Evangelistic Counseling: The Sufficiency of Christ for Saving Sinners

Abstract

This thesis argues that evangelistic counseling is not merely biblically permissible but that it is demonstrated in Jesus’s evangelistic encounters in the Gospel of John. Chapter 1 surveys the various authors and literature that have engaged in the discussion of biblical counseling as a means of evangelism, while demonstrating a void in this literature with regard to an exhaustive exegetical and methodological analysis of Jesus’s evangelistic encounters in John. Chapter 2 enters this conversation surrounding evangelistic counseling by analyzing the argumentation of proponents for and against it, while ultimately arguing that biblical counseling is in fact a warranted and biblical means of evangelism. Chapter 3 analyzes on a textual basis Jesus’s evangelistic encounter with Nicodemus in John 3, with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, and with the lame man by the pool in John 5. This chapter analyzes these passages exegetically and provides the biblical material for the work of chapters 4 and 5. After laying the exegetical framework for these passages in chapter 3, chapter 4 analyzes the major evangelistic themes which arise out of these passages, especially those themes which are most pertinent in evangelistic biblical counseling. Finally, chapter 5 builds out of the exegetical and theological conclusions of chapters 3 and 4 methodological considerations and practical applications for biblical counselors who counsel unbelievers similar to those in we see in John 3, 4, and 5. Chapter 5 ultimately begins the work of building a comprehensive evangelistic counseling framework and methodology.