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The First Use of the Law in Biblical Counseling

The Journal of Biblical Soul Care

Jan 22, 2025

Introduction
Early in John Bunyan’s venerable classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian encounters one Worldly Wiseman who invites him to entertain his counsel.1John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014), 15. The two discussed how to rid Christian of his burden most efficiently. Wiseman counseled him to pursue a man named Legality, who dwelt on a treacherous mountain (i.e., Mt. Sinai). Not long after heeding Wiseman’s
counsel, Christian realized his error but needed the counsel of Evangelist, who would redirect him toward the strait gate.23 Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, 20-1. Perhaps no other literary scene outside of Scripture demonstrates so palpably the inherent connection between biblical counseling and discipleship. Indeed, biblical counseling is discipleship.
Biblical counseling is the timely application of the truth of God’s Word that is occasioned by an important decision, suffering, sin, or a combination thereof. Biblical counselors derive their counsel from the rich treasury of God’s
Word. Through the careful exposition and contextualized application of Scripture, they exhort counselees to engender God-honoring change in their lives. Because biblical counseling is necessarily biblical, it is also imperatival in shape. Its goal is identical to discipleship, namely, to teach all of the commands of Christ (Matthew 28:19) and to see those commands applied.

This article will examine the first use of the moral law in biblical counseling. Following a concise explanation and defense of the ongoing relevance of the Old Testament moral law, an examination of the use of the first use of the law in evangelistic counseling is provided. Thereafter, Paul’s teaching in Galatians 3:23-4:7 is explored, with particular relevance to counseling method, the first use of the law, and Christians who struggle with shame related to past sin.

The Immutable Moral Law
While not neatly divided into a three-fold taxonomy, the Pentateuch presents three varieties of laws: moral, civil, and ceremonial. As with broader Christianity, Evangelical Protestantism affirms that the threefold division of the
law is a foregone conclusion. Philip Ross observed, “Not uniquely Eastern or Western; Roman Catholic or Protestant; conservative or liberal; Patristic or Puritan; Thomist, Calvinist, or anything else; the threefold division of the law is
catholic doctrine.”34 Phillip S. Ross, From the Finger of God: The Biblical and Theological Basis of the Threefold
Division of the Law (Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus Pub., 2010), 1.
Although a defense of the tripartite division of the law is beyond the scope of this study, it may suffice to observe that one means through which moral laws and the general equity of civil laws may be discerned is through the application of those principles to those outside of the Mosaic covenant. God did not judge the people of Canaan for their consumption of shellfish, but he did judge them for their detestable sexual immorality (Leviticus 18:24-25). Whereas the prohibitions related to food were specifically revealed and given to Israel (i.e., “They are unclean to you,” Leviticus 11:8),45 Emphasis added. All English biblical citations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016). the prohibitions of a moral variety were given to mankind and are a segment of natural revelation (Romans 2:15).


To keep reading this essay by Michael Burgos in the Journal of Biblical Soul Care Fall Edition 2024, click here.