Imagine that Jesus had the chance to take a modern personality inventory. What would the results look like? It’s a fascinating question. In fact, I always wondered what would be the personality of Jesus Christ? I mean, what was he really like as a son, neighbor, friend and teacher? As Christmas is almost just around the corner, I am reminded of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After all, He’s the reason for the season. The four Gospels show us a clear picture of how he acted and reacted in a number of different situations. As a Myers- Briggs (MBTI) aficionado, I couldn’t help but wonder what were his type preferences.
The MBTI Matrix
Of course, it’d be virtually impossible to know for sure since we can’t ask him how he gets energy (E or I), how he processed information (S or N) and how he made decisions (F or T), or how we oriented himself to the outer world (P or J).
Regardless, I made an attempt to look at the Gospels and identify certain cluesfor an MBTI type from a number of situations as to what his personality preferences might have been.
Extraversion or Introversion
Let’s start with the first letter in MBTI. Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I). An extravert is someone who gets energy from the outer world and is active, outgoing, and focused on people and things. Consider them the solar panels, constantly needing external source for recharge. Contrast that with introverts. An introvert gets energy in his or her inner world and is reflective, focused on thoughts and concepts. These people process internally, thinking before they speak. Consider them the smart phones, where they are recharged through being plugged in.
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While Jesus can be seeing as outgoing, sociable and focused on people, all characteristics of a preference for extraversion, verses like Mark 1:35 demonstrate more introversion. It says, “In the morning, a great while before day he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.”This was after a busy day in which he shared the gospel in the synagogues and healed people. Again in Mark 6:46 it says, “And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.”
I believe that Jesus needed this time alone, not only to communicate with God but also to energize himself, either to prepare for what was to come, as in 1:35, or to immediately recharge himself after time with others, as in 6:46. I also believe he understood life before living it and had his thoughts fully formed before he spoke. These are all hallmarks of Introversion.
As it relates to the MBTI, I’d say Jesus is more of an introvert (I).
MBTI: Sensing or Intuition
The second letter is either Sensing (S) or Intuition (N). This is how people process information. Sensors make up 70 percent of the American population. They are realists who focus more on the present and past than the future and focus on factual and concrete information. In other words, they tend to see the trees rather than the forest. Contrast this with Intuitives. Intuitives focus on the why, the vision, the future possibilities. They have a propensity to see patterns, associations, and connections between facts. In other words, they tend to see the forest rather than the trees. Intuitives make up only 30% of the population.
