Competent to Counsel

The Roman church was not founded by an apostle. It is my view that it was established by those visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, who came to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:10–11). These became believers as they listened to the powerful preaching of the gospel by Peter and returned to Rome to become witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul acknowledged that he did not establish the Roman church. And it was not his practice to build on the foundation laid by someone else (Rom. 15:20). Yet, as an apostle, he had authority to minister to these Roman Christians, both to Jews as well as to Gentiles, though he was especially called to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul also had information concerning the Roman church from friends in that church. A number of these friends are listed in Romans 16, such as Priscilla and Aquila, who were highly learned in the Scriptures and taught the scholar Apollos the gospel more accurately (Acts 18).

The faith of these Roman saints was known throughout the world. At the beginning of this epistle, Paul says, “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world” (Rom. 1:8). At the end, he states, “Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you” (Rom. 16:19).

These Roman believers were very knowledgeable in the Scriptures. Even today most evangelical Christians do not know much about Paul’s letter to the Romans. Yet the Roman Christians, to whom Paul wrote this profound epistle, were well able to understand its heavenly message. So in Romans 15:14, Paul is complimenting the Roman church. In this verse he reveals the marks of a true church and of a true Christian: they were full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and, therefore, competent to counsel one another.¹

My Brothers

Paul commends the Roman church for their relative spiritual maturity. First, he calls them, “my brothers.” We find this word “brothers” throughout the epistle. He first used it in Romans 1:13: “I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers” (author’s wording). The church in Rome consisted of a Jewish minority and a Gentile majority. Yet they were all born of the Holy Spirit and so children of the heavenly Father. They were younger brothers of Jesus Christ. They all belonged to the family of God and were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They were all vitally united to Jesus Christ. So they were all brothers and sisters in Christ. Once they were all sinners, but now saints. So Paul loves them all and calls them adelphoi mou, “my brothers.”

For I Am Convinced

Second, he speaks about his own conviction concerning them: “I myself am convinced.” He is convinced beyond a shadow of doubt, as he was earlier convinced of the security of his salvation, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life [shall] separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).

This conviction regarding the faith of the Roman saints was based on evidence. As we said, he had friends who gave him information about the church in Rome. The Holy Spirit himself also gave Paul revelation concerning them. So his conviction was unshakeable. He uses the perfect tense (pepeismai), which denotes a conviction obtained in the past that continues to be true. It is a genuine compliment.

The very excellence of this letter proves this point of Romans Christians’ competence in the Christian doctrine and ethics.

Full of Goodness

We are told they were “full of goodness” (agathôsunês). Paul dealt with the pervasiveness of the evil of unbelievers in Romans 1 through Romans 3:23. In that section he said there is no one who does good, not even one. Every son and daughter of fallen Adam is conceived in sin, born a sinner, and practices only sin daily. We don’t like to hear that we practice sin daily, but it is the truth, if we are not Christians.

Many people think they are righteous, yet they have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. You are a Pharisee if you think you can be righteous outside of Christ. The Bible says all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God. Unregenerate man can only sin. He does no good because only a good man does good.

So earlier in this epistle, Paul told us that every man is full of evil. Then he gave a long list of man’s sins, perhaps the longest such list in the Bible: “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind [a corrupt, rotten mind], to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:28–32).

Man knows God from creation and from his own conscience. He also knows God by listening to the preaching of the word that is from the canon of Scriptures. Yet he is actively engaged in suppressing this truth by doing only evil. Thus man shows his active hostility to God who alone is good.

Yet our minds can deceive us into thinking that we are good. Jeremiah was right when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). Who can understand the heart of sinful man? Only the Lord can. Jesus himself said, “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’” (Mark 7:21–23).

These Romans themselves were once dead in trespasses and sins, but they were made alive in Christ by God’s Holy Spirit. They were saved by grace through faith, which is the free gift of God. These Roman saints became God’s new creations, created in Christ Jesus for the singular purpose of doing good works. God alone is good, and he alone is mighty to make a sinner into a saint and a doer of wickedness into a doer of good works, well-pleasing to God. So Paul says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God… . Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12:1–2).

The Romans believed the gospel as stated in Romans 3:23–25: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.”

A bad tree only can produce bad fruit. Only a good tree produces good fruit. But God is able to make a bad tree a good tree by regeneration, by the word, and by the Holy Spirit. He takes away our stony, wicked, stubborn, rebellious, sinful hearts and gives us hearts that think God’s thoughts, will his holy will, and feel the way God feels, loving the good and hating the evil.

By nature, bad trees cannot produce good fruit; evil is intrinsic in them. “As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds’” (1 Sam. 24:13). Jesus said, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:33–34). Jesus also said, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:43–45).

But the Roman Christians were full of goodness, for they had been made good trees. They were united with Christ. So Paul says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). He also says, “What shall we say, then? … Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death [union with Christ]? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father [through the power of the Father], we too may live a new life” (Rom. 6:1, 3–4). Again, he says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Finally, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you” (Rom. 8:9).

These Romans confessed and believed in Jesus Christ as Lord. They were full of goodness (i.e., their character was goodness). They had the divine nature. What a radical change! “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)” (Eph. 5:8–9). They were called to be saints. They were called to the obedience of faith.

The word agathôsunês appears only in Paul’s writings, not in classical Greek. This goodness flows out of saving faith in Jesus Christ. The gospel is the power of God unto the miracle of salvation. Goodness is, in reality, good works. It is loving God and one another. It is kindness and generosity toward others. It is knowing and doing God’s holy will.

These Romans were full of goodness. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will also be filled with goodness, which is a fruit of the Spirit. This goodness is a necessary prerequisite for counseling those who are in need.

Those full of goodness also oppose all evil ideas and evil deeds. Yet we must always be aware that this goodness is not our native disposition. It is moral excellence created by the Spirit of God in God’s people. It is moral and ethical goodness. Those who are full of goodness are like God, who alone is good in himself.

In saying they were full of goodness, Paul is not saying that the Roman Christians were perfect. But they were moving toward perfection, toward glorification, which is also our destiny.

Filled with All Knowledge

Next, we are told that they were “filled with all knowledge.” These Romans were not dull in their heads, as some Hebrew believers were (Heb. 5:11–12). They were actively growing in their knowledge of God’s word. They were heeding Peter’s admonition: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

A believer keeps on growing in the knowledge of all reality from God’s word. He is continuously being filled with the Holy Spirit and with the knowledge of God, which the Holy Spirit teaches us from the holy Scriptures. Stupid Christians cannot counsel anyone. Those who are competent to counsel must be full of goodness and full of all knowledge. Therefore they need to know God—the one living and true God, existing in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They need to know that creation is the work of this God, who permitted the Fall, and that there is sin in the world. They need to know that there are good angels, demons, and a personal devil. They need to know that all sons of Adam are sinners and that the wrath of God abides upon them unless they are saved; and that this salvation from God’s wrath comes to all who repent and believe in the sinless Son of God who, by his life and death, atoned their sins. They must know that Christ died for our sins and was raised for our justification, and this Christ is coming again to glorify his people and judge all his enemies. He is coming to deal with all evil once for all, and to create a new world without evil—a new heaven and a new earth—a paradise where God shall dwell with his holy people, which will be perfection and happiness beyond description.

Without this knowledge of God in Jesus Christ, no one can be saved. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And Peter declared, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

What does it profit if we gain the whole world and fail to have this knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pluralism of religion cannot save anyone, neither can the inclusivism or universalism found in many modern churches. We must believe in exclusivism, that Jesus Christ alone is the Savior of the world. There is no one else. All other human ideas are lies from the father of all lies.

This knowledge of God that makes us competent to counsel comes not from science or hollow philosophy or psychology, but only from the holy Scriptures. Paul told the Ephesian elders, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).

The ancient church devoted themselves to the apostles’ doctrine. Timothy from infancy had been taught the holy Scriptures, which were able to make him wise for salvation (2 Tim. 3:15). Isaiah says the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge (Isa. 11:2). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.

Yet many in today’s churches cannot compare with these Roman Christians in their knowledge. To know the state of evangelicalism in this country, read David F. Wells’ book, No Place for Truth, published in 1993. Wells, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, says evangelicalism as a religious force in American life is dead or in the process of dying because it has abandoned any serious commitment to truth. ² About twenty years have passed since that book was published, and I say evangelicalism is dead. Most evangelicals in today’s churches neither know nor practice truth.

The Roman Christians were filled with all knowledge—knowledge of God in Christ and knowledge of the world he created. The knowledge we need is the knowledge of the Bible, the knowledge of salvation, knowledge of salvation history, knowledge of the person and work of Jesus Christ—simply put, knowledge of the gospel.

Let me tell you, entertainment cannot save us. The subjectivism and mysticism of false Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement cannot save anyone. Hollow philosophy cannot save us. Shakespeare or Steinbeck cannot save us. Movies cannot save us. Technology or money cannot save us. The question is, do you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Paul says about Jesus, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Col. 1:19). He also warns, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Col. 2:8–10).

Paul tells the Corinthians, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1–2). Elsewhere he says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

Jesus condemned the Jewish religious leaders of his time for the high crime of taking away the key of knowledge from the people. (PGM) This is the crime the churches today have also committed. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. So Jesus said, “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering” (Luke 11:52). Elsewhere Jesus says, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matt. 23:13). This is the state of churches today.

True knowledge is knowing God from the Scriptures, as taught by the Holy Spirit through Christ-appointed pastors and teachers. And true knowledge of God is relational. Jesus said, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). True knowledge shows itself in a life of reverence and delightful obedience to God’s law. True knowledge is to love and obey God.

Able to Counsel One Another

Finally, Paul says that those who are full of goodness and all knowledge of God’s truth are able to counsel. They are dunamenoi (powerful) to counsel others who need such counsel because the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers them: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8, KJV). In the previous verse in Romans we read, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13). Without the Pentecostal power of the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. So we are commanded to “be being filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18, author’s wording).

When we are filled with the Spirit, we love one another, edify one another, receive one another, and counsel one another. The Roman believers were able to counsel one another. We all need counsel. People are foolish if they think they don’t need any counsel. That itself is a sign that they are demon-controlled, because the sin that made the devil the devil was arrogance.

Of course, the church has members in various stages of spiritual growth. There are infants, children, young people, and mature adults. Everyone needs counsel. Yet the more mature are to counsel others, for they are better suited to do so. Thus, parents are to counsel children (Eph. 6:4). Paul uses the same word (nouthesia), which means to warn, to admonish, to rebuke, to correct, or to instruct. And pastors who are called of God, appointed by Christ, and trained in the Scriptures, are especially qualified to counsel those in need of biblical counsel.

Unbelievers are blinded by the devil. Romans 1 tells us that their minds are depraved. But the Bible says that all believers have the mind of Christ.

The word for “counsel” (nouthetein) comes from two words: nous and tithêmi, which means to put the word of God into the mind, so that the counselee will obey it to bring about life transformation. So the lazy man is asked to work six days to support his family, the church, and the needy. The husband is asked to love the wife even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. The wife is counseled to submit to her own husband in everything out of love for Christ. Children are counseled to obey their parents in everything. A thief is to stop stealing and work with his hands that he may give to those in need. Those who are reluctant to forgive are counseled to forgive one another as God in Christ forgave them.

What is counseling? Biblical counseling “describes an effect on the will and disposition, and presupposes an opposition to the will of God that has to be overcome.”³ It is warning and admonishing to correct something that is wrong within the counselee. It is to bring the truth of God’s word to bear on the mind and conscience, leading to fundamental change in attitude and action. The counselee aims at rebuke by the word to bring about biblical obedience.

So we read, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonishone another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16). In Colossians 1:28 we read, “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” The counselor puts into the mind of the counselee a duty, especially when it is transgressed. Bishop Anders Nygren says, “As long as the church lives in the world, it cannot dispense with mutual admonitions.”⁴ The counsel involves instruction, rebuke, and correction; but the predominant meaning of nouthetein is warning or admonition.

So the best counselors are true, mature believers, especially pastors, whose counsel is not based on the medical model of the secularists but on the moral model of the Christian Scriptures, the infallible word of God. This biblical counseling aims to bring every thought of the counselee to the obedience of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 10: 5).

We read of counseling, or the lack thereof, even in the Old Testament. Let me give you some examples:

1. Eli failed to counsel his children. He knew the law; it was his job to teach it. But he failed to warn, admonish, and discipline his children, and God killed them all.
2. Samuel counseled Saul several times, but Saul refused to listen and was destroyed.
3. Nathan rebuked and warned David because of his wickedness. David heeded Nathan’s counsel and was restored.
4. Rehoboam rejected the counsel of the elders and listened instead to the counsel of his peers, the wicked young friends. As a result, Rehoboam was destroyed.
5. David failed to counsel and discipline his children, and they were killed.
6. Prophet Hanani counseled Asa, but Asa failed to listen and was destroyed.
7. Ahab preferred the counsel of four hundred demonized prophets to the sound counsel of the true prophet Micaiah, and he was killed.

Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor (Isa. 9:6). The Holy Spirit rested upon him, granting him wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, and power. True counsel is based not on man’s word but on God’s word. So we read, “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists [we can insert modern secular psychiatrists and psychologists], who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (Isa. 8:19–20).

Biblical counsel, warning, rebuke, and correction is also based on love. Jesus said, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent” (Rev. 3:19). Not only is such counsel based on love, but its goal is also love. Paul writes, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Tim. 1:5). And biblical counsel is done especially by ministers because they are most competent. Paul says, “Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you” (1 Thess. 5:12).

Everyone lives by counsel. Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked … but his delight is in the law of the LORD” (vv. 1–2). Everyone follows counsel. The question is, are you following the counsel of the wicked, which is the counsel of the devil, or are you following the counsel of the Lord of the Scriptures?

Rejecting the counsel of the word of God will result in eternal destruction. Wisdom tells us in the book of Proverbs, “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes” (Prov. 1:28-3). And in Proverbs 14:12 we read, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

True counseling is not suggestive but directive. In the authority of Christ, the counselor directs the counselee, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.” Professor Jay Adams told us that six weeks of obedience to counsel means a person will get into the habit of doing what is right. A true biblical counselor is not worried about the present pain the counsel inflicts upon the counselee, but he looks forward to the future fruit of righteousness, peace, and holiness in his life, without which no one can see God. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us: “Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:10–11). The counselor, therefore, keeps on counseling, with compassion, sympathy, and even with tears.

Conclusion

In conclusion, consider these questions:

1. Are you a true believer? Have you trusted in Jesus Christ alone and been baptized and joined the church of Jesus Christ? Are you a brother in Christ?
2. Have you made your calling and election sure? Jesus said that fruitless branches will be cut off, thrown out, dried up, gathered, and burned. To such people, Jesus will say, “Depart from me. The door is shut.”
3. Are you full of goodness—not your definition of goodness, but God’s?
4. Are you filled with all knowledge? Only knowledge of the word of God can save you and equip you to counsel others. Do you know more about worldly books than you do about Paul’s Epistle to the Romans?
5. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit who gives us wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, power, and fear of the Lord?
6. Do you care for your erring brothers and sisters enough to warn them by counseling them according to the Scriptures? If you are a child of God, you will do this.
7. Are you growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18)?

May God help us to be full of goodness, full of all knowledge and powerful to counsel one another, that we may all grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

¹ In reference to this subject, I would like to recommend reading three books:Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams, Knowing God by J. I. Packer, and No Place for Truth, Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology by David F. Wells.

² James M. Boice, Romans, vol. 4 p. 1849, summary of Wells’ thesis, which is especially articulated in ch. 8: “The Reform of Evangelicalism” of No Place for Truth(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 283-301.

³ Leon Morris The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 509n.

⁴ Anders Nygren Commentary on Romans (London: SCM Press, 1952), 453.