The key word is translated “vanity” in the KJV. Recent study of the language indicates that the term is richer than that. It points to something vain (“empty”), it is true, but also carries with it the idea that what makes it useless is that what is done will not last. If we would coin a term to translate it, we would have to say that “All is impermanence.” Throughout the book evidence of every kind is adduced to prove this fact. For instance, a man slaves throughout his life, but what it gains him, only those who follow can enjoy. He dies before he can benefit from it.

The key term is “under the sun.” This phrase refers to the world as it is presently constituted–a world of sin and its consequences. And, in particular it refers to the life of those who live only for this world. It is a world under the sun rather than a world under His Son.

Pessimism? Is that the theme of the book? Yes and no. Is there a pessimistic attitude on the part of the writer? Yes, for those who live their lives merely “under the sun,” where all is impermanent. No, for those who see the hand of God even in the midst of the useless lives of those who don’t recognize His goodness. Throughout the book, God is said to give good things (with an emphasis on the blessings of food and marriage) to those who love him, in order to sustain such persons in the midst of a world where all goes to pot.

And the factor that changes all is God’s warning that this world is not the end—He will bring our thoughts and deeds into judgment. He advises youth to make the most of the body they possess while they can because in this world, under the sun (the curse of sin), it will soon fall apart.

So, Ecclesiastes (in its essence) is a tract for the times, calling men to repentance and faith.

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1. What to do on Thursday
2. The Christian’s Guide to Guidance 
3. A Call for Discernment

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

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The post Ecclesiastes appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

On this episode of the INS podcast with Dr. Jay E. Adams: What does the Bible teach us about life tomorrow?

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1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
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3. Christ and Your Problems by Jay Adams

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

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The post Life Tomorrow appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

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The post The Shortness of Life appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David (HCSB).

What a clear and explicit statement of how one goes about loving God! These days, there is much confusion about this very point. There are those who would tell us, in near monkish terms, that one loves God by all sorts of personal disciplines and denials. Yet, we find no such things in the life of David—a life, in general, that is mentioned here as exemplary enough to hold up as an example. Of course, David had his faults—which are set forth in the Bible, but for the most part, he was willing to follow God’s commands, and repent when he failed to do so (there are no greater repentance psalms in the Bible than those written by him).

Don’t let anyone tell you that by following man-made restrictions and regulations one best loves God. Col. 2: 23 says it all:

Of course, they have a reputation for wisdom because of their self-imposed worship and supposed humility, and ascetic treatment of the body, but those things are of no value in keeping the flesh from satisfying itself.

God Himself has set forth the terms by which He is served in love. These, here, are termed “the statutes of David.” That does not mean that he set up his own statutes, but that he faithfully followed God’s (for the most part, that is—note the qualification about the high places in this verse).

If you want to love God, you will do as the Lord Jesus (Who never failed to do so) did—you will keep His commandments. Fundamentally, love is not a feeling. Love is giving: “God so loved the world that He gave”; “He loved us and gave Himself for us,” etc. The great commission is explicit: “teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you.” These statements all reflect the same activity, namely, giving.

In the passage from 1 Kings, the word “walking” is the usual Hebrew expression for speaking of one’s lifestyle (or, as we also put it, how one conducts himself). So, John says in his two short epistles that he is delighted to hear how the reader’s children “walk in the truth.” That is, they live lives characterized by God’s truth. And, tying all of this together, he speaks in those letters of “love in the truth.”

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

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2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

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The post Love by Life appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

Only when they do, though numerically the same, they will not be like the old body at all. The believer’s new body will be perfect, without defect, full of life and vigor, never again to experience the ravages of sin, never to die again!

I cannot fathom what such a body will be like! It is far beyond anything in our present experience. I cannot describe it.

But there is one fact that I do know—when we get them, our bodies will be like “His glorious body.” His body had new powers, was indestructible, and even fit for heaven where it now resides on the throne of the universe!

I don’t even want to know anything more than the glimpses that we have been given! I’m looking forward to being surprised! A surprise birthday party is best of all. Isn’t it?

Will you receive a glorious body in which to serve the Lord at the resurrection—one that will suffer no more from the baleful effects of sin? It is yours for the asking—Ask Jesus Christ to save you. Confess your sin and repent of it. Believe the Gospel that Christ died for guilty sinners like you, and rose again in a newly perfect body. If you do, so will you!

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

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The post Resurrection appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.

“That for sure! Unless, of course, Jesus returns beforehand, and changes us so that it isn’t necessary to die.”

Are you expecting that to happen in your case?

“Well, it could. I’m younger than you (sorry to have to bring up the point).”

No problem. I know how old I am; my body won’t let me forget it. But back to the subject—are you looking forward to the second coming as a way of escaping death?

“Well . . . sorta’”

Hmmmm. Are you looking forward to death if that’s what will happen instead?

“That’s a bit different.”

How come?

“Well . . . I’m not sure.”

Will the transition from life to larger life by death be any different?

“Dunno.”

In either case, you will be with the Lord. which Paul says is “far better. And Jesus told the thief that when they died they’d be together that very day in Paradise.

“Yea. You’re right. But I wouldn’t yet have my glorified body.”

Correct. But with or without a body, Paul said that in Paradise, which he equated with the third heaven, he heard all sorts of good stuff he couldn’t reveal (II Corinthians 12:4). Sounds like a great place to be while awaiting the resurrection of the body.

“Yeah. Suppose you’re right.”

Sure I am. Paul couldn’t wait to die, which he called “gain” (Philippians 1:21). Anyone you know who doesn’t like to gain something?

“Don’t think so. But what sort of gain will I get?”

We know very little about the intermediate state between death and the resurrection. We do know that it is called “heaven” and “paradise,” however, and that’s a pretty good indication that the gain will be pleasant. We know that we’ll be with Christ, which is wonderful. We know that we will leave the sorrows of sin behind. Sounds like we know all we need to know to strongly anticipate it.

“You’re right. The only difference then, between transformation at Christ’s coming and transformation at death has to do with the body, and with how we leave this present world. It’s not death I fear, but the deterioration of the body that often leads so it. If I go at the second coming, I might avoid some of that.”

That’s about all the difference.

“But I guess that too is one more opportunity to lay up treasures in heaven—if I handle suffering leading to death Christ’s way.”

Right you are. So if one is a Christian, one way or another, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“Sounds great, either way!”

Check out our online courses, including, Introduction to Nouthetic Counseling and  The Use of Scripture in Counseling, taught by Jay Adams!

Books related to counseling others:

1. Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams
2. The Christian Counselor’s Manual by Jay Adams
3. How to Help People Change by Jay Adams
4. Check out our Bookstore for all the best counseling books!

The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, translated by Jay Adams

Visit our online bookstore for all your biblical counseling resource needs.
For more biblical counseling training, check out our list of INS Online Courses.

Follow INS on Social Media:
– Facebook: noutheticstudies
– Twitter: @noutheticstud
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The post Transformation—How? appeared first on Institute for Nouthetic Studies | Biblical Counseling.