Author | Sophie Luo

There are many different terms concerning the word “counseling”, for example, Biblical Counseling, Christian Counseling, Secular Counseling, Psychotherapy, Christian Psychotherapy, Therapy, etc. These terms could cause much confusion, so I will try to briefly explain what Biblical Counseling is about and hope that will help bring a clearer understanding of this term. I will also share some differences between Biblical Counseling and Secular Counseling, as well as some differences between Biblical Counseling and Christian Counseling.

1. A Working Definition of Biblical Counseling

As the Biblical Counseling Movement progresses, the definition of “Biblical counseling” is also being refined. A working definition of Biblical Counseling covers the most important aspects as below: Biblical counseling is Christ-centered, comprehensive (including physical, spiritual/soul, emotional, relational – relations with God and with people, awareness of self-identity, rational, volitional aspects, etc.) and compassionate, culturally-informed, and depends on the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit to seek the wisdom of God together, understanding God’s inspired truth (i.e., truth about people, problems, solutions to human suffering, and sin), in order to help people continue looking to Christ and being conformed to the likeness of Christ, being in communion with Christ and the Body of Christ (i.e., the Church), finding true help and hope in God, so that people can experience real change and growth in grace, empowered to love and worship God, to enjoy God and love others more and more.

Dr. Ed Welch said, “biblical counseling is a hybrid of discipleship and biblical friendship.” In the process of biblical counseling, the biblical counselor and the counselee build up a biblical friendship, in which discipleship happens. This is because we believe that God has spoken to us through Scripture which covers all that we need to know about God, about ourselves, and about the world that we live in (2 Pet. 1:3).

Therefore, Biblical Counseling is evangelistic and apologetic in nature, seeking to speak the truth in love and to grow up in every way into Christ (Eph. 4:15), as human beings are created fundamentally dependent on and responsible to God.

As Dr. David Powlison said, “The Bible is God’s self-revelation in relation to His creatures, and, as such, truly explains people and situations. No other source of knowledge is authoritative for explaining people and situations.” At the same time, Dr. Powlison pointed out that the Bible was not meant to serve as an encyclopedia of proof texts containing all facts about people and the diversity of problems in living. Scripture does not provide exhaustive information about everything (e.g., it does not tell us how to get rid of various diseases), but it does tell us everything we need when we face various things (e.g., how to face diseases). As John Murray wrote in one of his books, “there is no situation in which we … are placed, no demand that arises for which Scripture as the deposit of the manifold wisdom of God is not adequate and sufficient.” This means that we cannot apply Scripture mechanically, nor can we expect to “solve” problems with one or a few Bible verses, rather, we need to consider, understand, and apply the whole counsel of God.

In the process of biblical counseling, we will examine many things that have influenced the counselee in their life, and we will ultimately ask and explore three main questions together: “Who is the triune God? Who am I before God? How am I to live before God?” Thus, biblical counseling is usually a process (even a very long process in many cases), just as Dr. Powlison said, “There is no quick fix to complex problems.”

2. The Differences Between Biblical Counseling and Secular Counseling

When we think about “secular counseling”, it could be easy for many people to have various misunderstandings, thinking that there is a unified theory that secular counseling adheres to and adopts. In reality, secular counseling holds many different theories about people and problems, even contradictory ones, without any unified understanding or conclusion about people and problems. 

Even though these theories are different from one another (even contradictory), they reflect two main common themes in Secular Counseling: 1) Secular Counseling answers life questions about people, the various problems faced by people, and solutions through human reason and research; 2) Secular Counseling (especially in our post-modern age) assumes that there is no final answer to things, and that there is no one authoritative explanation for the meaning of life, and therefore theories of psychotherapy and psychotherapies keep changing.

To the contrary, Biblical Counseling 1) depends upon scriptural revelation to build a Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, culturally-informed approach to explain/understand our identity, the problems that we are facing, and how to solve the issues of the soul; 2) while understanding our human limitations and cultural diversity, believes that God has given us all that we need for life and godliness in the Bible, and believes that the Bible provides real and final answers for human beings with real problems.

Thus, we can see that:

Secular Counseling starts and ends with people, with people and their “needs” as the center, while Biblical Counseling starts and ends with God, with God and God’s will as the center.

Dr. Powlison made these observations about what a Secular Counselor Does Not do in counseling (while a Biblical Counselor Does all these things in counseling): 

  • They never mention the God who has a name: Yahweh, Father, Jesus, Spirit, Almighty, Savior, Comforter.
  • They never mention that God searches every heart, that every human being will bow to give final account for each thought, word, deed, choice, emotion, belief, and attitude.
  • They never mention sinfulness and sin, that humankind obsessively and compulsively transgresses against God.
  • They never mention that suffering is meaningful within God’s purposes of mercy and judgment.
  • They never mention Jesus Christ. He is a standing insult to self-esteem and self-confidence, to self-reliance, to self-salvation schemes, to self-righteousness, to believing in oneself. 
  • They never mention that God really does forgive sins.
  • They never mention that the Lord is our refuge, that it is possible to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.
  • They never mention that biological factors and personal history experiences exist within the providence and purposes of the living God, that nature and nurture locate moral responsibility but do not trump responsible intentionality.
  • They never mention our propensity to return evil for evil, how hardships tempt us to grumbling, anxiety, despair, bitterness, inferiority, and escapism.
  • They never mention our propensity to return evil for good, how felicities tempt us to self-trust, ingratitude, self-confidence, entitlement, presumption, superiority, and greed. 
  • They never mention that human beings are meant to become conscious worshipers, bowing down in a deep sense of personal need, lifting up hands to receive the gifts of the body and blood of Christ, lifting voices in heartfelt song. 
  • They never mention that human beings are meant to live missionally, using God-given gifts to further God’s kingdom and glory.
  • They never mention that the power to change does not lie within us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was raised in a sophisticated, modern psychological culture (his father was also a psychiatrist), and thoroughly absorbed the psychological models and psychotherapeutic practices of the great twentieth-century psychiatrists. He summarized it this way:

“The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus. The greatest psychological insight, ability and experience cannot grasp this one thing: what sin is. Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of man. And so it does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness. Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner. The psychiatrist must first search my heart and yet he never plumbs its ultimate depth. The Christian brother knows when I come to him: here is a sinner like myself, a godless man who wants to confess and yearns for God’s forgiveness. The psychiatrist views me as if there were no God. The brother views me as I am before the judging and merciful God in the Cross of Jesus Christ.”

(Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible, Vol. 5)

Regarding the difference between Secular Counseling and Biblical Counseling, the Association of Biblical Counselors has provided some helpful explanations for our reference:

(1) Secular psychotherapy is needs-based. The needs for self-esteem, love and acceptance, and significance tend to dominate. If these needs are met, it is believed, people will be happy, kind, and moral; if these needs are unmet, people will be miserable, hateful, and immoral. Biblical counseling teaches that true satisfaction and happiness can only be found in a relationship with God and a pursuit of godliness.

(2) Secular psychology is based on the theories and subsequent teachings of psychoanalysts. These include Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Carl Rogers and more recently ideas of post-modernism. In stark contrast, Biblical counseling is based on the revealed Word of God and subsequently on God’s theories and teachings for humankind.

(3) Secular psychology promotes mankind as the highest standard of truth and morality and rejects faith, the supernatural, and the Bible. Biblical counseling sees God as the highest standard of truth and morality and that Scripture is sufficient to address the impact on humankind due to fallen human conditions (Genesis 3) as well as equip the child of God for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:4).

(4) Secular psychology is based on the ideas that man is basically good and that the answer to his problems lies within himself. The Bible states that humans are much worse than they think, but also loved so much more than they can imagine. Humans are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and the unregenerate heart is “deceitful and beyond all cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). Therefore, the biblical counselor takes a drastically different approach: rather than seeking solutions to spiritual problems within one’s own mind, he seeks to confront sin, obtain wisdom from above (James 3:17), and apply the Word of God to the situation.

3. The Differences Between Biblical Counseling and Christian Counseling

This is another question that often confuses Christians. The Association of Biblical Counselors has also provided some helpful explanations for our reference:

1. In general, what is usually called “Christian counseling” is different from “biblical counseling” in that Christian counseling often uses secular psychology while viewing the client and their situation from a Christian worldview. Depending on the counselor, they may or may not use the Bible or even pray in the sessions. This is not to say that a Christian counselor is not also a biblical counselor, but often, Christian counselors are Christians who integrate secular psychology into their counseling. Biblical counselors counsel from Biblical theories and principles.

2. Biblical counseling is committed to letting God speak for Himself through His Word. Biblical counseling seeks to minister the love of the true and living God, a love that deals with sin and produces obedience.

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