The Christian Counselor's Manual CH 3

The Human Counselor

Chapter 3 defines who should be a counselor, what is to be counseled in and out of a person, how it is to be counseled in and out of a person and what the results should be.

Mr. Adams states that “…the work of counseling as a special calling is assigned particularly to the pastor” (1973, p.9), which I’m certain this is part of the job description as a pastor, but counseling should not be limited only to pastors when the Holy Spirit was sent to us as a comforter. The comforter is our true counselor and lives within each of us that believe. We walk in His power, not our own and do as He wills, not what man states we should or shouldn’t do.

The author articulates three possibilities for life problems being “demonic activity, …personal sin, and organic illness” (Adams, J.E., 1973, p.9). This seems simple, but there really isn’t any more than this. It is encouraging that he defines that a “physician treats the physical problem, the Christian counselor should pedal in tandem.” Relaying that [the task is to]… “help him to alter sinful life patterns” (Adams, J.E., 1973, p. 11). He can do this by ministering through “Proclaiming the good news administering God’s Word to those whom the Spirit regenerates” (Adams, J.E., 1973, p. 11). Which appears to be a strengths based approach in that, “his [the counselor’s] orientation will be toward God’s solutions, not merely toward man’s problems” (Adams, J.E., 1973, p. 15). This is very consistent with the most researched and most effective therapy style that is used in the world. Cognitive Behavior therapy uses our biblical concepts in worldly terms to capture thoughts, notice behaviors and then apply corrections to faulty thinking in order to change behaviors.

In the world and in the Christian culture, many times people attempt to counsel and become bogged down with the burdens as they begin to realize that Jesus must fix all the problems and that a counselor is only an empty vessel filled by the power of the Holy Spirit to do immeasurably more than we ask, yet the COUNSELOR cannot do this without Him. When first reviewing the book, I became excited to see what appeared to be a non-directive approach to counseling, but realized that “…biblical counseling is directive” (Adams, J.E., 1973, p. 17), only directed by the Holy Spirit through man, which makes it different than traditional directive counseling in that it’s truly not man giving the direction, but the Lord. Which is relieving, especially when we know that ‘We must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29, Adams, J.E., 1973, p. 19). When we are led to be directive by conviction of the Holy Spirit in love for another believer then the author rights that we should expect to see, “Sanctification (personality change toward holiness) [that] is the work of the Spirit through His Word” (Adams, J.E., 1973, p. 19). Again we can see this counseling is directed by the Lord and not the counselor.


Adams, J.E. (1973). The Christian Counselor’s Manual. p. 9-20. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.