Nouthetic Counseling: A Biblical Approach for Solving Emotional Problems

Several types of counseling are available today to deal with every problem, real or imagined. Most people seek a professional psychologist or psychiatrist when they have emotional or mental problems. Many times, patients pay large fees for the expertise they are given from counseling. Most sessions of secular counseling consist of taking long trips into the recesses of the patient's mind searching for childhood or adolescent trauma which can be held responsible for the person's present distress. Once the offending incident is discovered, the person is then instructed on how they can be liberated from that experience. Others who struggle with emotional or mental problems look to Christian counselors for help. Christian counselors also have advanced degrees and charge for their services, but their approach to treating patients is much different from that of a secular psychologist.

Different from both psychological and Christian counseling is Biblical, or, Nouthetic counseling. Biblical counseling developed in the 1970s with the publication of books such as, Competent to Counsel. Though the word nouthetic sounds scientific and modern, it is actually a biblical word derived from Greek that means, "instruct" or "admonish". This type of counseling has taken place since Biblical times, but didn't gain recognition as a movement until a few decades ago.

The very bedrock of Biblical counseling is none but Christ Himself. It is the opinion of Nouthetic counselors and their adherents, as well as the opinion of this writer, that when counseling strays from the fundamental truths of Scripture, such as the centrality of Jesus Christ in all of a believer's life, it ceases to be Christian. Thus, Christian counselors who suggest treatments that blame others or permit the patient to deny responsibility for his own actions, is not Christian at all.