Boyd, Gregory A. and Larson, Al, Escaping the Matrix, Grand Rapids, Baker Books, 2005. Spiritual Formation; 211 pages.

I must admit that I was a bit intimidated when someone suggested that I read and review this book. Escaping the Matrix is directed to Christians, but it is also related to clinical counseling, and I am not professionally trained in that field. I am a former police officer, a pastor, and an editorial assistant for another Christian ministry. Greg Boyd, on the other hand, is a well-known pastor and theologian. Al Larson is a professionally trained clinical psychologist. My initial thought was that someone more well-known and professionally qualified should review their book.

While I am not a clinical counselor, however, every pastor is called to be a biblical counselor and a theologian. Keeping those two pastoral roles in the forefront, my main emphasis will not be to evaluate the authors' psychological counseling philosophies or methods. I intend to examine their use of the Scriptures—the theology that formulates their opinions and drives their methods. But before beginning, I want to make a personal appeal to any pastors who might decide to read their book. An ever-widening separation exists between those committed to biblical counseling, and those who insist on mingling Scripture with modern psychology. I stand firmly on the biblical side, and I know that many of you stand with me. But please be warned: Even if Escaping the Matrix is somewhat bizarre in a few places, it is a well-written and intriguing book with literally hundreds of references to Scripture. I am concerned that this last factor alone—the authors' apparent reliance upon God's Word—may convince many who will not take a deeper look to conclude that the two schools of thought can indeed be harmonized. But before allowing yourself to be too easily persuaded, take a closer look with me.

Are We Counseling Sheep, or Comforting Goats?

The first major problem that caught my eye when reading Escaping the Matrix was the authors' complete failure to deal with the reality of false professions of faith in Christ. Absolutely no allowance was made even for the possibility that many of the people who Boyd and Larson say need counseling might actually need conversion. This error became evident on the first page where the reader is introduced to a professing Christian named Mary, a woman who describes herself as being "stuck" in a serious depression. I will address her specific case later, but using her self-description, the authors proceeded to describe other Christians who are "stuck." For example:

You may be stuck in a rage you can't control . . . You may have a compulsion to shop . . . a superiority complex, a judgmental attitude you can't shut off . . . or an addiction to pornography.

On page 25, under the heading, "Assessing Our Bondage to the Matrix," the authors ask Christians: "Do you regularly engage in behaviors that are inconsistent with your identity in Christ (e.g., addiction to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, pornography, or gambling)?" They even suggest that a true Christian might continue to exercise "overt animosity" toward people of a certain ethnic group (p. 14).

Despite the author's use of psychological terms (compulsion, complex, addiction, etc.), "a rage you can't control" is a pattern of sinful anger or outbursts of wrath (Gal. 5:20; Col. 3:8). An "addiction to pornography" is adultery or fornication (Matt. 5:28). "A compulsion to shop" or "an addiction to gambling" is covetousness or idolatry (Matt. 6:19, 1 Tim. 6:6-8; Col. 3:5; Heb. 13:5). "An addiction to alcohol" is drunkenness (1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21). A "superiority complex" or "a judgmental attitude you can't shut off," is pride (Matt. 7:1-5; Luke 18:10-14). And "overt animosity" toward another ethnic group is hatred (cf. Gal. 5:19-21; 1 John 2:9-11; 4:8). These sins can be found in Christians, to be sure. But as ongoing and unchecked patterns of thought or behavior, they characterize unbelievers—those who are "living according to the flesh" and therefore "must die" (Rom. 8:13). And the Bible is clear in saying that those who persist in these sins will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Luke 18:14; etc.). Note Paul's warning to the Corinthians:

Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10).¹

Continuing in verse 11 Paul writes:

Such were some of you [note the past tense]; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (emphasis added).

Please do not misunderstand. I am not suggesting that all sinful behavior proceeds from an unregenerate nature. True believers can, and do, stumble in these sins, sometimes in the worst ways (consider David). But Boyd and Larson are not describing people who have stumbled (meaning those who have wandered from their normally righteous pattern of living). They are describing people who continue, often for many years, in habitual sin. On pages 13-14 Boyd and Larson make this clear:

The Bible says you're more than a conqueror in Christ (Rom. 8:37). Yet after twenty years of being a Christian, you still can't control your lust. Why is that? . . . For a decade you've believed the biblical truth that you've been given a spirit of power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). Yet you still . . . lose control with anger about as often as you did before you were a Christian. What aren't you getting? . . . For as long as you can remember, you've accepted the biblical truth that you are holy and redeemed in Christ (Gal. 3:13-14; Eph. 1:4). Yet you still sin in the same areas and maybe even to the same extent as you did before. . . . What explains this? . . . Where's the transforming power of the gospel? (emphasis added)

According to Boyd and Larson, these are descriptions of redeemed people even though they continue unabated in their sins. The Bible, however, plainly and repeatedly warns us against coming to that conclusion:

By this we know that we have come to know [Christ], if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3-4).

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother (1 John 3:9-10, ESV; cf. John 14:21, 24; Rom. 8:5, 13; Titus 1:16; 1 John 3:2-3; etc.).

Affirming this, Peter instructs professing Christians to look for increasing moral excellence, self-control, godliness, etc., as the way of being assured that they are true Christians (2 Peter 1:5-10). Paul warned the Corinthians, some of whom were continuing in their sinful ways, to examine themselves to see if they were truly believers (2 Cor. 13:5). And the writer of Hebrews exhorted his readers to "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14, emphasis added). All of these warnings and instructions to professing Christians are based on the words of Christ who said:

Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matt. 7:21-23, emphasis added).

The truth is, God does not merely save His people (Matt. 1:21), He changes them. Regeneration (the new birth spoken of in John 3:3) is a radical re-creation of the nature of fallen man. While unbelievers act according to their depraved, unregenerate nature, "indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2:3), Christians have been given a new nature (Eph. 2:4-5). True Christians, therefore, are those who not only say they possess a regenerate nature (the claim of everyone who says he has been "born-again"), but who also exhibit the changed behavior that flows from their new nature. There is no place in heaven for those who are supposedly saved, but who have not been changed (John 3:3). Jonathan Edwards was accurately reflecting this biblical truth when he wrote:

They who are truly converted are new men, new creatures; new, not only within, but without; they are sanctified throughout, in spirit, soul, and body; old things are passed away, all things are become new. They have new hearts, new eyes, new ears, new tongues, new hands, new feet; i.e., a new conversation and practice; they walk in newness of life, and continue to do so to the end of life.²

Boyd and Larson's error seems to be such a blatant contradiction of basic Christian doctrine that I was disappointed (although not truly surprised) to find it so strongly affirmed in the first few pages of a "Christian" book, one written at least in part by a pastor and theologian. As I read, I hoped I would come across some sort of qualification—at least some warning that in our counseling, we might be dealing with an unbeliever. Every pastor and Christian counselor should have this possibility in the forefront of his thinking so that he can counsel appropriately, perhaps beginning by emphasizing the inseparable connection between saving faith and repentance from sin. For Boyd and Larson, however, such an admonition was deemed unnecessary and never came. Instead, the authors supported their conclusions about the commonality of Christian unholiness by paraphrasing some of the statistical findings in George Barna's book, Growing True Disciples:

In fact, research shows that there is remarkably little difference between the attitudes and behaviors of Christians and non-Christians. The way we experience ourselves and the world and the way we interact with others is basically the same as non-believers—despite the biblical truths we believe (p. 15).

Needless to say, the Bible gives a much narrower definition of the true Christian than does Barna.

¹ Unless otherwise noted, all of my Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB).

² Jonathan Edwards, On Religious Affections, quoted from The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1, (Peabody, Massachussetts, Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), 316.