This paper presents a biblical word study examining six terms relevant to addiction counseling: "counsel," "wisdom," "help," "wine," "desire," and "restraint." Drawing on the Blue Letter Bible and Strong's Concordance, the study traces each word's Hebrew and Greek roots across Old and New Testament usage. The analysis reveals how ancient language distinctions — such as different Hebrew words for types of desire or wine — enrich a counselor's understanding of addiction and recovery. The paper concludes by synthesizing core biblical themes, arguing that scripture frames the counselor as a wise guide offering verbal and spiritual assistance to clients navigating the challenges of addiction.
A Biblical Word Study provides counselors with a deeper understanding of the concepts, tools, and techniques of counseling. This understanding promotes spiritual and psychological wholeness, providing a framework for the client to achieve his or her goals. A Word Study is an engaging and thoughtful process requiring both critical and creative thinking. Taking words commonly used in counseling settings, we search for those words using helpful online databases such as the Blue Letter Bible. The following Word Study examines two sets of words: those related to counseling in general, and those related to addiction in particular. The Word Study describes both Old and New Testament usage for each word. The counseling-related words include "counsel," "wisdom," and "help." The addiction-related words include "wine," "desire," and "restraint." The Biblical Word Study is a semiotic exercise that strengthens the counselor's lexicon.
Using the Blue Letter Bible website, the six words (three counseling-related and three addiction-related) were entered into the database. The counseling-related words include "counsel," "wisdom," and "help." Because of the challenges that translation poses, abstract words like these can be difficult to grapple with when performing a Word Study. Their contextual cues in the Bible must be examined, analyzed, and understood. Themes from the Old and New Testaments differ while retaining a core semiotic and semantic thread.
According to the Blue Letter Bible (2012) search results for "counsel," the term occurs 74 times in 72 verses in the NASB. A general theme that becomes immediately apparent is that counsel refers to advice. Sometimes, counsel connotes advice that is verbal in nature.
Strong's Lexicon highlights the Hebrew word ya'ats. This word is translated as "counsel" in Exodus 18:19. Another Hebrew word, dabar, refers to counsel in Numbers 31:16. Dabar refers specifically to verbal speech, as in speech used in a business or formal context. Thus, the word "advice" denotes verbal advice in the Old Testament.
The term, regardless of translation, appears more frequently in the Old Testament than in the New Testament. New Testament uses of the word include a Greek term appearing in Ephesians 1:11. Here, counsel conveys advice but also "purpose," according to the Blue Letter Bible and Strong's. The Blue Letter Bible does not locate any other New Testament instances of a Greek word for counsel, and a Bible Gateway search reveals only one more Christian reference: Romans 11:34. Here, however, the word is not "counsel" but "counselor" (Bible Gateway, n.d.). The Blue Letter Bible treats "counselor" as a separate and distinct entry from "counsel."
Wisdom occurs 216 times in 203 verses in the NASB, according to the Blue Letter Bible. Unlike the term "counsel," wisdom occurs throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In both the Hebrew and Christian Bible, the term is linked textually and semantically with God.
The plethora of occurrences of the word wisdom yields a surprisingly narrow translation; that is, one Hebrew word corresponds to the English use of "wisdom." That Hebrew word is chokmah. The word chokmah occurs in Exodus, Deuteronomy, 1 Kings, and 2 Chronicles. Wisdom is defined in human terms — encompassing war skills, administrative skills, and ethical skills (Blue Letter Bible, 2012).
The Greek word Sophia is the one most commonly used in the New Testament. There are two meanings for Sophia, however, according to the Strong's G4678 entry. The first definition applies to human wisdom; the second refers to the wisdom of God. Therefore, interpreting each passage of the New Testament requires close attention to contextual cues. The implication is that both humanity and God can possess wisdom.
According to the Blue Letter Bible, the word "help" occurs 147 times in 140 verses in the NASB. In the Old Testament, help carries a rather monolithic meaning as succor. New Testament occurrences of "help" refer to several different but interrelated Greek words.
In Hebrew, the word translated as "help" is 'azar. Help means offering support and assistance. It occurs in passages as varied as Genesis 4:1 and 2 Samuel 22:36. Help comes in the form of human and divine assistance, generally implying an act of service or charity on the part of the helper and a sense of gratitude on the part of the person or people being helped.
The Greek word for help may be opheleo, implying profit, as in Matthew 16:26. The term boetheo is more closely related to the Hebrew 'azar, or succor, and this usage appears in Matthew 15:23 (Blue Letter Bible, 2012). Yet a third Greek word has been associated with the English word "help": paristemi, which carries the connotation of "standing beside" — that is, standing by for support (Blue Letter Bible, 2012).
"Biblical language of wine, desire, and restraint"
"Synthesis of findings for counseling practice"
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