Counseling in the Spirit of Christ: Union With Christ and the Pneumatology of Biblical Counseling

Abstract

Biblical counseling happens in union with Christ by the Spirit as believers speak the truth of God in the love of God to the people of God so that they may become more and more mature in Christ. A pneumatology of biblical counseling, therefore, must explicate more than the role of the Spirit in the counseling room; it must understand the task of biblical counseling itself in the broader context of the trinitarian missions, especially the work of the Spirit that unites believers to Christ, terminating and perfecting salvation in them. This dissertation demonstrates that a pneumatology of biblical counseling that is attentive to the doctrine of union with Christ appropriately contextualizes the ministry of biblical counselors within the mission of the Holy Spirit as he empowers them to speak the truth in love by participation in Christ. Biblical counseling happens by virtue and as a result of that blessed union of believers with Christ by the Spirit.

Following the introduction in chapter 1, the argument of this project develops in four major acts. In the first act, chapter 2 surveys the literature by relevant authors from different phases of the biblical counseling movement (BCM) as well as confessional statements from various biblical counseling organizations, identifying how they view the relation between biblical counseling and the Holy Spirit and paying particular attention to mentions to the doctrine of union with Christ. In the second act, chapter 3 presents the trinitarian foundation for the doctrine of union with Christ, allowing the pneumatological discussion of this project to happen in the appropriate context of theology proper. In the third act, chapters 4 and 5 develop the theme of Christian cognitive and affective participation in Christ: biblical counseling as “participatory conversations” requires the truth and love that come from Christ by the Spirit to help counselees respond well in their contexts of struggle or crisis. Chapter 4 establishes the association of the Holy Spirit with truth and the mind of Christ, while chapter 5 argues for the close association between the Spirit and love. In the fourth and final act, chapter 6 outlines some theological implications of this project’s argument for biblical counseling practice in the context of the church. Particularly, chapter 6 considers the ecclesiological, methodological, and devotional impact on biblical counseling from having a greater awareness of union with Christ by the Spirit. Chapter 7 concludes the work. In the end, it becomes clear that there is no biblical counseling without union with Christ by the Spirit.