As stated in many previous posts on
this subject, I believe that if a person suffers emotional problems
because they're struggling with a sin issue and won't repent, I
suspect that Biblical counseling is likely helpful. My concern is
piqued, however, when sins are assumed to be the cause of symptoms
that might be due to physiologic cause or due to syndromes that have
strong physical elements (e.g., diabetes, nutritional deficiencies,
thyroid disorders, brain dysfunction, etc.).
Challenges like grief and forgiveness also involve a journey of growth that may take many
years, during which a depression or anger phase may be very healthy
and appropriate – and are not sins. Often, they are part of the healing
process that result from sins committed against them. When mental
health issues present themselves and are not the sequelae of problems
with sin on behalf of the person experiencing them, I believe that
Biblical counseling only approaches (that reject
physical or clinical/functional causes or perspectives) can often do
more harm than good and serve to condemn the person in distress.
Before presenting Dr. John Weaver's
guest post about problems with Biblical counseling, I wanted to
explore some of the reasons why certain Christian groups may prefer a
Biblical counseling only approach to mental health,
ideas that may help put his upcoming post into perspective. I will
attempt simplify some helpful related concepts, distilling them down
to the basics to broaden the understanding of why nouthetic
counseling in particular makes certain assumptions about the nature
of man.
More specifically, some traditions of
Biblical counseling maintain that there cannot be such a thing as
“mental health” because a well mind can only be realized through
spiritual life which comes only through saving faith in Jesus. I
believe that it is important to understand why, particularly when
this has become an interest of concern for groups like the Southern
Baptist Convention who now
seek to develop a doctrinal position statement on mental health.
We do not have any clearly laid out
conceptual frameworks in the Bible for understanding that which we
cannot see in terms of this intersection of mind, emotion, will,
thought, soul, and spirit. We know that we have physical bodies that
can be separated from our consciousness, and we know that we have
spirits that can be reborn into eternal life, but we are not told
specifically how those elements intersect or come together. Much has
been written by philosophers and theologians alike, and while I'd
love to discuss these matters, I wish only to help the reader
understand some considerations that will help with understanding some
of the nuances in Weaver's post. For brevity's sake, I will also
state all too simply that these discussions and ideas, for better and
for worse, have had a profound impact on how the mind/consciousness
has been understood, the Christian concept of thought, but also on
the practice of traditional medicine (which includes disorders of the
mind).
Please also note that I don't intend
these definitions to be authoritative but as something of a jumping
off point to better understand the discussion, primarily that which
has influenced the development of “Biblical counseling” which is
seen my many as an alternative system to contemporary mental health
care. Also note that some of these points may seem a bit tedious,
but in so doing, I hope to do reasonably fair justice to particular
doctrinal Protestant viewpoints that differ.
Views of the Spirit, Soul and Body
Trichotomist View. The
Trichotomist view sees man as comprised of three essences that
manifest in three realms: spirit, soul, and body. The deepest level
of existence is that of spirit, and in a diagram is placed in the
center, often flowing outward to affect change in the mind, and then
body. The next layer would be the soul, the aspect of man that
generally is thought to encompass the mind, the will, and the
emotions of the person. These are soulish elements where
consciousness dwells, understanding that all who live have
consciousness. This layer of being of the soul is housed physically
within the brain, though the soul is thought of as separate from the
body. Problems with the physical brain can create problems for the
soul, if that brain doesn't function properly. Ill health can also
affect the function of the soul. Both would present problems that
one would have to overcome as a matter of character development.
I've seen it diagrammed as a bullseye,
with the spirit in the center, the soul in the middle, and the spirit
in the outer layer.
The Dichotomist View.
The Dichotomist perceives of mankind as having only two facets: that
of
the body and the combination of soul and spirit together as one
and the same thing. This combination of soul/spirit can be depicted
with the same kind of bullseye diagram, but it only has two layers
with the body represented by the outside layer. Certain Protestant
theologies maintain that there is not enough evidence to argue for a
separation between the soul/mind and a separate spirit.
I suspect that for the spiritually
dead, those who have not placed saving faith in Jesus, that these
people are only partially alive because they have consciousness, existing with
an unenlightened mind that has not been quickened by the Holy Spirit.
The Monist View.
There is also an idea that these facets of man are either
indistinguishable or are functionally inseparable while the body
lives. In some variations of this view, the spirit and/or mind as a
consciousness continue to exist after the body expires.
Christian and Protestant
Implications
The
Trichotomist View. If correct, in terms of Scripture from
which good arguments can be mounted, all living individuals have
souls, but if they are not yet Christians, the spirit aspect of the
individual is not yet alive. By grace and through faith, the spirit
is “born again,” giving the person a degree of spiritual discernment that those who are still “dead in their sins” do not
possess. Over time, this spiritual life permeates and transforms the
other elements of the person as a sovereign act of God, but Scripture
also suggests that the person has the duty to care for their
mind/soul and conforming it to what God desires. The spiritual
awakening gives the person the desire and power to overcome setbacks
of the soul, and it also states that this has a health and
life-imparting affect on the body as well.
For the person who
is dead in their sins, by appealing to their soul through thought and
emotion and ethics, one can introduce them to the idea of spiritual
life in Christ. Those who don't put their faith in Jesus have minds,
wills, and emotions, but they are not informed with spiritual wisdom
and guidance. Evangelism targets this very aspect of the soul. Some
denominations believe that faith unto salvation comes through an act
of the soul by choosing to receive Jesus first or perhaps
simultaneously with God's work in them, and the Holy Spirit then
instills life in them.
There is some
suggestion that one can act to facilitate the work of God in one's
life by mediation on the Word of God, and some believe that one's
health in mind and body can both be enhanced by the process. For
Protestants, this presents a doctrinal problem if the concept also
argues that a person is able to mediate their own salvation through
the body (through works) or through disciplines of the mind. If the
body can affect the soul/mind, then it may seem to suggest that the
body/soul/mind can influence the spirit – and the latter is not
consistent with a Protestant doctrinal view. 
While the state of the
body can affect the soul (by way of emotions or by inhibiting
thought), there is nothing that man can do to save his own soul and
enhance his spiritual self. What he can do is yield to the process
that God begins and governs, and that can facilitate his whole well
being. A Dispensationalist pastor that I trust once explained that
“you can do it the easy way, or you can do it the hard way,” but
the process of sanctification (being made more and more holy through
spiritual growth) happens under God's direction as His sovereign work
from the inside out, not in the other direction. The idea of
“spiritual enhancement” through the body and soul is a gnostic
concept.
As this concept is
generally embraced by Dispensationalists, they tend to have what I
will call a more optimistic opinion about the ability of those who
are not yet spiritually reborn to make good and healthy choices,
based upon that general witness of truth and the ability to recognize
it that all people possess as Paul discusses in the beginning of the
Book of Romans. All mankind is given a basic, inherent conscience
about right and wrong. Some also see a similar suggestion in the
first chapter of the Gospel of John and throughout his epistles. The
power of the soul to express faith derives from this glimmer of
insight imparted to man as a characteristic imparted to him because
he was created in God's image.
Other
denominations (including those that are Calvinist) believe that God
first awakens the Spirit, and the outward manifestation of this would
then be that gift of faith which prompts the person to receive Christ
and confess their faith (an act of the will in the soul realm). God
then governs all spiritual development through the Spirit alone. If
man is given any role in the process through choice or works, this is
seen as competing with God. This is important, for if the
sovereignty of God is a central focus of the denomination, they see
the idea of man's choice as competing with God's will, and this
suggests that man is more powerful than God.
Others may agree
with this understanding, but they may see it as an issue of
perspective: man may appear to have the ability to freely choose,
but it is God who orchestrates and directs that free choice before
hand, so it just seems like free will from the vantage of the person.
In terms of the
body, in addition to benefits like physical healing, that spiritual
life flows out into behavior, so that faith becomes not just an idea
but is put into action. Worship suggests the use of the body to act
in ways that bring honor to God.
I was taught a
variant of this model as a Dispensationalist.
The
Dichotomist View. Because no very clear and
definitive distinction is made between soul and spirit in Scripture,
choices of the will and behavior are seen as more directly related to
one's spiritual state. The choices made by the person who has not
yet placed their faith in Jesus unto salvation are basically dead and
unregenerate, and there is no true goodness in them. This view
reflects the concept of total depravity of man which defines him as
incapable of making choices that will save his own soul/spirit, as
this is always and can only be initiated sovereignly by God. We are
helpless in our sins and cannot bring life to ourselves because we
are dead and dependent on God's sovereign work to initiate that life
first. As a consequence, this dichotomist view is generally
preferred by Calvinists, and some teach and defend a dichotomist view
as the only concept that is strongly supported by Scripture.
The
dichotomist holds a more pessimistic view of those who have not been
made spiritually alive through faith in Jesus. Because
soul and spirit are synonymous and goodness is seen as dependent on a
spiritual cause, for many, there can be no such thing as “mental
health” (or a healthy mind or thought) because those who are not
born of the spirit cannot ever be healthy.
 |
| Source of issues of the mind and emotions in many Biblical counseling paradigms |
The
Dichotomist View has a dramatic impact on how one views issues of
emotional, mental or psychological problems, as this view
tends to suggest that only spiritual interventions and spiritual
awakening through saving faith in Jesus can bring about “mental
health.” There can be no
real “health” without spiritual birth. The reverse of this idea
is also true: if a person suffers spiritual/soul problems,
they must be due to a root spiritual cause,
either through unhealthy spiritual practices or because of the
presence of sin (whether the person willfully chooses it or is
unaware that they are sinning).
This
also seems to impact evangelistic efforts, as there is less impetus
to appeal to a person's soul to receive Christ if that soul must
first be made alive by God. The person who has first been made alive
in spirit will come looking for and asking about Jesus. Information
and ideas that are suggested to those who are spiritually dead will
have no impact if God doesn't elect to awaken their spirits. The
trouble is, however, that no one can see what is going on in the
spirit of another, but for some who hold this view, they may not see
great efficacy in a focus on evangelism. Evangelistic efforts are
performed because God commanded us to do them, not necessarily
because all of such efforts may be effective.
The Monist View. This
can vary greatly in its application, and to my knowledge, there has
been much less written on this view from a Christian perspective. On
the surface of it, it seems to deny the enduring, eternal quality of
soul and spirit, and it may be seen as more of a purely rationalist,
materialist, or atheist view. If embraced by a Christian, this view
may be seen as arguing against salvation by faith alone, if what one
does is seen as affecting spiritual life.
…...
Hopefully, these ideas about the nature
of man will help the reader more clearly understand why Biblical
counseling orders certain things in the way that it does, considering
how the people who developed the particular system of counsel
conceived of the spirit and the soul.
One
more post to come exploring materialism
and
other doctrinal considerations
before
Dr. John Weaver's guest post
examining
nouthetic counseling
