The Christian Counselor’s New Testament and Proverbs, 4th Rev. Ed. Translated by Jay E. Adams. Cordova, TN: Institute of Nouthetic Studies, 2019.
Jay Edward Adams (1929-2020) is best known for his work in biblical counseling.[1] Drawing upon his Reformed and presuppositional commitments, Adams wrote the first thoroughgoing polemic against clinical psychology and psychiatry and the integrationist movement. Simultaneously, Adams sought to establish reformation among evangelicals calling them back to a robust biblical psychology and the sufficiency of Scripture for the cure of souls. By any account, the movement and institutions started by Adams are both successful and thriving.
Adams was a prodigious author,
writing mainly on issues related to practical theology but also homiletics, eschatology,
ecclesiology, and the like. His formal training, however, focused mainly on
theology, biblical studies, and homiletics. In 1969, Adams completed his Ph.D.
at the University of Missouri in speech having produced a dissertation entitled
The Homiletical Innovations of Andrew W. Blackwood. Earlier, he had
earned two undergraduate degrees, namely, a Bachelor of Divinity from Reformed
Episcopal Seminary and a Bachelor of Arts in biblical Greek from Johns Hopkins University.
Training in biblical Greek afforded Adams a love of the language and appreciation
for the ancient commonality of New Testament Greek. The latter of which
motivated Adams to produce his essentially literal translation of the New
Testament into accessible English.
The Christian Counselor’s New Testament
and Proverbs (CCNTP)
is a unique and worthwhile contribution to an already crowded market. It
features an excellent verse by verse format with healthy margins and handsome
font with quotations of the Old Testament rendered in caps. Dotting the margins
are short notations that identify the general topic of the pericope. These
marginal notations are indexed in the back of the volume and serve as a useful
topical guide. Adams has also provided his footnoted commentary throughout the translation.
While not as extensive as a full-on study Bible, his comments are to the point
and generally very helpful to both the biblical counselor and the student of
Scripture. They contain both textual information, Scripture commentary, and
occasional cross-references.
The translation work in the CCNTP
is thoughtful and accurate. For example, Adams intuitively renders דּוֹר in
Proverbs 30;11-14 as “one age.” Whereas “generation” or perhaps “period” would
render the noun most literally, “age” makes better sense in modern English and communicates
the transient nature of those who transgress the commandments of God. When we
think of “generations” we tend to think of individuals who were born around the
same period and live contemporaneously, whereas “age” goes a step further not
merely connoting contemporaneous existence but mutuality in the relevant sin.
The modern translations render μονογενὴς
at John 1:18; 3:16; 3:18; and 1 John 4:9 “only” (ESV; NRSV), “one and only” (CSB;
NIV), and “only begotten” (NASB; NKJV). The CCNTP stands out, rendering μονογενὴς
“unique.”[2] This is perhaps the best translation of the
term in print since it is evident that throughout the canon that God has other
sons (e.g., Gen. 6:2; Luke 3:38), albeit quite unlike the Μονογενὴς Θεὸς.
The adage “No translation is
perfect” is true of the CCNTP. Whereas Adams translates Jesus’ ἐγὼ εἰμί
statement in John 8:58 as “I AM” he neglects to employ that rendering
consistently. For example, he supplied the predicate in John 18:6: “He said to
them, ‘I am He…’” On rare occasions, Adams’ translation is unnecessarily wordy.
One example is found in 1 Corinthians 8:6. Adams renders the phrase ἐξ οὗ τὰ
πάντα καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς αὐτόν as “from Whom all things have come, including us who
ourselves have been made for Him.” The introduction of the reflexive pronoun is
redundant and when joined with the relative pronoun, it makes for a clumsy
clause. A more succinct translation would render ἡμεῖς conventionally: “from
whom all things come, including we for him.”
On the whole, the CCNTP is a very
good translation that ought to find traction among Bible students of all backgrounds.
His commentary, particularly in Proverbs, is worth the price of the volume
alone. Adams has brought fresh consideration to both translational and textual
issues and his insights are both valuable and faithful.
[1] Originally called “nouthetic
counseling” drawing upon the verb νουθετέω (to admonish; exhort; counsel),
biblical counseling and nouthetic counseling now refer to the same general theological
commitments (e.g., the sufficiency of Scripture; the supremacy of the local
church; the utilization of the Scriptures for soul care) and are essentially synonymous.
Although, it has been argued that the phrase “nouthetic counseling” refers to
those whose sympathies lie with the distinctives of Adams and the first
generation of the biblical counseling movement.
[2] Notably, only the NET renders μονογενὴς
as a substantive (i.e., “only one”) as in John 1:14.