Seeing with New Eyes: Biblical Counseling Through Scripture

Introduction to Powlison's Approach

In Seeing with New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition through the Lens of Scripture, David Powlison challenges those who counsel others to try to change their perspective and to look at problems from God's perspective rather than their own — which is the "new eyes" of the title. He does this by urging both counselors and clients to view themselves through God's eyes. He also encourages people to move past the idea of unconditional love and toward the idea of redemptive love, which actively enables transformation.

Powlison takes the approach that, while counseling may seem like a relatively new convention, it is something of which God not only approves, but in which He plays an intentional role. Moreover, he believes that the goal of counseling should include soul care — not just care aimed at fixing the temporal life. To explain how one should accomplish this, Powlison uses a familiar pattern from Scripture to illuminate Scripture itself. He discusses issues in terms of creation, fall, and redemption, placing them in a familiar Christian context.

Powlison organizes his book into two main parts. In Part 1: Scripture Opens Blind Eyes, he discusses the role Scripture can play in helping people see previously unrecognized details and nuances in a situation. He makes the point that "when you see differently, you interpret differently. You react differently, intend differently, act differently" (Powlison, p. 2). In Part 2: Reinterpreting Life, he discusses how these new insights can help people reinterpret their lives. Taken as a whole, the book provides a comprehensive introduction to biblical counseling, though it is not as thorough as it could be.

The structure of Part 1 will be very familiar to anyone acquainted with the Bible. Powlison uses Ephesians, Paul, and Luke to examine the theology of counseling. In these chapters he begins by explaining the biblical passages in question, then applies each passage to a real-life scenario, and most importantly demonstrates how a biblical counselor can apply the passage in a counseling context.

Ephesians as a Foundation for Biblical Counseling

Some biblical counselors attempt to approach people in an idealistic manner, suggesting that people should behave in certain ways and almost refusing to deal with real-world issues. Powlison makes it clear that such an approach is faulty in two ways. First, the Bible itself does not deal with perfect people but with imperfect, flawed people — and therefore gives good examples of how flawed people should engage in their conversations with God. Second, even if the Bible dealt only with perfect people, its message is one of hope and redemption for sinners; therefore, one must be prepared to deal with real-life, imperfect issues in counseling. Powlison uses the idea of a relationship with God to define growth and healing within the context of counseling: "Instead of defining change as an intra-psychic, psychosocial, or biological process of 'healing' or 'growth,' we define change as turning to a Person whom we trust, fear, obey, and seek to please. Instead of letting the goal of 'health' cue our system to a medical metaphor, we set the goal of being transformed into the likeness of this Person with whom we live in relationship" (Powlison, p. 4).

Section 1 begins with a discussion of Ephesians. Powlison breaks that discussion into three distinct chapters: one interpreting the book, one discussing God's role in it, and the final one exploring how Ephesians relates to real-life interpersonal relationships. Powlison's endorsement of Ephesians is nearly unqualified. He tells people approaching biblical counseling who do not know where to start:

"You will not go wrong if you plunge into Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Master it. Be mastered by it. Work Ephesians into your thinking, your living, your prayers, and your conversation. The Bible is vast and deep, and human life is diverse and perplexing. But in a pinch you could do all counseling from Ephesians. It's all there: the big picture that organizes a myriad of details. And Ephesians is not only 'counsel' but also 'counseling.' It talks and walks method as well as content. Paul himself is a changed man. He lives out and teaches wise pastoral strategy. Ephesians aims to teach you how to live. That is a synonym for counseling biblically, for doing face-to-face ministry" (Powlison, p. 17).

Paul's Theology and the Role of Atonement

Powlison highlights Paul's story and demonstrates the change Paul experienced in his own life. To fully understand the importance of Paul, one must go beyond Powlison's text. Many modern Christians assume that Jesus began Christianity, but this is not quite accurate. Jesus was born and died a Jew, and while alive in His earthly body, He lived as a Jew. It was Paul who expanded on the idea of Jesus as a different type of Messiah than those previously known in Jewish history. Looking at a Jewish definition of Messiah, prior leaders could be given the same title on account of their saving acts — Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, for instance, would have been considered a messianic act. Paul's writings helped reshape what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah.

That is because Paul's writings are almost solely responsible for introducing the idea of atonement to Christianity. According to Paul, Jesus' death served as the means of redemption for His followers. Moreover, this atonement was more than just relief from the burden of sin; it was also relief from the burden of Old Testament law. Through Jesus' death, humanity and God are reconciled, and it is this reconciliation that makes possible the very conversation Powlison believes is necessary for biblical counseling (see generally "Atonement"). Therefore, Paul's perspective on how Christianity — a new religion in his time — can be useful to those seeking guidance is absolutely critical for someone seeking to use the Bible as a resource in counseling.

What is particularly interesting is how Powlison uses Ephesians 5:21–6:4 to explain interpersonal relationships. Ephesians 5:21 exhorts people to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (NIV). Paul follows up that general advice by giving specific guidance about who should submit to whom, setting up the scenario of a patriarchal family where a wife submits to her husband, children to their parents, and servants to their masters. However, Paul is careful to frame submission as a reciprocal duty, requiring those in authority to treat those under them with dignity. While this may not be directly applicable in a modern context where wives, children, and servants are not the property of a master, it makes sense when one considers Ephesians — like Paul's other writings — as a practical theology.

Conclusion: Strengths and Limitations of the Book

Powlison is constantly aware that biblical counselors are dealing with flawed human beings as their clients, and are, themselves, flawed human beings. However, he does not allow that to cloud his primary vision, which is that counselors and clients should attempt to view things as God would view them, rather than through the limiting vision of mankind. By using counseling as a vehicle for one-on-one ministry, Powlison reveals that counseling is as old as ministry itself and is something of which God would approve.