Kyle Gangel counseling, Psychology

Counseling Theory Matters: Understanding and Evaluating Polyvagal Theory

Counseling theory matters. This is comically illustrated in the 90s sitcom Frasier. The Cheers spinoff features Kelsey Grammar playing the role of Dr. Frasier Crane, a psychologist by training and host of a radio talk show where listeners are invited to call in and receive counsel over the air. In one episode, Frasier falls ill and is unable to fulfill his on-air obligations. Thankfully, his brother Niles is also a trained psychologist and is willing to guest host the show. He opens the broadcast this way: “This is Dr. Niles Crane, filling in for my ailing brother, Dr. Frasier Crane. Although I feel perfectly qualified to fill Frasier’s radio shoes, I should warn you that while Frasier is a Freudian, I am a Jungian. So there’ll be no blaming mother today.”

One might have assumed that psychology is a unified field where everyone agrees on best practices and counseling theory. However, as Niles points out, his brother holds to Sigmund Freud’s teaching and so traces a person’s behavior to unconscious memories—so maybe mommy is to blame. Niles bought into the teaching of Freud’s protege turned rival, Carl Jung. As a result, they have completely opposing views on how to help people. Perhaps Niles would advise callers to get in touch with their feminine side instead of “blaming mommy.”

These types of theories diverge because embedded in each one is assumptions about human behavior, thinking, purpose, and motivation. That is one reason I was concerned when my son’s school sent home a letter announcing a new series of classes designed around Polyvagal Theory (PVT) to help students combat anxiety, depression, and learning loss. While I’m thankful for the attention given to these important issues, I’m concerned about the nature of the help that is being proposed. 

I am grateful for the school’s communication with parents including their explanation of what will be taught and providing the option for parents to opt their child(ren) out of the program. Further, I don’t desire to impugn anyone’s character or motives. I’m sure that everyone involved desires to help young people respond to the pressures of life in helpful ways. 

Good motives are commendable, they matter. But, as Dr. Niles Crane pointed out, theories matter too. Specifically, psychological theories matter because they implicitly seek to answer some of the most fundamental questions we can ask about ourselves: Who are we? What is our greatest problem? How do we change?1

So, what is PVT and how does it address some of life’s most pressing questions?

Defining Polyvagal Theory

Polyvagal theory seeks to understand and apply how the nervous system regulates social connection and responds to stress.2 To state it simply: due to evolutionary adaptations, your nervous system is unconsciously evaluating the safety of your environment. Depending on the level of safety, your body exists in one of three states: social (you feel safe enough to engage others socially), mobilized (you feel endangered so you either fight or flee), or shutdown (You cannot fight or flee forever, so you eventually “faint or freeze”).3

If your nervous system senses that you are safe from harm then your body responds to that assessment. You will be able to engage others socially without fear. This state is the most desirable. This is where you will be open to relationships, be willing to share with others, and be able to give and receive communication. However, if your nervous system senses danger, your body moves into a fight-or-flight response. Whether the danger is real or perceived has very little to do with how your body responds. This is sometimes referred to as an elevated state of mobilization—you are on high alert, ready to fight the danger, or use your energy to flee from it. If real danger is present, this can be a good thing, you should flee from someone trying to harm you. However, according to adherents of PVT, you don’t want to remain in this state continuously because it begins to shape your reality. You will begin to assume that everyone and everything is a threat to you. The presence of anxiety is often linked to remaining in this mobilized state for too long. Lastly, your body will not allow you to remain on high alert forever. Eventually, your body will compensate by shutting down. This is often referred to as the faint or flee response. Fainting would be akin to playing possum while fleeing is avoidance. Again, this can be good or bad. It might be a helpful response in the instance of a grizzly bear attack but can also cause immobilizing fear, social isolation, lethargy, depression, or an unwillingness to act when you should.

The goal of implementing PVT is to help people understand how their nervous system controls their behavior and thinking. The letter that came home to us as parents read: “The students will be learning about how their nervous systems function to keep them safe and how our nervous systems influence or control our thoughts and our behavior.” The goal becomes to notice what state you are in and learn to regulate these constantly shifting stages more effectively. 

Much more could be said about the origins, developments, studies, and critiques associated with polyvagal theory, but this overview will allow us to answer briefly the fundamental questions we proposed earlier.

Who are we?

Foundational to PVT is the assumption that these responses/states were developed over hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary development.4 Essentially, the earliest mammals needed a body capable of surviving in dangerous environments, thus the adaptation of defensive strategies like fight or flight or playing dead became evolutionary advantages. However, as mammals continued to evolve, there was an additional advantage passed down through random mutation and survival of the fittest; that is, a nervous system capable of responding to social environments. Therefore, a third state eventually came into being as the nervous system evolved and allowed for the development of social interaction, trust, and relationships.5 The “fight or flight” response or “faint or freeze” response wasn’t advantageous when it would be beneficial for a group of mammals to team up against dangerous enemies (or procreate for that matter). In the end, PVT is tied directly to the theory of evolution. You are the product of chance mutations and survival of the fittest. 

What Is Our Greatest Problem? 

Our greatest problem is a lack of safety or feelings of a lack of safety.  The use of the word “feel” is not incidental. A Psychology Today article states that it is our “bodily felt sense of safety” which determines our state of stress and therefore our thinking and behavior.6 So, you not only need to be safe, but you need to feel safe. If the recent emphasis on safe spaces, trigger warnings, and trauma has perplexed you, this view of man is part of the reason for this emphasis. Certainly, many have suffered significant trauma and experience flashbacks to those events and should be warned if they are going to see or experience something that might cause them distress. However, if the discussion moves from being safe to feeling safe, then theoretically nearly any circumstance can be labeled traumatic and triggering. 

If your nervous system is determinative in your thinking and behavior, then your greatest problem lies outside of you. It is dangerous people and stressful circumstances that are the primary issue. Since the nervous system is continually and unconsciously evaluating your safety and directing your thoughts and behavior accordingly, the greatest need you have is to feel safe. Again, the letter that came home: “When our nervous systems feel unsafe we act out or shut down… We pull away from each other or run away …” 

How do We Change? 

The goal of implementing PVT is not necessarily to change your character or thinking. Instead, it is to learn to recognize which neuropsychological state you are in so that you might seek to regulate it. If you can learn to regulate your nervous system, then you will be controlled by feelings of safety and be able to engage in beneficial social activity. Technically, according to PVT you aren’t growing or regressing, you are simply responding to your environment out of evolutionary instinct. Since behavior and thinking are biologically driven, it is not surprising that most of the suggestions for regulating your nervous system are physiological. Deep breathing and various stretches are often recommended. One counselor suggested that the fight or flight energy must be expended by running in place or punching a pillow.7 A physiological problem requires a physiological answer and that is by and large what is provided by counselors directed by this theory.

Evaluating Polyvagal Theory

Polyvagal theory has grown in popularity since it was first proposed in 1994. Besides professional practitioners implementing PVT, it is becoming quite popular among life coaches and social media influencers.8  Dr. David Ley wrote, “Polyvagal Theory is one of these latest psychological fads, with lots of buzz and attention from therapists and [life] coaches.”9

Dr. Ley’s use of the word “fad” is significant. In fact, it is the lack of scientific data supporting PVT which leads him to that label. He argues, “Psychology fads often have little objective scientific research supporting them. PVT has very few empirical studies examining whether applications of polyvagal theory generate measurable positive clinical outcomes.”10 Another neuroscientist insists, “Scientifically, the Polyvagal Theory isn’t experimentally verified.”11 Due to its lack of empirical data supporting PVT, Dr. Ley concludes that the use of it in counseling is highly experimental and should be clearly communicated as so to patients.12 It is hard to imagine how a theory like PVT could ever empirically demonstrate that thoughts and behavior are driven by a particular nerve that runs throughout the body.

Though it is commonplace to accept the latest fads as trustworthy scientific findings, it is dangerous to confuse theories with empirical data. Dr. Charles Hodges, a physician and biblical counselor, warns, “Not every study will have a good design or be well conducted, and the researcher’s biases can sometimes influence the interpretation of data.”13 The existence of hundreds of different and contradicting psychological theories points to its faulty scientific standing. Elyse Fitzpatrick explains:

“Because psychology, unlike chemistry, is not “hard” science, it has failed to produce one overarching, unifying system that deeply and clearly describes man and his problems… Most if not all psychologists will gladly admit that there is no absolute truth when it comes to their field and that the practice of psychology is like eating in a cafeteria – one chooses whatever system happens to appeal to him and then combines it with others. There is not one unified theory that any psychologist can point to and say, ‘This is absolute truth.’”14

Though often confused, there is a significant difference between the hard science of observable, repeatable data and the soft science of behavioral theory. Science is a gift from God and is profitable for humanity and our world. We should thank God for those advancements in medicine and technology that have saved lives and improved living conditions. However, Christians have always held that there is only one fully reliable source of absolute truth, the Word of God. As you search its pages, you will find a much different set of answers to the most fundamental questions of life.

Who Are We? The Bible Provides a Better Understanding of Man. 

Joined at the hip to evolutionary thought, PVT relies on the assumption that the driving force behind a person’s behavior is his or her nervous system. Quoting again from the letter that came home to parents: “Our thoughts and behaviors come from the changing states of our nervous system.” Notice the logic: your nervous system is unconsciously evaluating your safety and it is this unconscious evaluation that determines your thoughts and behaviors. There is little to no room for conscious, thoughtful, responsible, decision-making.

God’s Word presents a much different estimation of humanity. The Bible treats both the body and soul—the material and immaterial—with importance. In the opening pages of the Bible, God creates man from the dust of the ground (material) and breathes into him the breath of life (immaterial). Biblical counselors affirm the importance of the body. We join David in saying, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:14). Part of this praise is recognizing that we are embodied persons and that our bodies are suited for our world—including physiological responses to danger. However, the Bible goes further than treating man as merely a material being. This is where a biblical view of man will always diverge from secular, evolutionary explanations of people and their behavior.

Humanity is distinguished from the rest of the animal world in that every person is created in the image of God. We get a clue as to what that means in Genesis 1:26, “And God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” Adam and Eve, and every person who has ever lived, is a morally responsible person designed to use their God-given capacities of thinking, feeling, choosing, creating, loving, communicating, and acting to reflect God’s character (his likeness). 

The Bible does not minimize either the body or soul. However, when it comes to the source of our thoughts and actions, the Bible emphasizes that immaterial part of us. Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 15:18-19, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” Our thoughts and behaviors don’t flow from the nervous system but from our hearts. This is not from our physical hearts, instead, the Bible uses the word heart as a comprehensive term for everything in us that is immaterial. The heart is the center of who we are. It is our control center. The heart consists of what we know, what we love, and what we choose. In other words, the heart involves the mind, desires, affections, and will. The heart is the source of “motives; the seat of passions; the center of the thought processes; the spring of conscience,” wrote the Puritan John Owen.15 Craig Troxel points out the centrality of the heart: “as goes the heart, so goes the man.”16 These words from Jesus are fundamentally at odds with “as goes the nervous system, so goes the man.”

As people created in the image of God, we are responsible for our words and actions because they flow from within us. Our circumstances and our bodies play an important role in influencing us, but they are not determinative or uncontrollable powers over us. 

What Is My Greatest Problem? The Bible Provides a Better Understanding of What Ails Us

Is man fundamentally deprived or depraved? If we are deprived, say, of safety then our greatest need is to fill that felt need. However, if we are fundamentally depraved then our greatest need must lie outside of ourselves. We are not able to accomplish the sort of rescue that we need. 

Depravity sounds like such an ugly word, but if we are to find help for our greatest problem then we must begin by being honest about ourselves. If our behavior flows from our hearts, and our behavior is oftentimes selfish and unloving, then we are forced to conclude that selfishness and unloving attitudes are bound up in our hearts. The Bible refers to this as our sin, transgression, or lawlessness (1 John 3:4). It is tempting to want to place the blame elsewhere for our behavior. In one sense, being responsible for our thoughts and actions is a hard pill to swallow. However, when we are willing to admit that sin is our biggest problem (we have repeatedly failed to exercise our God-given capacities to serve him), we are in a position to look to Jesus who can save us from both the judicial consequences of sin and the powerful influence it exercises over us.

Jesus said that the reason he came was to serve others by giving his life as a ransom. Our selfish and unloving thoughts, words, and actions are such a grave offense against God that it cost Jesus his very life to purchase our forgiveness. The gospel is that Jesus paid the debt we owed so that we might be treated as if we’d never sinned. In light of the work of Jesus, “He does not deal with us according to our sin, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10; cf. Romans 3:21-26). At the cross, we see that God the Father dealt with God the Son “according to our iniquities,” so that he might deal with us like sons and daughters. Jesus got what was coming to us so that we might get the rich reward that was coming to him.

For those who rely on Jesus’ death and resurrection, there is a second benefit of his work—We are freed from sin’s domination. Sin is not only described in the Bible as actions and thoughts but is spoken of as a power from which we need to be rescued. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “…and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” One of the purposes of Christ’s death was to set us free from living for self and empower us to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). 

How we define our problem determines where we look for our solution. If the fundamental problem is that we unconsciously feel safe or not then we will be forced to look for changes in our bodies, circumstances, or relationships. If these cannot be changed, then we are stuck. There is a better way. If we will admit that sin is our biggest problem, then we will look to Jesus, the one who exemplified perfect love in willingly laying down his life for us. 

How Do I Change? The Bible Provides Real Hope for Change

Whereas PVT pushes for the regulation of bodily states, the Bible provides hope for transformation into the image of Christ even while suffering. As a result of the work of Christ, his followers seek to love God and love others in the same way that they have seen the love of Jesus displayed. More than that, followers of Christ are commanded to love even their enemies. Radically, Jesus commands his followers not to fight or flee, but to move toward their enemies in loving service. 

This is not to say that people should deliberately put themselves in dangerous situations. Certainly, we want every person to be in a truly safe environment, particularly children. The hope for Christians, however, as we’ve evaluated the assumptions behind PVT, is that our feelings of safety don’t truly determine our thoughts or behavior. Instead, they flow from within us. At first, this feels like a weight we can’t bear, but ultimately, there is hope in taking responsibility. It is the only way to make sense of passages in the Bible that command us to rejoice in fiery trials (1 Peter 4:12); or, to count it all joy in various trials (James 1:2-3). There is real hope for Christians in the midst of suffering because we can trust that God is using these trials to make us like Christ. We don’t cling to the regulation of bodily states, but to the transformation of our hearts. 

Conclusion

David Powlison sums up the problem of tying our thoughts and behavior to our physiology. He writes,

“What the Bible says about people will never be destroyed by any neurological or genetic finding. The Bible is the anvil that has worn out a thousand hammers. Neurology and genetics are finding lots of interesting facts. New findings will cure a few diseases, which is a genuine good. But biopsychiatry cannot explain, nor will it ever explain, what we actually are. All people are in the image of God and depend on God, body and soul.”17

Some will choose to root their lives in the shifting sands of psychological theory. I will choose to root myself and my family in the Word of God, the anvil that has worn out a thousand hammers.

END NOTES
  1. Polyvagal might more accurately be called a physiological psychological or biopsychiatrical theory as it primarily seeks to understand how the body drives behavior rather than the mind.
  2. The prefix “poly” means “many,” while the root “vagal” is a reference to the human vagus nerve which runs from the lower brain stem and branches out into various parts of the body.
  3. These three neurophysiological states are referred to as 1) Ventral Vagal Social Engagement; 2) Sympathetic Nervous System Activation; 3) Dorsal Vagal Shutdown. The Ventral Vagal Social Engagement state is really the unique contribution of polyvagal theory to the broader field of psychological theory. Prior to polyvagal theory, the latter two states were already being taught and well accepted in the field of biopsychiatry.
  4. Dr. Stephen Porges, the founder of Polyvagal Theory wrote the following for the National Institute of Health: “The human nervous system, similar to that of other mammals, evolved not solely to survive in safe environments but also to promote survival in dangerous and life-threatening contexts. To accomplish this adaptive flexibility, the human nervous system retained two more primitive neural circuits to regulate defensive strategies (ie, fight–flight and death-feigning behaviors). It is important to note that social behavior, social communication, and visceral homeostasis are incompatible with the neurophysiological states and behaviors promoted by the two neural circuits that support defense strategies. Thus, via evolution, the human nervous system retains three neural circuits, which are in a phylogenetically organized hierarchy. In this hierarchy of adaptive responses, the newest circuit is used first; if that circuit fails to provide safety, the older circuits are recruited sequentially.”See Porges, Stephen H., The polyvagal theory: New insights into adaptive reactions of the autonomic nervous system: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3108032/
  5. The fight or flight and shutdown modes are sometimes referred to as the more primitive states since they evolved first.
  6. Springer, Shauna H. Polyvagal Theory: How Your Nervous System Works:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/free-range-psychology/202203/polyvagal-theory-how-your-nervous-system-works. It is not hard to see the connection here between the need to feel safe and the demand for “safe spaces” and the need for parents to affirm their child in their gender and sexual identity.
  7. Wagner, Dee, Polyvagal Theory in Practice: https://ct.counseling.org/2016/06/polyvagal-theory-practice/#
  8. “This is especially apparent on social media platforms like TikTok, where the #polyvagal hashtag is extremely popular, with dancing, music, and body movements all recommended as interventions for everything from depression to trauma.” David J. Ley, Polyvagal Theory—Useful Narrative but Still Just a Theory, Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/202209/polyvagal-theory-useful-narrative-still-just-theory
  9. Ibid.
  10. Ibid.
  11. Dr. Maxwell Pearl, The Problem with the Polyvagal Theory, https://medium.com/@maxwellbpearl/the-problem-with-the-polyvagal-theory-c70f55ca6b2e
  12. Ibid.
  13. Dr. Charles Hodges, The Importance of Science in Biblical Counseling: https://www.biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/2021/04/02/biblical-counseling-and-science/
  14. Elyse Fitzpatrick, Counsel from the Cross (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012) 183.
  15. John Owen, The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of the Remainders of Indwelling Sin in Believers, in Temptation and Sin, vol. 6 of The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1967), 170.
  16. Troxel, A. C., With all your heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ. (Wheaton, Crossway, 2020).
  17. David Powlison, Biological Psychiatry (JBC 17:3) 4: http://8fceb942096fcf9407d2-20c5ff882b477b20529d08a30bc17c49.r85.cf2.rackcdn.com/uploaded/b/0e4830618_1453918937_biological-psychiatry.pdf
Tyler Shores Battling Sin, counseling, pride, psalm

Who Shall Ascend?: Counseling Pride from Psalm 24

Psalm 24 is an incredibly useful passage to turn to when counseling issues related to pride. Specifically, Psalm 24:3-6 confronts and corrects those hearts tempted to be self-righteous. 

Where is the Hill of the LORD?

In the Psalms “the hill/mountain of the LORD” is the place that Yahweh had placed His king (Psalm 2:6 – “As for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill.”) This mountain is not a literal mountain that can be located with GPS coordinates; rather, this mountain is figurative. The consistent witness of the Scriptures is that God’s dwelling place is on high ground, far above where we dwell.

The theme of God’s presence being fixed on a mountain goes all the way back to Genesis, where God’s presence is first observed in the Garden of Eden. Eden was likely on elevated ground. We know this because Genesis records that a river “flowed out of Eden” (Genesis 2:10), and Ezekiel says that Eden is God’s “holy mountain” (Ezek. 28:13-14). 

Professor Jim Hamilton states that, “From the beginning of the Bible to its end, to ascend Yahweh’s mountain is to enter His presence.” This point is significant if we are going to fully understand the meaning behind David’s words in Psalm 24.

The Purpose of David’s Question

When David asks, “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?” (Psalm 24:3), it is as if he is asking, “Who among you can summit Mt. Everest in your pajamas?” Without a doubt, David is asking a rhetorical question. It is obvious that none of us can ascend the hill of the LORD, because none of us possess the righteousness necessary to be in God’s presence. It is as if God lives on a mountain and none of us have the climbing gear necessary to safely ascend that mountain. 

David’s question and qualifications are meant to isolate and exhaust the reader’s pride. No matter how good you are, no matter how obedient you are, you CANNOT climb God’s mountain. The degree of righteousness it would take to ascend the hill of the Lord is totally beyond your reach.  Some may feel further along than others, but no one is even remotely close to the summit. 

Qualifications for Climbing

To make sure that the point is not missed, David includes three characteristics a person must possess in order to climb the hill of the LORD in verse 4. The worthy climber: (1) must have “clean hands and a pure heart,” (2) must “not lift up his soul to what is false,” (3) and “does not swear deceitfully.” 

Perhaps the most interesting dynamic at play in these qualifications pertains to the word “clean” found in the first characteristic listed. While many translations use the word “clean”, the actual word in the Hebrew means “innocent.” In order to ascend the hill of the LORD, you must have innocent hands – not just clean hands.

In total, these qualifications describe an individual who is morally upright far beyond what any mere human could ever attain. These qualifications are meant to further David’s point that we cannot ascend the hill of the LORD without the necessary righteousness. In the mind of David the only one who is apparently able to ascend the hill of the LORD is the King of Glory, “the LORD strong and mighty” (v.8)!

Killing Pride 

To fight against pride is to fight for humility. In order to grow in humility, what your counselee needs is a new view of self. This new view of self is achieved by seeing oneself in light of God and His grace. More specifically, it is only when your counselee sees the magnitude and majesty of God that he will start to reject his self-righteousness and lean on God’s grace instead. 

Psalm 24 is helpful towards growing in humility because it reinforces for us just how far away everyone is from achieving the righteousness of God. Psalm 24 points forward to Christ as our means of righteousness. Jesus alone could ascend the hill of the LORD, and He did just this on Calvary.

Likewise, this truth is easily observed in Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” When we begin to see ourselves in contrast to the absolute splendor of Yahweh and His unmerited favor, we are mercifully pushed away from pride and towards humility. 

Credits

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Psalm 24 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash

Tyler Shores counseling, gospel, Worry

Jesus & Cancel Culture

Few of us will ever have to bear the unique weight of failing so miserably that our failures are remembered and talked about beyond our lifetime. However, for many of us the thought of failing in such a way that our failure (or sin) would be remembered even a week from now is crippling. This pressure has only been multiplied many times over in light of the emergence of cancel culture. 

Jesus has much to teach us about how He deals with people who fail in big ways and likewise how we should counsel people who have blown it bigtime. 

Peter: “I don’t know Jesus. I don’t know Jesus. I don’t know Jesus.” 

If there was ever an individual in the Bible who gave cause to be publicly shunned and shelved (“canceled”) it would be Peter. 

Jesus had prophesied to Peter that he would deny Him three times (John 13:36-38), and Peter did exactly this. Following Jesus’ arrest Peter is asked about his affiliation with Jesus on three separate occasions. Each time Peter is given an opportunity to align himself with Jesus, he denies Jesus (18:15-27). It is impossible for us to know how Peter must have felt when that rooster crowed, confirming that he had done something he once thought impossible (John 13:37). 

This memorable moment in Peter’s life sets the stage for a one-on-one counseling session with Jesus that would shape the rest of Peter’s life and ministry. What Peter learns as Jesus ministers to him is that Jesus doesn’t participate in ostracizing him, or in what we have come to know as ‘cancel culture.’ Instead, Jesus offers a better way forward (John 21:15-19).  

Jesus: “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” 

As John closes out his Gospel he records an usual conversation between Jesus and Peter. What makes this conversation unusual is that Jesus asks Peter the same question three times: “do you love me?” 

Many readers have taken note the fact that there are two different Greek words used here for love: agape (used by Jesus in v.15 & 16 but not v.17) and phileo (used by Peter in v.15, 16, 17). As a result, many make the point that Jesus is quizzing Peter on the degree of his love and that Jesus is attempting to get Peter to see he needs to have a more sincere and heartfelt love for His Savior (agape). The application then for us as modern readers is that we need to have that agape kind of love for Jesus. 

A Different Perspective

The trouble with this view is that Jesus actually uses the Greek word phileo the third time he asks Peter if he loves Him (v.17), whereas in the first two times he asks Peter if he loves Him He uses the Greek word agape. If Jesus were trying to pit agape love against phileo love, it wouldn’t make sense for him to switch which Greek word he is using on His third attempt to drive home His point to Peter. 

A better explanation of this exchange is that Jesus is consoling a broken and defeated sinner towards understanding his future is full of hope. The key to this explanation is not in nuancing the Greek words but in considering the number of times Jesus asks Peter the same question, “do you love me?” 

Jesus asks Peter this question three times because Peter denied Jesus three times. This correlation is significant. Peter is about to be reminded of something wonderful about Jesus. 

In denying Jesus three times he had committed an unimaginable sin with unimaginable consequences – his life was forever injured. However, Peter’s future wasn’t over. Jesus is not in the business of shunning sinners. Each time that Peter answers Jesus’ question and affirms his love for Jesus, Jesus simply instructs him to busy himself with making disciples (“feed my sheep”). What Peter learned in this conversation with Jesus is that Jesus wasn’t done with him.

In conclusion

Sin has consequences and sin has the ability to alter the trajectory of a person’s future. These consequences are felt relationally, socially, emotionally and even professionally. Regardless of the consequences a person’s sin sets in motion, Jesus isn’t done with them. Jesus wants every sinner to be busy feeding His sheep.

When you counsel a believer who is crushed by something they’ve done, whether it be a mistake or a sin, they need to know that although their future may have changed, Jesus is not done with them. Jesus’ call to feed His sheep and make disciples continues regardless of what they’ve done and there is joy to be found in this work. 

Credits

Photo by Philipp Pilz on Unsplash

Photo by David Maier on Unsplash

Kyle Gangel counseling, Grace

3 Ways God’s Grace Shapes Our Counsel

“You are the best mom in the world!”

Those words were spoken to a friend of mine by her daughter. This sort of affirmation would understandably melt the heart of nearly any mother.

However, before my friend could express her gratitude for such kind words, her baby girl warned her: “But that could change.”

The young girl didn’t want her mom to become complacent. Mom had to keep earning the status of best mom in the world. That sort of title isn’t automatically conferred on just anyone. It could change. 

This exchange reminds me of a fear I’ve had in counseling—that speaking too often or too highly of God’s grace will somehow give the counselee a license to sin. It reminds of the natural tendency we all have to falsely believe that legalism and threats are a better motivation to grow than God’s grace in Christ. 

The gospel brings me back to reality. The good news of God’s grace is that there is no threat about moving beyond God’s kindness in Christ. There is no follow up warning about a believer’s status changing.

My goal is to consider 3 ways this sort of radical grace shapes biblical counseling.

1. We can encourage the struggling counselee because grace is inexhaustible

In Romans 5 Paul highlights one of several benefits of justification: “Through [Christ], we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:2). We stand in grace. The realm of grace is the kingdom in which we reside. Those who have been justified through faith in Christ have been granted an all-access pass to the unlimited supply of God’s grace. The unending availability of favor for those in Christ is rooted in the infinite nature of God. If grace proceeds from the Infinite One, the well never runs dry. 

We rest in the assurance that we do not move in and out of God’s favor and smile. If you are a child of God today, you will not be an orphan tomorrow. Therefore, the child of God does not have to wonder if God has forgotten about her or if He has finally given up on her. In Christ, there is sufficient grace to cover every sin, to grow in Christ, and to persevere in a hostile world. What an encouragement to the counselee who blew it this week. What a help to biblical counselors who have likewise blown it in many ways this week.

2. We can call counselees to do the hard work of putting sin to death because grace empowers change

Inexhaustible grace? Doesn’t this kind of grace encourage sinful living? Should we tap the brakes a bit? These sorts of questions arise in the book of Romans. Surprisingly, Paul does not pull the emergency brake, he hits the gas.

The Apostle gives his emphatic reply to those thinking grace encourages sin, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2). Paul’s response is not that we need a little of the Old Covenant to keep us from going too far in our understanding of grace. Instead, he argues that we simply need a more comprehensive understanding of grace. 

To sum up Paul’s argument in Romans 6, the grace that unites us to Christ does not free us to indulge in sin; it frees us from the dominating control of sin. God’s kindness manifests itself in freeing his people from the penalty and the power of sin. Those who stand in grace are empowered to obey the “righteous requirement of the law” (Romans 8:4). By God’s wise purpose, grace not only justifies it also sanctifies. Thus, our believing counselees have no license to sin but are given everything they need in Christ to freely glorify God.

3. We can warn the unrepentant counselee because grace is not license

If grace cannot be exhausted, how should we understand the warnings like the one Paul includes in Romans 8:13, “If you live according to the flesh you will die … ?” Are these warnings the equivalent of pulling back on the promises of grace? Is it Paul’s way of slowing down so that we do not rely too much on divine favor? Not at all. Paul ends this chapter triumphantly declaring that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Warnings in Scripture are not meant to devalue grace, but to challenge the reader to consider whether they have truly experienced God’s grace in Christ. The warnings form a standard by which we can assess if we have been united with Christ through faith. Grace is freely given in Christ, but this grace manifests itself in a changed life. Therefore, if we put the promises of limitless grace together with the warnings given by Paul and others, we might conclude that grace is free, but it is not empty. It is powerful and effects change in those who have truly partaken of it.

Further, these warnings are used by the Holy Spirit to continually drive believers back to the throne of grace. As we understand the deceitfulness of our hearts and the dangers of walking away from Christ, we run again and again back to the Lord recognizing our need for undeserved favor. Schreiner explains, “the warnings are one of the means by which believers are kept until the end. All those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit heed the warnings and obtain final salvation.” So, we can warn professing Christians of the danger of unrepentant sin and anticipate that God will use our warning as a catalyst for change in those who are genuine believers.”. Only God can look upon the heart, but we must assess the fruit of someone’s life and plead for repentance in those who are in danger of deserting the gospel.

Grace is effective, so we warn. 

Grace is powerful, so we call for change.

Grace is inexhaustible, so we comfort.  

If we can step out of the book of Romans for a moment, we might end by saying that grace is more than just a concept, it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. The grace of God has appeared in the Son of God and He saves so completely that those he calls to himself are not only justified, but sanctified, and one day glorified (Titus 2:11-14).

Thomas R. Schreiner, Commentary on Hebrews: Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation (B & H Publishing Group: Nashville, 2015) 489.

Photo by Hide Obara on Unsplash

Tyler Shores counseling, discipleship, evangelism, glory of god, joy, Life in Christ, Sanctification

Jesus’ Blueprint for Biblical Counseling: A Look at John 15

Jesus’ words in John 15 are tucked away as part of His Farewell Discourse (John 13-17), which means that John 15 is part of what Jesus wants His disciples to know if they are going to live God-pleasing lives beyond His death, resurrection, and ascension. John 15:1-16 is of particular interest to biblical counselors because this is where Jesus weaves together three theological truths: (1) the call to follow Jesus; (2) the call to glorify God; and (3) the promise of joy. What I intend to show in this post is that Jesus’ weaving together of these theological truths provides a blueprint for the Christian life and more specifically biblical counseling. As a result of Jesus’ words, biblical counselors can define biblical counseling as the work of helping fellow sinners and sufferers follow Jesus for God’s glory, which results in their joy. 

Jesus calls sinners & sufferers to follow Him

While Jesus does not even utter the words ‘follow me’ in John 15, the concept of following Him is implied. This teaching unfolds as Jesus uses three different phrases: “abide in me” (v.4), “bear much fruit” (v.5, 8), and “keep my commandments” (v.10). As I understand Jesus’ teaching in John 15, there seems to be considerable overlap among these phrases to the point that these three phrases present nearly synonymous ideas. This overlap becomes apparent as we consider how the phrases relate to one another. 

For instance, we see in verse 5 that the one who “abides” is the one who “bears much fruit.” Then, we see in verse 10 that the one who keeps Jesus’ “commandment” is the one who is “abiding in Jesus’ love.” In effect, abiding in Jesus, bearing fruit (v.5), and keeping Jesus’ commandment (v.10) are conceptually very similar. 

As we move forward in Jesus’ teaching He fills in the specifics of His commandment. In verse 12 we learn Jesus’ Commandment is that His followers would love one another as He loves us. Jesus further defines love as self-sacrifice for the good of another (v.13). 

I find it helpful to draw attention to this overlap when teaching what it looks like to follow Jesus. Our counselees need the seemingly complex expectations of the Bible simplified and made tangible. Jesus’ call to follow is simple and straightforward: love others as Christ loves you (John 15:9).  

It is like Jesus is placing Christianity on the bottom-shelf for all who are willing to hear and experience His goodness. There is a beautiful simplicity to His teaching. Do you want to abide in Jesus? Then love others as Jesus loves you. Do you want to bear fruit? Then love others as Jesus loves you. Do you want to keep His commandment? Then love others as Jesus loves you. 

Is Jesus’ point clear? Crystal. Is Jesus’ expectation easy? Hardly. 

Jesus’ call for us to love is impossible without His abiding presence and power. Jesus illustrates this truth by utilizing the word picture of a life-giving vine at which point He identifies Himself as the Vine (v.1). Jesus illustrates that there cannot be fruit on the branches of a grapevine unless those branches are connected to the vine itself. Likewise, we cannot produce the fruit Jesus calls us to produce unless we connect to Jesus as our source of life through faith in His atonement. 

Why should we want to bear fruit? “Because Jesus said so” is all the answer we should need. However, in Jesus’ kindness, He goes further by giving us two incentives as to why we should be faithful in our following Him. It is at this point that we begin to see Jesus connect the theological dots and inform how we think about biblical counseling in terms of the big picture. 

When we follow Jesus we glorify God 

The first reason that your counselee should follow Jesus is to bring glory to God. In verse 8 Jesus teaches that believers glorify the Father when they “bear much fruit.” Remember, this “bearing of fruit” is synonymous with abiding in Jesus (v.4) and keeping Jesus’ commandment to love (v.12). So, when a counselee follows Jesus by bearing much fruit/abiding in Jesus/keeping His commandment to love, they are fulfilling the purpose for why God created them – His glory.  

This is HUGE for biblical counseling. The call for a counselee to love his wife with a sacrificial kind of love is a fulfillment of God’s call for him to glorify God. We don’t simply call our counselees to blind obedience just for the sake of obedience. We pursue obedience to Christ for the sake of God’s glory. 

When we glorify God through following Jesus we find joy

The second reason that your counselee should follow Jesus is to find Jesus’ joy. Jesus is undoubtedly concerned about the Father’s glory but this glory does not come at the expense of your counselee’s joy. Jesus tells us that He is teaching about how to follow Him so that His “joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (v.11). 

Biblical counselors cannot afford to miss the connection which Jesus makes concerning the believer’s obedience to Christ as it relates to God’s glory and the believer’s joy. When your counselees strive to obey Jesus, they are striving for both God’s glory and their joy. Your counselees cannot be serious about their joy unless they are serious about God’s glory through obeying Jesus. As a result, it is helpful to teach your counselees that Jesus is concerned about their joy.

In conclusion

How can we not be mesmerized by Jesus’ all-encompassing explanation for how following Him, God’s glory, and our joy all fit together? These three threads are the common emphasis in biblical counseling. The beauty of John 15 is that in it Jesus weaves all three threads into a unified strand of thought. Biblical counseling is difficult and counselees typically view the Bible as daunting. Our counselees need to see that their desire for joy and God’s desire for their God-glorifying obedience are not conflicting realities in the plan of God. What John 15 does for our counselees is that it shows them that the call to be a disciple, glorify God, and have joy in Jesus are all related and contingent upon one another. 

Works Cited & Credit

Photo by Orkhan Farmanli on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (John 15 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Kyle Gangel counseling, Image of God

The Glory of God and the Goal of Biblical Counseling

If you had to sum up the goal of biblical counseling in one word, which would you choose? You might say, “change,” or “Christlikeness,” or “transformation.” These answers are correct as far as they go, but I would like to suggest the word “glory.”

The glory of the Lord is a thread that runs through every genre of Scripture. From creation to consummation, this theme is front and center. As such, glory serves as a helpful category in defining the goal of biblical counseling. However, glory is one of those words we use often but may find ourselves at a loss when pressed for a definition. 

Some theological terms are difficult to define because a concise definition is not agreed upon by theologians—think union with Christ or impassibility. Others are difficult because the word is used in various ways, in different contexts, to convey numerous meanings. Glory would fall into that second category. In attempting to capture the different nuances of this loaded theological term, Christopher Morgan writes:

The God who is intrinsically glorious (glory possessed) graciously and joyfully displays his glory (glory displayed), largely through his creation, image-bearers, providence, and redemptive acts. God’s people respond by glorifying him (glory ascribed). God receives glory (glory received) and, through uniting them to the glorious Christ, shares his glory with them (glory shared)—all to his glory (glory purposed, displayed, ascribed, received, and graciously shared throughout eternity.)

In this post, I would like to trace the theme of glory in Scripture from eternity past to eternity future highlighting the idea of God’s shared glory and applying it to our counseling. In other words, I’d like to attempt an answer to the question: What does it mean for believers to be transformed from “one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18)? Or to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4)? Or to have glory “revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18)?

Glory Possessed in Eternity Past

Before anything was, God was, and God was glorious. He remains glorious as the eternal, unchanging Lord of all that is. The Lord alone possesses intrinsic glory. In other words, He is infinitely valuable in and of Himself. He is not dependent on anyone else for his position, power, or prestige. His character and nature place him in an entirely different category than creation. The Apostle Paul erupted in praise when considering the Lord’s wisdom and wealth of riches: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). David exclaimed, “He is the King of glory!” (Psalm 24:10). Stephen referred to the Lord as “the God of glory” (Acts 7:2). 

Glory Shared with Man

In his kindness, God created to display his glory and allowed his creation (specifically, man) to see and enjoy the public display of his wisdom, power, and nature (Ps. 19:1). However, God goes beyond displaying his glory by allowing his image-bearers, in some sense, to partake of his glory. 

At the climax of God’s creative work, He made a creature unlike any other—a being in his image. As persons made in His likeness, God bestowed upon Adam and Eve a sort of glory. We see this in Psalm 8 where David uses royal language in describing man’s unique position before God. Man is “crowned with glory and honor” (v. 5) as an image-bearer of God. God designed man to serve as his representatives by carrying out his will in creation. Therefore, Adam and Eve possessed a sort of derived glory. The glory of Adam and Eve was their capacity as image bearers to engage in the activity of displaying God’s glory by fulfilling His will in creation and thereby reflecting His nature and character. This link between glory and image becomes an important theme of redemption.

Though all creation testifies to the glory of God, mankind is uniquely equipped for the task. What a position! What a privilege! Yet, as we know, much of this glory was squandered for an empty promise from a sneaky serpent. 

Glory Lost in Sin

Though every person retains his or her status as an image-bearer, an essential aspect of this glory was lost at the fall. Paul sums up his teaching on sin by declaring, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The common assumption is that this oft-quoted verse means little more than we have failed to glorify God. Though true, this does not seem to be the Apostle’s direction of thought. To fall short means to lack something or to be in want. It seems Paul is arguing that in our sinful state, we lack the original glory that Adam and Eve possessed before the fall. Sin is so pervasive that it not only led to sinful actions, but the very ability and desire to reflect God’s character were destroyed at the fall. Thus, the glory Adam and Eve possessed—the capacity and willingness to fulfill God’s will by imaging him in creation—was lost. The image remains, yet the glory of actively reflecting God faded as sin ravaged creation. 

Sin is so pervasive that it distorted every aspect of our humanity. Our minds were darkened and became futile in their understanding (Eph. 4:17-18). Our wills were bound by sin and selfishness (Rom. 3:11-12). Our emotions were misdirected and wrongly expressed (Jer. 17:9). Our bodies delighted in sin (Rom. 7:24). Part of what makes sin so revolting is that we used many of the benefits of being an image-bearer (Our mind, will, emotion, and body) to rebel against the creator. Again, we see the emphasis and link between imaging God and glory. John Murray summarizes the effect of the fall as it pertains to glory, “We are destitute of that perfection which is the reflection of the divine perfection and therefore of the glory of God.” 

Glory Incarnated in Christ

In the incarnation, we see the glory of the image of God. Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) and “the radiance of the glory of God… the exact imprint of his nature” (Heb. 1:3). As the God-Man, Jesus uniquely demonstrates the glory of God as he impeccably lived in joyful submission to the will of the Father. 

Of course, Jesus’ mission goes far beyond being an example. Jesus passed where Adam and Eve failed. Jesus alone perfectly fulfilled the purpose of humanity. He is truly crowned with glory and honor. But the path to the crown went through the cross. The author of Hebrews makes explicit the connection between Christ and Psalm 8:

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Hebrews 2:9-10

In his death and resurrection, Christ paved the way for us to be reconciled to God and subsequently be brought “to glory.”

Glory Renewed in Union with Christ

The glory lost at the fall is being renewed in those found in Christ. From justification onward, the Spirit begins in us the process of being conformed to Christ. Paul argues that as this happens we are moving into greater glory, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). This movement towards glory is what we often call progressive sanctification. 

Notice again the link between glory and image—we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another as we are fashioned into the image of Christ who is the perfect image of God. Part of what makes salvation so incredible is that we are being renewed into the image of Christ. Our minds are renewed by his word (Rom. 12:2). Our wills are brought into alignment with God’s will (Phil. 2:13). Our emotions are progressively being properly expressed (Phil. 4:4, 6). Our bodies can be brought into submission by the power of the Spirit (Rom. 6:12-13). Beholding the Lord’s intrinsic glory, we are being conformed to the glorious image of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Glory Restored Forever

One day this original glory will be fully restored. Indeed, it will be greater than the glory Adam and Eve enjoyed because we shall be like Christ. The Apostle John wrote: “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). From heaven will come our “Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21). We will not become God; we will not be little gods. We will remain embodied humans for all eternity. Both body and soul are eternally redeemed through the gospel of Christ. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus ensures the future glorification of those given to him by the Father.

Implications for Counseling

What does this mean for biblical counselors? 

First, God sets the agenda for counseling and his agenda is glory. That is, his goal is to glorify himself as his people behold his glory and are conformed to the glorious image of Christ. Through the means of God’s Word, biblical counselors have the opportunity to help others behold the glory of the Lord. And this act of beholding is transformative. Lord willing, counselees move from one degree of glory to another. Life change and godly habits are necessary, but we must place them under the more important goal of glorifying God. 

Second, remember the hope of eternal glory as a motivation for growth today. In my experience, it is easier to point people back to the cross than it is to point them forward to eternity. However, both are means of motivating believers towards conformity to Christ. The glory that will be revealed in us ought to be held out clearly as we implore others to become like Christ because “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).

We long for that day when we shall see God face to face. Until then, may we “ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 29:2).

Sources

Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 4:23 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

John Murray. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1960.

Tyler Shores counseling, Sanctification

Counseling with Psalm 19

Psalm 19 is all about divine revelation, which is to say that it is all about how God has communicated Himself to us. In terms of divine revelation there are two types: general/natural revelation and special revelation. General revelation is a “term used to declare that God reveals something about the divine nature through the created order.” (Grenz, Guretzki, & Nordling, p.54). Special revelation is “God’s manifestation of himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with him.” (Erickson, p.201).

The beauty of Psalm 19 is that it speaks to the benefit of general revelation (v.1-6), while showing the superiority of special revelation as encountered in the Word of God (v.7-11). As we think through Psalm 19 there are three applications I want to consider in regards to biblical counseling: (1) God desires to communicate Himself to us through both the created world and the Word; (2) What we learn about God from His Word takes priority over what we learn about God from the world He created; (3) God intends for the revealing of Himself in His Word to produce holiness in us.

  1. God desires to communicate Himself to us through the world He created (v.1-6). 

As we read the opening lines of Psalm 19 we begin to sense that perhaps David is gazing into the skies and breathing in the vastness of God. He sees the stars, Moon, Sun and he assesses that the “heavens declare the glory of God” (v.1). David recognizes that although these created things do not have a literal voice (v.3), there is a sense in which their voice is heard throughout all the Earth (v.4). Along with Paul, David takes notice that creation is designed to communicate God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20, ESV). 

What David teaches us as counselors about general revelation is that we need to recognize the spiritual benefit of God revealing Himself to us and our counselees through creation. This is not a call to take expensive trips to remote locations but it is a call to step outside and become a student of God’s creation and consider the lilies (Matthew 6:28). 

On my desktop computer there is an incredible picture of the towering granite walls of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. I would love to visit Yosemite but logistically this is difficult. However, God’s very good creation is all around me. Even as I walk down the cracking sidewalks of my Midwest neighborhood and hear the hum of cicadas (loud bugs), the power and beauty of God are being revealed to me. It’s not quite Yosemite, but it will have to suffice because I was designed as a human to learn about God in these moments. Psalm 19:1-6 teaches us that God’s creation is useful for teaching us and our counselees about God and therefore should be engaged. 

As biblical counselors we are right to uphold the Word of God (special revelation) as essential to spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical wellness. Without the Word of God there is no hope because there is no other way of being in relationship with God. As a result, our first instinct in assigning homework is often to get counselees into God’s Word. This is right and good. That being said, we should not be uncomfortable with assigning the kinds of homework which pushes the objective of revealing The spiritual benefits of engaging the created world. This could look like encouraging a counselee to take a daily walk and account for how God is good in creation. This type of assignment is certainly helpful in someone gaining a greater sense of God’s power and majesty. Perhaps, in glimpsing God’s glory in creation, our counselees will be more eager to hear and obey God’s revealed will.

  1. What we learn about God from His Word takes priority over what we learn about God from the world He created (v.7-11). 

As Psalm 19 unfolds David continues to speak of divine revelation but we notice a shift in subject starting in verse 7. As good and necessary as general revelation is, the focus of David’s attention becomes the Word of God (which is special revelation). David is not attempting to diminish the value of general revelation but is instead highlighting the superior value of God’s Word when both are considered. This value is articulated as David makes six bold statements concerning the benefits of God’s Word. These statements deserve careful attention but unfortunately the restraints of this blog post will not allow us the space to do so. That being said, there are a few broad observations about what David says which help us not to miss the big point:  

First, Allen Ross explains that David “uses all the major terms for the stipulations of the covenant [law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, rules] to call attention to the mercy and love of God.” (Ross, 469) What Ross is getting at here is the key difference between general revelation and special revelation. This difference is that the content of God’s Word is about the covenant faithful God and the salvation He provides. This is not the case with general revelation. Bavinck correctly points out that general revelation is “insufficient for human beings as sinners; it knows nothing of grace and forgiveness.” (313) We can look at the world around us and learn a lot about God but it can never bring us to the point of knowing God. 

Second, Ross goes on to say that “Because of these clear references to the covenant, the covenant name of Yahweh is used seven times.” (Ross, 469). In the first section of Psalm 19 (vv.1-6), David uses the name El for God (v.1). Whereas El is a more general name for God in the Hebrew, Yahweh is the more personal name for God (Exodus 34:6). It is no surprise that David chooses this more personal name for God when discussing the Word of God Again because it is the Word of God which makes it possible for us to be in relationship with God. 

Third, David’s statements about the spiritual benefits of God’s Word are exclusively true of God’s Word. There is nothing else in this world which can revive our souls, make us wise, cause true rejoicing in our hearts, or enlighten our eyes. The Psalmist views the Word of God as something uniquely precious and rightly so. The benefits of Scripture are unparalleled. 

The application that the Psalmist’s high regard of God’s Word has in the counseling room is straightforward. If we want to be people who feel and experience God as He is then we must be people who are engaging with the Word of God and people who are doers of the Word. Likewise, we cannot consider ourselves to be doing the work of biblical counseling until we busy ourselves with helping people engage God’s Word and the life giving hope of God’s Word. In the counseling room we want to be men and women who speak the Bible, demonstrate a life changed by the Bible, and call those who are hurting to be helped by the Bible. Again, this is not David calling us to abandon the value of general revelation but is rather an emphasis on the absolute necessity of God’s Word. 

  1. God intends for the revealing of Himself in His Word to produce holiness in us (v.10-14). 

The psalmist concludes by teaching that God’s Word is to be more desired “than gold” and is “sweeter also than honey” (v.10). This bold claim flows from the truth that God’s Word guides the believer into holiness for the glory of God, which is God’s goal in revealing Himself. God reveals Himself uniquely and exclusively in the Word because He desires for struggling sinners to be “blameless” (v.13) and “acceptable” (v.14) in His sight. There is nothing more satisfying than being transformed into the people that god has designed us to be. 

The question which Psalm 19 leads us to reasonably ask ourselves as counselors is: what do I hope to see accomplished in the life of my counselee? If the answer is something other than holiness we have veered from the straight-forward teaching of Psalm 19 and we should reassess our goals in counseling. What makes biblical counseling ‘biblical’ is not only that we use the Bible as our source for instruction but that the God of the Bible sets the agenda for counseling. 

Works Cited & Credit

Photo by Ryan Hutton on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Psalm 19 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Grenz, S., Guretzki, D., & Nordling, C. F. . In Pocket dictionary of theological terms (p. 54). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.

Erickson Millard J. Christian Theology; 2nd Edition (p.201) Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998.

Ross, Allen. A Commentary on the Psalms, vol. 1 (1-41) (p.469) Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2011.

Bavinck, Herman. Reformed Dogmatics. Vol. 1, Prolegomena (p. 313) Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003.

Kyle Gangel counseling, Sanctification

When You Are Overcome With Guilt

“Guilty!”

So cries our consciences, our hearts, and most importantly, God’s Law. We have all felt the painful reminder of our guilt. Thoughts of regrettable words and actions can keep us awake at night as we recall the past. Despair grows with each painful replay. How do we respond? How do we think biblically about guilt so that we might honor the Lord?

We might be tempted to settle for surface-level answers that distract us from feeling guilty. We might assume the answer is to convince ourselves that we are not quite as guilty as we thought. Not surprisingly, God’s Word has a fuller and, ultimately, a more satisfying answer. 

Before we look at guilt as a feeling, we need to first consider it as an objective reality. If you sat on the jury of a murder trial, you would not concern yourself primarily with the feelings, guilty or otherwise, of the defendant. You would examine the evidence and discern whether he had committed the crime of which he has been accused. Likewise, we should first concern ourselves with the forensic aspect of guilt before considering feelings of guilt.

The Objective Reality of Guilt

Guilt is a state of being before it is a state of feeling. Our understanding of guilt should begin with recognizing the universality of sin: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). The first man, Adam, served as the representative of every person. When he sinned, all of mankind was cast into iniquity. Consequently, every person is condemned and deserves to bear the just penalty for sin.

In our sin, we stand guilty before a holy God. This is our greatest problem. The only solution is the good news of Jesus’ coming to rescue sinners from their condemnation. Christ dealt decisively with guilt on the cross by taking the judgment for sin in himself. Now, those who turn from sin and rely on Christ’s substitutionary work are united with him and credited with his righteousness. In other words, if you are in Christ you receive something better than a “not guilty” verdict. You even receive a greater verdict than “Innocent of all charges.” In Christ, you are declared “positively righteous.” This is made clear in 2 Cor. 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Feelings of Guilt

Feelings arise from our thinking, so, our feelings, like our minds, can be deceptive. Feelings of guilt are no exception. For instance, it is possible to be guilty of breaking God’s commands yet experience no feelings of guilt (See Leviticus 5:17 as an example of being guilty of sin while having no knowledge, and therefore, no feelings of guilt). It is also possible, through a weak or misinformed conscience, to feel guilty for some act that was not truly sinful. Therefore, feelings of guilt cannot be accepted without suspicion. We ought to consider, perhaps with the help of a wise friend, whether our feelings are a result of wrong thinking or a conscience gone awry. 

Though feelings of guilt can certainly be amiss, they can also serve as the first step in genuine repentance. If we correctly discern that we have sinned and acknowledge our sin in light of God’s holiness, we will experience guilty feelings.

Even when we perceive our guilty feelings to accurately reflect our actions, we often do not know what to do with these feelings. We regularly deceive ourselves into thinking that God would have us wallow in the misery of our guilt—after all, this is what we deserve. Nevertheless, feelings of guilt are not God’s mechanism of punishing his children for sin. We can be confident of this truth since Christ took on himself the full punishment for every sin. Instead, these feelings are meant to drive us back to his kind embrace.

Repentance

After discerning our feelings of guilt are according to the truth, we are left with one appropriate response: repentance. Charles Wesley summarized well what repentance looks like:

Now incline me to repent
Let me now my sins lament
Now my foul revolt deplore
Weep, believe, and sin no more

Charles Wesley, Depth of Mercy

Weep. Consider Paul’s teaching on godly sorrow over our sin: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to a salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Both Judas and Peter wept upon betraying their Lord. Only one truly repented. There is worldly sorrow, exemplified in Judas, that is self-centered and focuses only on what is lost or denied as a result of being caught in sin. It results in despair, bitterness, and self-pity. However, there is godly sorrow, seen in Peter, that leads to genuine repentance. This is brokenness before God over sin. Peter’s tears proved to be genuine as he turned again to the Lord and served him faithfully.

Believe. Specifically, we believe in the truth of the gospel. We call to mind the work of Christ on the cross and are assured that his love for us is unassailable. He truly delights in our running to him because he died for that very purpose. Dane Ortlund reminds us that Christ “does not get frustrated when we come to him for fresh forgiveness, for renewed pardon, with distress and need and emptiness. That’s the whole point. It’s what he came to heal.” (Ortlund, 34). The Good Shepherd delights in bringing back the wayward, in binding up the wounded, and in strengthening the weak (See Ezekiel 34:15-16). 

Sin No More. True repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action. By the power of the Spirit, we put to death the desires of the flesh and are conformed to the image of Christ. This is the end goal of acknowledging the reality of guilt and feeling its weight. When feelings of guilt arise from a proper acknowledgment of our objective guilt, they are a divine mercy that leads us to repentance and change.

Credits

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Proverbs 4:23 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund.

Kyle Gangel counseling, Sanctification, union with Christ

You Can Please God

Often in counseling, when asked specifically about how a counselee pleased God in a given week, he or she will say something like, “Well, I read my Bible every day, but I’m sure I just did it to be smart and impress my friends.” Or, “I shared the gospel with my neighbor, but after reflecting on it, I think I just did it out of duty, not out of a delight in God.” As a pastor and biblical counselor I appreciate the emphasis on the heart, and certainly don’t want to encourage outward obedience from a heart not directed towards God’s glory. My concern, however, with these types of responses is that they are often coming from an overemphasis on depravity and a corresponding underemphasis on our union with Christ. 

As believers, we want to hold biblical truths together and not allow one to trump the other. If we overemphasize depravity to the neglect of what Christ has accomplished for us, it results in a false humility that presents Christ as a weak savior. In our carelessness, we can begin to think of Christ only as the one who justified us legally (Rom 3:21-26) but not as the one who has overthrown the ruling power of indwelling sin (Romans 6:1-14).

In Christ, it is possible to please God

It is far better to hold to the totality of Scripture and affirm that, sinful though we are, we can please God in Christ. This is exactly what we’ve been commanded to do. Paul affirms in 2 Corinthians 5:9, “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please [Christ].” In context, the mention of “home or away” by Paul is a reference to his being in heaven with Christ or remaining on this earth. Paul asserts then that whether he is on earth or dies and enters the presence of the Lord, he exists for the good pleasure of God. Like the Apostle Paul, even as we await our future glorification, we can please Christ. 

We do readily admit, however, that we cannot do this in our strength, but only in the power which God supplies. The author of Hebrews takes up this theme in his benediction: “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Heb 13:20-21 emphasis mine). It is not hard to spot the active work of “the God of peace” in our works pleasing unto him. It is God who “equip(s) you with everything good” to do his will. It is God “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight.” Further, our doing of God’s will is “through Jesus Christ” to his glory. In Christ, we can live, think, and act in ways that accord with God’s will and therefore please him. So what about the sinful desires of the flesh? 

Beware the Flesh

We don’t want to get out of balance in the other direction and disregard the maze of desires that is a sinful heart. We are warned in Scripture about the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13) as well as our inability to decipher the intentions of our hearts (Jer. 17:9). Even the Apostle Paul laments in Romans 7 that he does the very sinful acts he doesn’t want to do and doesn’t do the righteous acts he wants to do. We should certainly heed these warnings and be suspicious of our motives. However, the Bible does not assume that we can never please God even if we can usually point to a hidden motive lurking in our hearts.

What Do We Make of Mixed Motives?

How then are we to reconcile the truth that we are empowered to please God and that our motives are often amiss when we do the very things God is calling us to do? Not surprisingly, the answer is found in the work of Christ as our perfect representative and substitute. Our good works are acceptable and pleasing to God not because they are without mixed motive, but because Christ obeyed as our representative with nothing less than perfect motives. The Apostle Peter makes this point: “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). The spiritual sacrifices that Peter mentions are good works offered up to God. Notice that these spiritual sacrifices, or good works, are a delight to God because they come through Christ. It is Christ that makes our God-pleasing efforts acceptable, not the fact they are without any admixture of weakness, frailty, or impure motive. The English Puritan John Owen states it well:

“Believers obey Christ as the one whom our obedience is accepted by God. Believers know all their duties are weak, imperfect, and unable to abide in God’s presence. Therefore they look to Christ as the one who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense to their prayers, gathers out all the weeds from their duties and makes them acceptable to God.” 

Ultimately, we can please God because Christ takes our imperfect efforts and makes them acceptable to God. Holding these truths in tension we are free to exercise real humility. We will neither denigrate the Savior by being so introspective that we deny his sanctifying work in us, nor will we take credit for our good works or be afraid to admit that our striving after godliness is often mixed with weakness and imperfection. Instead, we make it our aim to please Christ and insofar as we do that, we recognize that it is only due to God’s grace, the work of Christ, and the sanctification of the Spirit (Philippians 2:12-13).

Works Cited

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (2 Corinthians 5:9 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.


John Owen, Communion with God (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1991).

Tyler Shores counseling, discipleship, Life in Christ, psalm, Suffering

Counseling Psalm 88

Psalm 88 records some of the darkest and most depressing words in all of Scripture. Not only does the word “darkness” appear three times in the psalm, it is also the last word in the Hebrew. Also, unlike other cries of lament there is never a point where the author changes his tune and remembers God’s goodness and faithfulness. 

This Psalm is written by a man named Heman whom very little is known about. It seems that Heman’s problem is something external, such as a disease, and that this burden is something he has carried since his “youth” (v.15). Also, we notice that the weight of this burden over the course of time has become a crushing emotional and spiritual weight for Heman to carry. It is as if Heman is dying by being slowly crushed.

This psalm is a helpful place to turn when you, or a counselee, are experienced suffering that has gone on for a long time. What Psalm 88 reveals to us is how to relate to and minister to those living under this unique kind of pressure.  

1) You can be a Christian and still experience long seasons of darkness.

I owe this observation to Tim Keller who preached a very helpful sermon on Psalm 88 (you can listen to here). Keller states that what this psalm teaches us is that, “[…] you can be trusting God for your salvation. You can be praying and doing what you think you should be doing and yet it doesn’t get any better for a long time.” We know that Heman has been suffering since his “youth” (v.15) and we know that Heman is a believer (v.1).

In seasons of endless suffering we tend to entertain a couple of unhelpful thoughts. Either we begin to conclude that our suffering is the result of some undiscovered sin in our life or we begin to consider that our suffering is proof that we have never been saved in the first place. Both of these lines of thinking result from the idea that suffering is always evidence that God is displeased or distant. This is not true. 

One of the blessings of Psalm 88 is that it demonstrates for us that a believer, like Heman, can experience long seasons of suffering. This suffering is not a hidden message from God. Believers do not have to call into question the status of their relationship with God as a result of suffering. Psalm 88 breathes spiritual reassurance to the one who is suffering.

2) In seasons of darkness pray persistently to God (v.1-2; 13).

Heman doesn’t get everything right but he gets the most important thing right. Heman says, “I cry out to you day and night. Let my prayer come before you” (v.1-2) and then again, “in the morning my prayer comes before you” (v.13). Heman should be commended for the fact that he does not cut off communication with God.

Another one of the temptations we face in the midst of extended suffering is that when we initially cry out to God and He does not immediately answer we change our approach. Often we grow bitter towards God or indifferent and our prayers become non-existent. 

God delights in persistent prayers because it reveals a heart that is continually dependent on Him. Persistent prayer also reveals that a believer understands that God has a good plan and that He delights in answering prayers. 

3) Your prayers to God should be honest about how you feel (v.3-5; 8-9).

There is a thought that has crept into modern American Christianity and it is that in order to be spiritually mature one must hold back the tears before God and be strong before God. This is not biblical Christianity. This is a false sense of strength. In fact, this is spiritual immaturity. Biblical Christianity knows what it is to fully disclose to God what it feels like to suffer. We are not talking about venting to God, we are talking about raw and unrestrained disclosure to God what is going on inside of your head and life.

If you track what Heman is saying in 88:3-5 you see Heman recounting to God the downward spiral of his thoughts. He starts off rather innocent as he expresses that his “soul is full of trouble” (v.3) but then we read that Heman felt as though his life was “near” (v.3) to the grave and that he eventually felt as though he was “counted” (v.4) among the dead. Finally, we read Heman express that he feels God no longer even remembered him (v.5).

What we see in Psalm 88 is the practice of lament. These honest cries out to God reveal that part of God’s restoring work in Heman’s life involved Heman disclosing to God the depths of his pain. Psalm 88 teaches us how to speak to God in the midst of our pain in a way that is honest.

4) Your prayers to God should be driven by what you know to be true about God (v.6-12).

Heman’s prayer is theologically driven and this is a wonderful thing. There are a couple pieces of Heman’s theology which shine through the darkness of his prayer and guide us in our prayers to God. 

As Heman cries out to God, he is not ignorant or misinformed as to who is in control of his suffering. Heman says to God, “you have put me in the depths of the pit” (v.6) and “you overwhelm me with all your waves” (v.7). He understands that his suffering is by within God’s control. Heman understands that God is either causing or allowing his suffering. Much like Job, Heman sees God in the chaos of his suffering. 

Another aspect of Heman’s theology which shines through and guides us is his theology of God’s glory. Heman reasons with God in 88:10-12 as to why God should answer his prayer. His rationale is that if he were to die then he would no longer be able to praise God’s name. Heman, knowing that God desires to be glorified, appeals to God on behalf of this glory. 

Like Heman our prayers should reflect that we understand God is in control over the details of our suffering and that God does all that He does for the sake of His glory.

5) Because darkness disorients, not everything you feel is true (v.7, 15, 16, 18).

While it is true that Heman’s prayer is theologically driven it should also be observed that Heman’s prayer is not always theologically accurate. In verse 7, 15, 16 he speaks of God’s wrath and terror being against him. These words show that Heman has made the assumption that God’s purpose in his suffering is to pour out wrath and to terrorize him. Theologically, we know that Heman is not experiencing God’s wrath. This is not how God treats His children. Wrath is reserved for the wicked.

One of the dangers we face in dealing with long seasons of darkness is that our thoughts begin to misfire and a false narrative can begin to corrode our thinking. When we counsel ourselves or others we have to be aware of this tendency and be willing to confront the lies we tell ourselves.

6) Yes, the dead do actually rise up to praise God because of Jesus’ resurrection (v.10). 

Again, I owe this insight to Tim Keller (sermon found here). He accurately points out that Heman assumes the wrong answer to the question, “do the departed rise up to praise you?” (v.10) Heman thinks the answer to this question is ‘no’ and he is using this line of thinking to reason with God as to why God should protect his life. 

The reality is that the dead actually do rise up to praise God if they are united to Jesus in His death and resurrection. Keller points out that Matthew 27:45-52 beautifully shows us that Jesus has defeated both darkness and death and neither is final for the believer. Regardless of whether or not God causes our darkness to cease in this life we look forward to the hope of life with Christ for eternity. 

In Conclusion

This beautiful Psalm was written 3,000 years ago by a man named Heman who was in a very dark place and didn’t know if he would ever experience joy again. Some of the most beautiful words I’ve read about Psalm 88 came from W.S. Plumer, who made this hope-filled observation, “for nearly three thousand years [Heman] has been singing a very different song before the throne of the Eternal; and his eternity is but just begun.” 

The one you are counseling may feel like your darkness will never end but the day is coming when he/she will also have been singing a very different song for 3,000 years because of what Jesus did on the cross. We cling to and wait for eternity!

Credits

Photo by Tobias Keller on Unsplash

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Psalm 24 and all other Scripture). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Tim Keller. How to deal with dark times (a sermon on Psalm 88). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulmaUtbayGY

W.S. Plumer. Geneva Series of Commentaries: Psalms (2016) Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust. 823.