropic medication. He also speaks to those today who maintain a spiritualistic worldview that assumes that every issue is soul-based and, therefore, treatable only by speaking the truth in love.

The Creation Mandate, Science, Descriptive Research, Medication, and Biblical Counseling 

Genesis 1:26-28 contains what some have called the “Creation Mandate” or the “Cultural Mandate.”

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’”

I define the Creation Mandate as:

The God-given command that image bearers subdue and rule the earth as God’s vice-regents, under-shepherds, and under-scientists.

We are to love God with all our being, including our physical brain and body, thus exalting God by exploring, enjoying, and expanding the physical realm. The scientist analyzing rocks can glorify God just as much as the preacher preaching about the Rock of Ages or the song-writer writing Rock of Ages.

God created us in His image with the capacities necessary to relate and rule as He relates and rules. When God commanded us to subdue and rule the earth, He was encouraging us to exercise our under-sovereignty over the entire physical universe. We are to be co-creators who tread and knead what God has created—advancing civilization, regulating natural forces, and exploring natural resources. The Creation Mandate is our calling, our vocation, to work like God works—in His power for His glory.

God created and ordered the material universe. Science investigates the material universe and affirms that order. Logically, then, as Christians we should embrace science, research, and medicine as disciplines that examine God’s creation in obedience to the Creation Mandate. As Steve Viars states:

“…those ministering the Word through counseling should be friends of good science and desire to promote the research and development of hard data in every area of human existence.”^[vi]

Implications of the Creation Mandate and of Our Complex Soul-Body Interconnection 

As we saw in Mistake #6, it is naïve and potentially harmful to treat people as one-dimensional beings. While this means that we must take into account possible physiological contributions to life struggles, it also means that we should never view psychotropic interventions as the sole solution for life issues. Sadly, in a fallen world fallen scientists tend to see us simply as material beings, soulless machines. Thus, what could be part of the curative process can be used as justification to ignore the inner life issues that may well be connected to various emotional and mental struggles.^[vii]

In addition to legitimate concern with a materialistic worldview, it is also wise to acknowledge that psychotropic medication is still in its infancy. We would be naïve not to take into account their side effects and the low current success rate in actually helping troubled people.^[viii]

Still, as part of the Creation Mandate, psychotropic medication and neurological psychology as part of a comprehensive, whole-person approach has biblical legitimacy. Psychotropic medication is an issue of Christian liberty and wisdom.^[ix] 

Assessing Our Biblical Counseling 

1. As soul physicians, does our emphasis on the soul morph into a sole focus on the soul that minimizes the complex interrelationship between the body and soul? Do we remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives? Do we encourage a thorough assessment and sound treatment for any suspected physical problems?

2. As soul physicians, do we understand and apply the Bible’s Creation-Fall-Redemption teaching on the complex interrelationship of the body and soul—as designed by God, depraved by sin, and saved by grace?

3. As soul physicians, do we seek to understand the impact of the body on our counselee’s soul? Do we seek to understand the soul’s impact on our counselee’s body?

4. Like Luther, as physicians of the soul, do we avoid a materialistic worldview which assumes that every issue is exclusively biologically-based? And do we avoid a spiritualistic worldview that assumes that every issue is exclusively soul-based?

The Rest of the Story 

I invite you to join us for Part 9:

Mistake #9: We Maximize Sin While We Minimize Grace.

[i]Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 54, p. 53.

[ii]Ibid.

[iii]Ibid., pp. 53-54.

[iv]Smith, The Life and Letters of Martin Luther, p. 402.

[v]Ibid.

[vi]Steve Viars, “’Brian’” and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” in Stuart Scott and Heath Lambert, eds., Counseling the Hard Cases, p. 65.

[vii]These concerns are not limited to the biblical counseling world. Psychiatrists such as Allen Frances and Edward Shorter believe that the right medication prescribed in the right dosage at the right time can at times be beneficial. However, they also believe we’ve convinced ourselves that a variety of merely human experience—temporary bouts of sadness or excitement or distraction—are in fact pathologies that need to be blasted with drugs. See, Allen Frances, Saving Normal and Edward Shorter, How Everyone Became Depressed.

[viii]For a nuanced perspective on the state of psychotropic interventions, see Charles Hodges, Good Mood Bad Mood.

[ix]For a comprehensive approach to understanding biblical counseling, medication, and the complex mind-body connection, see Laura Hendrickson, “The Complex Mind/Body Connection” in Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling, pp. 409-422.

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