Biblical counseling is a partnership between people who are seeking God’s wisdom—a wisdom that goes to the heart of the matter. It is a wisdom that can penetrate a person’s inmost being (Hebrews 4:12).

Biblical counseling is a hybrid of discipleship and biblical friendship. Its occasion is when life seems painful, confusing, or unmanageable, and we turn to the Spirit and the Word for help. This anchors biblical counseling in the ancient tradition of pastoral care, which has now been dispersed to all God’s people (Ephesians 4:11–13). Biblical counseling is not a trademarked school of thought. Instead, it rests in the public domain and grows as we all bring Scripture to the difficult details of life in a way that honors God and is exactly what our souls need.

Biblical counseling is built on a simple, enduring principle: the triune God has spoken to us through the Scripture, and “in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:2). God has revealed mysteries about us and about his ways that are essential for life, which we could not have discovered apart from his words. To be more specific, through biblical history, God’s covenant promises, doctrine, law codes, poetry, songs, which were all reaching for Jesus, God has revealed to us everything we need to know about him, about ourselves, and about the world around us (see 2 Peter 1:3). We have access to everything that Jesus had: “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father” (John 15:15). This means, at least, that Scripture has more riches than we know.

Scripture Speaks with Great Depth

Given that Scripture is revelation, we expect that it speaks with profound depth. Biblical counseling does not simply consist of a counselor finding a few pithy verses in a concordance and telling you to read them each day and pray about your problem (the counseling equivalent to “take two aspirin and call me in the morning”). Instead it is a partnership between people who are seeking God’s wisdom—a wisdom that goes to the heart of the matter. It is a wisdom that can penetrate a person’s inmost being (Hebrews 4:12).

For example, consider a husband and wife who can’t seem to get out of the cycle of quarreling. Scripture alerts us to family influences on one’s style of relating, culturally-derived differences in perceptions of marital roles, medical problems that leave emotions somewhat unpredictable or comprehension difficult, and lack of knowledge in how to communicate and resolve conflicts. Insight or skill development in these areas might be helpful—and God’s Word is adept at offering such things.

But biblical counseling does not end here. While other forms of help can stay only on the surface, the Bible’s counsel is prepared to help this couple get to the heart of conflicts. Its depth is apparent in James 4:1–4. This text indicates that conflicts and quarrels emerge when we love our own desires more than we love God. Even though this couple is probably not aware of it, their constant quarreling is revealing that they are for themselves, against the other person, and against God. In other words, the problem is deeper than an interpersonal quarrel. It is not just people declaring war on each other. Even more, both parties are warring against the God of love, justice, and mercy. This, indeed, is good news. Sin is not good news, but to see sin, have the opportunity to turn from it, and know God’s forgiveness of sins in Jesus, is very good news.

Scripture Speaks with Great Breadth

Scripture is certainly able to speak to common problems we all encounter, such as relationship conflicts, financial pressures, guilt, shame, misery, victimization, our responses to physical health or illness, parenting questions, fears, and loneliness. But it also provides ways for us to understand distinctly modern problems such as depression, mania, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, and modern psychiatric problems. The Bible doesn’t speak to each of these problems as would an encyclopedia. It is neither exhaustive nor formulaic. But through prayerful meditation on Scripture, a knowledge of people and their struggles, and the wise help of others, we find that the biblical teaching on creation, the fall, and redemption provide specific, critical insight into all the issues of life.

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