What is Jesus’ Personality Type (MBTI)?

March 31, 2008
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For the unindoctrinated, MBTI (Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator) is a psychometric that classifies people into one of 16 profiles.  It is primarily used to help people get along better at work (along with staples like Wacky Bowling and Ropes courses).  So, what is Jesus’ MBTI type?  Does Jesus’ personality type create a subtle bias against religious leaders (or even followers) with different personality traits?

mbti.jpgIn MBTI, participants complete a 20 minute questionnaire to gauge their preferences between 4 dichotomous pairs.  MBTI is based on the premise that people tend to prefer one of each pair more than the other.  The 4 pairs are:

  • Extraverting (E) vs. Introverting (I) - this pair describes where a person gets his energy and focuses his attention.  Extraverts (E) tend to be outgoing, energized by people and the world around them.  Introverts (I) tend to be deeply involved in their inner life with a handful of intimate friends.
  • Sensing (S) vs. iNtuiting (N) – this pair describes how a person likes to gather information.  Sensers (S) like things that are concrete, realistic, practical, and experiential.  Intuitors (N) like things that are imaginative, seeing connections between things, using analogies, and understanding the big picture.
  • Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F) – this pair describes how a person makes decisions.  Thinkers (T) like to make pro and con lists, use objective means to decide, and consider facts and principles.  Feelers (F) like to make decisions based on personal values, how things impact people, and they tend to be more accepting and accomodating.
  • Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) – this scale describes whether the person prefers to operate in “information gathering” mode or “decision making” mode primarily.  Judgers (J), those with a decision making preference, tend to be more decisive, organized and planful.  Perceivers (P) like to be flexible, keep options open and live in the moment.

(Image: www.myersbriggstypeindicator.co.uk)

MBTI is regarded by various people to be as insightful as the I Ching or as meaningless as a horoscope.  Others object to MBTI as being a simplistic way to pigeonhole people.  Practitioners of MBTI often like to “type” fictional and historical characters, often with differing opinions.

So, what is Jesus’ MBTI type?  Most who’ve attempted to answer this question prefer to keep their options open, approaching Jesus as a role model or deity rather than a person.  Because all types have different “gifts” they bring to the table, Christ would have to have ALL the gifts (so their logic goes).  Therefore, He is described as being both extremes simultaneously.  Personally, that feels like a cop-out to me.  Others theorize that if all people continue to develop and grow over time, they will eventually be able to progress and use all functions of type (Source:  From Image to Likeness by W. Harold Grant, no relation to Heber J. Grant).

I’d like to believe that Jesus had an actual personality, and I’m interested in understanding the type of person Jesus was when He was on the earth living His life.  Here’s my guess, and my rationale (below):  INFP.

Introverted – where did Jesus get his energy?  Evidence for introversion:  40 days in the wilderness.  Come on–an extravert would have gone nuts with no other people around for 40 days.  I personally would have struck up a friendship with a volleyball after about 48 hours.  Jesus often retreated after being around all those people.  He also quite literally felt the energy (virtue) go out of him when he was touched in a crowd; one could say He literally found crowds to be draining.

iNtuiting – how did Jesus gather information?  This is the one with the strongest evidence, IMO.  Intuitors like to speak in analogies, and Jesus spoke almost non-stop in analogies (parables).  He frequently spoke with double meanings (“he that hath ears to hear, let him hear”), and He was visionary, having to remind disciples that He wasn’t there to save them physically but to redeem them spiritually.

Feeling – how did Jesus make decisions?  Feelers make decisions based on their personal values & how things impact people while Thinkers prefer to maker decisions using logical, objective analysis.  Personally, I feel a case could be made for either on this one.  There is not a lot of direct information about Jesus’ decision-making process in the Gospels, perhaps for a couple of reasons:  1) introverted intuitors rarely share their internal thought process with others, so there is less material to work with, and 2) Jesus doesn’t seem to go through a decision-making process much in the Gospels, and the few decisions He does make are made under extreme stress and may not be typical (e.g. atonement).

Feelers tend to be more accomodating and compassionate making compassionate exceptions for individuals, while Thinkers tend to be more critical and direct, preferring fairness and consistency.  There are examples of Jesus taking both approaches in the Gospels.  At times, Jesus is moved by compassion (e.g. loaves & fishes, calming the storm), and he makes exceptions (e.g. “neither do I condemn thee” to the woman taken in adultery); yet there are also many examples of Him being very direct and provocative (e.g. cleansing the temple, announcing “this day is this scripture fulfilled” and then continuing on in a pretty direct speech that really ticked people off); if those characteristics are more prevalent, that would make Jesus an INTP.  I let the atonement itself tip the scales in favor of considering Jesus a Feeler, and as a sinner, I’m really hoping he’s an “exceptions” decision-maker more than a “fairness” decision-maker.

Perceiving – how did Jesus approach his life?  Planned and orderly or “go with the flow”?  His ministry seems very “go with the flow” to me.  There was no time table, seemingly no schedule to their days.  There was a lot of wandering.  Also, the loaves & fishes incident smacks of a lack of planning (but just like a Perceiver, it all works out anyway!).  Jesus was nothing if not flexible in His schedule, IMO.  Ironically, many Christian churches have a much more “J” style–hierarchical, organization-focused, tightly scheduled.

Does anyone care to disagree with me and take a crack at Jesus’ MBTI?  For MBTI novices, there are many sites with easy to read descriptions of the 16 types like this one.

If these are the characteristics Christ had, does that also color our perception of the suitableness of other personality types to be religious leaders?  Let me further hypothesize that we are probably more critical of religious leaders who don’t fit this type, especially those who are outgoing or extraverted or boisterous, who are less theoretical and more hands-on.  Again, I could be totally wrong, but I would go out on a limb to suggest that Joseph Smith was an ESFP.  ESFPs are very sociable, tend to be athletic and fun-oriented, may be very charismatic, and like to live in the moment.  Not exactly a “man of sorrows” personality type.

BTW, lest I be accused of type bias, I only have one letter in common with INFP, so my assessment is not based on a belief that my way is the way, the truth, the life (literally, in this case).  I also only have one letter in common with ESFP.

  • John Nilsson

    Great post! I qualified on the MBTI a couple of years ago and interpret it for students at the university level once in a while.

    It’s tricky to identify other’s types for them, as the strength of the MBTI is self-verification. Also, while I can accept that Jesus’s human side had conceivably an MBTI type, does his divine nature have one as well? Wouldn’t God transcend the MBTI? I guess if He has a certain hair color, He could have a certain personality…

    I know a lot of INFPs who are turned off by LDS Church culture. That’s an interesting observation if you connect it with Jesus and Joseph…

    I would also say the current Church culture favors extraverted intuitive feeling judgers, but that’s my weird perspective.

  • http://mohohawaii.blogspot.com MoHoHawaii

    This is interesting. It points out the problem with considering Jesus (or any other human) as a deity. Human attributes like personality are not divine. Another way to say this is that there can be no single human exemplar because human experience is too diverse.

    • APCfan227

      Really? Because you apparently haven’t even done enough research then. Jesus was both imperfect as a man and perfect as a god. Gather information before you make judgements.

  • Just for Quix

    I would say that by the very divine characteristics that God and Jesus are EISNTFJP. :-) Otherwise how could they intimately relate to each person? The only way I think to argue otherwise is to say only people of certain personality types draw to God, and hence because God is like them. (But then, even that’s tough, because one could claim people could draw to God because He so ideally _different_ and attractive than their own self. The whole “opposites attract” thing.)

    I’ve been classified as both INTP (The Thinker) and ENTP (The Visionary) in separate professionally proctored tests. Either way, if that doesn’t explain my answer on this question, maybe so for those who know me from other threads…

  • http://www.thediaryofananarchist.com/ Stephen Wellington

    That is the wonderful this about Jesus is that he can be seen as being “all things to all people…”

    Great post Hawgrrrl….really makes one think doesnt it. I have my own ideas of what Jesus is like and I enjoy the anarchist, peacemaker, and personable interpretation of Christ’s personality.

  • Johnna Cornett

    One of the cool things about the MBTI is the idea that though a person is might be more comfortable or natural on one side or other of each of the four vectors, as we mature in adulthood we may develop skills on the other side. Frex, I think I rocked the highest “T” scores ever seen in 1994, but I’ve learned to understand and even use the “F” mode since then. Somewhat. I keep hoping.

    So, I’m going to think that, even in his humanness, Jesus was perfectly and comfortably capable in all vectors. I love how you argued from the scriptures for INFP, since I’m an INTP. But I think it reads that way because the writers of scripture tend to be those #$% ESTJ, who would be most shocked and impressed with how Christ made the opposite modes work.

  • http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com Ray

    My own response is colored by my experiences with this and other personality tests. Here goes:

    I always test almost dead-center, balanced, middle of the road on these tests. It baffles the testers – simply because of the original bias mentioned at the beginning of this post. (“the premise that people tend to prefer one of each pair more than the other.”) I really love to be with others (in person or on-line), but I also love to sit all by myself and read. I am the life of the party for half the party and sitting quietly talking with a friend or my wife the other half. I love History and English, but I am a natural mathematician and musician. I analyze everything, but often act based on my feelings and impressions. I have no problem “wasting time”, but I am doing something all the time. yada, yada, yada . . .

    I also hate these tests because of the practical application for which they often are used. Different versions (including this one) have been used on two separate occasions to deny me a job for which I was applying. Seriously, I was told that I was the leading candidate twice, but after the test results were analyzed I was told that the companies were looking for the “right personality type” – which I wasn’t. This was despite the fact that I had been extraordinarily successful in the exact arena for which they were hiring. I had proven my ability, but that ability was discounted in favor of personality type.

    Those experiences have colored the way I look at these tests and the way they are interpreted. There almost always is a conscious or unconscious bias involved whenever conclusions are reached about the practical meaning of the results. (I’m sure you recognize that, hawkgrrrl, given how you phrased your post, but I just felt it needed to be said.)

    I look at the scriptures, and I see a story in which I simply can’t classify His personality. I see someone who weighed each situation and acted accordingly – who doesn’t appear to have had a set paradigm within which He always operated. I see a real balance. Furthermore, we have such an incredibly sketchy picture of His life even during His ministry that it’s hard to have any confidence that we are getting an accurate view of His personality.

    I look at the Sermon on the Mount, and I see a blueprint for perfection (whole, finished,fully developed character) that transcends personality types. I read of His life, and I see examples of each characteristic listed there – but I also see instances where He acted outside those characteristics. Therefore, if I had to pick a personality type from this measurement, I would agree with JfQ: the whole, finished, fully developed EISNTFJP.

  • hawkgrrrl

    “I also hate these tests because of the practical application for which they often are used. Different versions (including this one) have been used on two separate occasions to deny me a job for which I was applying.” Just a quick note on this, Ray. When I qualified on MBTI in 1996, I had to sign an ethics agreement that I would not allow the instrument to be used in this manner. I’m not a litigious person by nature, but this is a clear violation of hiring ethics and the hiring company is at risk should you choose to pursue. One of the basic tenets of MBTI is that preferences don’t equate to skills, and you can do whatever you choose to do; this just tells you what you like to do. On the other hand, as a business person I would advise that being known as someone who sued a company is never a good position to be in. Just thought you should know.

  • http://mormonmd.wordpress.com Doc

    I am an INFP and that was my guess too. Does that mean I have a Messiah complex? For the record, I am not totally turned off by church culture, whatever that may mean, either.

  • http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com Ray

    hawkgrrrl, I didn’t press it for one reason: I didn’t want to work for a company that would use such a test in that way. It showed a clear shallowness of judgment and deeply entrenched CYA complex that would not have been a good fit for me.

    I also figured they’d deserve whoever they hired. *grin*

  • hawkgrrrl

    Ray – I wouldn’t want to work at such a place either! But, we like your kind just fine here.

    Doc – Being an INFP doesn’t give you a God complex, but maybe being a doctor does!

    One tenet of MBTI is that there is no type that is better than others, and you can work well with all types if you are aware and open-minded enough. The Kiersey sorter (a derivative of MBTI) tells more about the types by identifying patterns of behavior across types: SJs tend to be preservers of traditions & laws (SPs hate that), SPs like to be daring and adventurous and break the rules that they don’t like (SJs hate that), NFs tend to be idealists with causes and may be viewed as unrealistic by other types, NTs are great strategic thinkers but can also be seen as know-it-alls who make you feel seen through. I have to think McConkie was an ISTJ. I would peg Talmage as INTP.

  • John Nilsson

    Hawkgrrl,

    I am an ISTJ and am about as far as you can get from Bruce McConkie’s positions on most doctrinal issues you can name. Maybe that’s why I can relate to people like him.

  • hawkgrrrl

    Of course, as the theory goes, every ISTJ is different from every other ISTJ, and so on. I suppose my thinking on McConkie is because he wrote Mormon Doctrine with the assumption that he was just recording for everyone what they already knew was right. It was also very detail-oriented, focused on the minutae of daily living as a Mormon. It’s a very “preserving traditions” approach. But ISTJs could have different views and different traditions from one another. Plus, I could be totally wrong!

  • http://shenpawarrior.blogspot.com AdamF

    I’m also an INFP, sweet. Sometimes I’m “turned off” by church culture when I don’t see the point of it. That’s the case with a lot of traditions for me, really.

  • http://bmo-web.com Benjamin O

    I hate to do this, since everyone seems to be having so much fun, but…

    How about we speculate about a psychometrically valid personality inventory that generates useful (eg, predictive) results, such as the NEO-PI-R? Or any other Big Five inventory? Let me just say, for the record, that I do think the MBTI has its uses in certain settings, but any idiot using it as part of a selection battery deserves to have a lawsuit the size of China handed to them. It simply isn’t a predictive measure designed for looking at job performance. However there are personality measures that are, and there are personality measures, such as various iterations/adaptations of the NEO, that are equally useful for the things that the MBTI are used for.

    As a trained Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (that is, I don’t just use these tests, I develop them). My current job is developing noncognitive measures (such as personality inventories), so I’m pretty close to this sort of thing. Trust me when I say that the MBTI is not well respected among psychometricians for very valid reasons. It is used in business settings primarily because it is easy to use, understand and compare. One thing that some psychometricians are bad at is developing tests that are both psychometrically valid and easy to use and understand. That is a challenge that is supremely difficult.

    Now, as for Jesus personality type on the Big Five? There are five factors–Openness to Experience, Concientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism (or Emotional Stability, depending on how you think about it). For the sake of simplicity, we will say that these are scored from 1 to 5. Christ showed a willingness to venture outside the normal mores of his society, which is a mark of Openness to Experience. In fact most of his ministry involved breaking the centuries of prohibitions built by the Jewish traditions. So I give him a 5 on this. Christ was supremely conscientious. He never failed in his duties, was always true to his loyalties, so I give him a 5 on this. Extroversion is, as hawkgrrl noted, a bit trickier, and for similar reasons to hers, I am going to give him a more neutral score (and this is one of the reasons that the Big Five continuous scores are more psychometrically valid than the MBTI) of 3. Agreeableness is an area where I think that we can easily say that Christ was very agreeable–although there were times when his reasons and ideas were inscrutable, and his occasional righteous anger and aloofness mar this a bit. I still give him a 5. Finally, Neuroticism. We will think of this as Emotional Stability and give him a 5–he was very stable and did not have any noted or notable mood swings or difficulty controlling his emotions, even when under extreme stress.

    So that’s my take on it. Feel free to disagree. I’m not going to classify him on the MBTI as I consider it false doctrine.

  • John Nilsson

    Ben O,

    One of the strengths of the MBTI when it is used correctly is it’s description of the interplay of one’s different personality preferences and it’s avoidance of norm-setting. It seems like the metric you are using has definite norms of psychological health and adaptation to society. For instance, Extroversion and Openness to Experience are “good” things, am I right? The MBTI is only designed to be used with relatively healthy individuals, mentally speaking. Neuroticism isn’t measured by anything on the indicator. Neuroticism could be classified by type theory as perhaps “life not supporting you in your innate preferences”. That said, how can we classify Jesus, as God, as anything less than perfect on all of these metrics you list?

  • http://www.strangepulse.com Susan M

    I’m an INFP too. It’s the only personality type I’ve read much about, but from what I’ve read, it makes sense that Christ could be one. To a certain degree. I don’t know how great of leaders use INFPs make.

  • tk

    Ahhh, the old MBTI. I’ve been tested a number of times and I always fall near the center. Usually I’m the most centered in the group. My calling card is ENFP, which at times has been ISTJ (or any combination)….hence my problem I’m usually just one or two points from the center. I’m an extrovert, but I enjoy reading and meditating, I love the bigger picture but drive my husband crazy with the details. I like to logically think through concepts, but melt away with mushy shows. I like to make decisions and move on, but can take forever to find the right accessory for our furniture.

    I suspect Christ finds this humorous…trying to define him in our terms. He’s probably wondering, when will we ever grow up.

  • hawkgrrrl

    The thing we keep coming up against in this discussion (it seems to me) is the inability to separate Jesus as a person from His role. We are so subjective in our experience of Jesus because He is our advocate and our Savior, that it’s just next to impossible to imagine sitting down at a cafe with Him and sharing a diet coke or going for a “non-footprints-in-the-sand” walk along the beach with Him. This is why I like the MBTI for this exercise – there is no “good” or “bad” type – it’s just descriptive of personality.

    Even if the Savior is INFP, we should not try to become INFPs. I personally disagree with the notion of type development (that eventually we will all be all types, therefore perfect). Adaption to other “types” doesn’t mean we become that type–we just have a high degree of self-awareness and social skill (emotional intelligence, not MBTI). A Savior of any other type would still love us and redeem us.

  • http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com Ray

    hawkgrrrl, look at how Jesus himself defined “perfect”. (the beatitudes, then Matthew 5:48, footnote b) It’s not “type development”; it’s more “character acquisition”. I think the point is to transcend our “natural personality type” and develop completeness.

  • hawkgrrrl

    John 17: 3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

    There is Jesus the Man, and there is Jesus the mission (the Savior of mankind). I don’t think knowing one is automatically knowing the other. We can know him both as a person/friend and as our Savior. Knowing Him as our Savior always ends up being about us, though.

  • http://thingsofmysoul.blogspot.com Ray

    hawkgrrrl, Have you read Albert Nolan’s “Jesus Before Christianity”? It’s fairly short and straightforward. I recommend it highly.

  • hawkgrrrl

    Ray – Sounds interesting. I will give it a go. (Just ordered it – I love Amazon Prime!)

  • Gorgeous Whistler

    Nice work, hawkgrrrl. This is a very interesting post. I agree with your conclusions. It seems, however, that our church that bears His name doesn’t reflect Jesus’s personality type very well. I’ve read the book by Bridges, “The character type of Organizations.” It’s a fascinating application of Jung’s ideas (that underlie the MBTI) to organizations and their cultures. This organization feels more ESTJ. Though I understand and agree that no type is inherently good or bad, I wonder how our church migrated so far from its roots?

  • hawkgrrrl

    Gorgeous – There is a cultural bias in our country toward ESTJ, so we are all confronted with ESTJ messages throughout our lives. Introverted children are told to make friends and be outgoing. Intuitive children, until recently, were not catered to at all in the educational system; most children’s reading lists are very literal books (e.g. Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Little House on the Prairie) with very few imaginative or ambiguous stories (how many science fiction books did you read in elementary school?), and learning is presented in a very step-by-step manner. Making decisions through logical means (show your work! what steps did you follow?) is valued over Feelings decisions. And “P”s are told they need to plan ahead and start early. Yet, other cultures have different norms (ESFP in Mexico, ISFP in India). Those cultural norms cause a lot of disconnect, for example, when Americans work with Indians.

    Someone above posited that the church felt ENFJ to them, which is the classic “HR Manager” type. I’m not sure the church is ESTJ, but it’s easy to perceive it that way because: 1) ESTJs like to take charge and are outspoken, 2) ESTJs are the “preservers of tradition”, 3) SJs (all 4 SJ types) comprise 40-45% of the population and are the cultural bias in the US, and 4) ESTJs are organization-oriented (they like hierarchy and formalizing structure). The other types usually allow them to do this because they aren’t that interested in those activities. INFPs (if that is Jesus’ type) are not generally creators of organizations. They would inspire people around them to do things. I suspect most churches would characterize themselves as ESTJ with the exceptions of those that have very distinct non-mainstream dogmas (e.g. Scientology, Hare Krishna, etc.). I’ll have to keep an eye open this conference weekend to see what organizational MBTI indicators I catch.

    The other difficulty is that local wards probably differ greatly in terms of organizational type. So even if the twelve have a type bias (I think I see a few different types in there), that may play out differently in our local wards. I would probably peg Monson as an ESFJ. Uchdorff, hmmm, maybe an ENTJ. Eyring–INTJ (I think, a researcher type). Packer seems classic ESTJ. And I doubt Peter, James and John were INFPs (because INFPs aren’t as common as other types), although there is little information to go on.

  • http://www.myersbriggstypeindicator.co.uk Dan Barnfield

    Hi,

    I own and run http://www.myersbriggstypeindicator.co.uk I noticed that the image for the 4 dichotomies has been pasted on this website. Google now links to this site for my image. I would be grateful if one of two things would happen. Either the image to be removed, or for it to be credited to the website with a hyper link http://www.myersbriggstypeindicator.co.uk

    Many thanks,

    Dan

  • http://shenpawarrior.blogspot.com AdamF

    Dan (and Hawkgrrrl) – I went ahead and credited the image in the post.

    AdamF

  • http://www.articles53.info Aaron

    I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Personality Type (MBTI)? at Mormon Matters, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

  • Kim

    This was an awesome post! I can honestly say I never thought about it lol. I agree, hopefully more exceptions and less justice oriented would be great lol.

  • Joel

    As a man, let’s say Jesus was an NF of some kind. An NF is usually the kind of person to start a new religious movement, right? An NF Leader is a religious catalyst, or at least a moral catalyst in the social order–look at Gandhi (INFJ), Martin Luther King, Jr (INFJ), Joan of Arc (INFP), Martin Luther (ENFJ), or Charles Dickens (ENFP). An NF change things in the way we see the world. He/she may be a Counselor INFJ, a Teacher ENFJ, a Healer INFP, or a champion of ideals ENFP. Because most NF personalities can devote themselves to a cause, they may appear to be different personality types at different times, so it can be hard to differentiate between an NF and another type.

    But what was Jesus? He definitely wasn’t an ENFP like me, or an ENFJ, because he got his energy from inside, which makes me think he was an INTROVERT. We all agree on that, so far.

    So was he an INFP like many people have discussed, or an INFJ? This is the tricky part. I am no scholar, but I have two reasons to say he was an INFJ. First, he spoke, and did not write, as far as we know. If he were an INFP, he would have written, that is for sure. Luke was a GREAT writer, and I think he was the INFP writer that Jesus needed to beautifully capture him in writing. Yet INFJs are typically more comfortable with speaking and teaching than INFPs, and the verbal style fits the Gospel Jesus a little better. Second, like a well-developed INFJ, Jesus could read peoples’ thoughts, not just occasionally. This is not necessarily a product of his Godhood, but rather it is a spiritual gift that is commonly found in a well-developed INFJ. No other type can read minds like an INFJ. I think that mind-reading was the spiritual gift most obvious in the character of Jesus. It may be laughed at or scoffed at, but I believe many an INFJ can read thoughts, much like Jesus did. Of course I have a cousin who is an INFJ, so my viewpoint is informed by that relationship.

    I consider Jesus a J. If you read the Gospels, you might see yourself in Jesus, and that is good. Yet Jesus was not necessarily “all types at once.” I don’t think so.
    As for those who say he was a “P” because he would commonly “go with the flow,” I respond that if you read the profile of an INFJ, you realize that they can seem like a P, because they too can seem very whimsical. They aren’t rigid in their plans and schedules like other “J” types, perhaps because they are constantly following the mystical intuition inside of them, which can be rather difficult to understand and seem random at times.

    I’m not sure, but INFJ is certainly just as good a guess as any.

  • http://www.accelerate.uk.com Graham

    I enjoyed reading this post and I often theorise as to the profile of various individuals with a number of the profiles that I carry out. In principle I agree with your INFP theory which is as good as any, although the MBTI is not a psychometric which would be harder to predict in any case.

    As you would expect someone with this profile to share their insights, vision and intuition with the world (Extraverted Intuition)and be primarily driven by their belief and feelings (Introveted Feeling)I think it fits the bill quite accurately as much as you can with just 16 types.

    Graham Price
    http://www.accelerate.uk.com/myers_briggs_type_indicator.html

  • http://www.psychologyfitness.com/ Amanda

    I am an ENFJ. Now that I’ve gotten the introductions out of the way, I will posit my position on this debate: I believe Jesus and God are XXXX types. Maybe Jesus was not to this point when he was on the earth, but I must scratch my head. Jesus was perfect when living his earth life. Regardless, I believe that we are all born with our temperament and this has a lot to do with God given gifts that can be developed. Our personality type is our building block that one must refine/grow to build the kingdom.
    I have noticed that my patriarchal blessing contains several bits of information that correspond very well with my ENFJ type profile that would not fit other MBTI types. This logic (if it can be called logic) especially follows my additional personal revelation about my patriarchal blessing. I believe that the eventual goal is to have all strengths and to pretty much immediately know in a given situation all avenues about how different outcomes will affect and impact people/history/basically everything, with the foresight of the iNtuitive type and the realism and practicality of the Sensing type, for example. I do not believe that mixed types are closer to their god form than other types as a rule: for example, an EXFP is more Christ-centered or righteous or godlike than an ESFP, or an EXTX is even more godlike. I think that Godlike is definable as it is, omnipotent, all seeing, all knowing, and I am sure that our language does not have words to accurately explain this definition thoroughly.
    Carl Jung’s cognitive processes (which have been referred to already in this thread, and of which I am extremely fond) further explain the larger differences between types, such as why INFP and INFJ are so different (*see below), as well as describe dominant, auxiliary, and so forth processes. I believe that for God, all processes are his dominant processes, and he infinitely knows/ can discern which processes are more relevant or take precedent, even in an expansive view while looking at a variety of interconnected events/situations/etc. I am sure that God is not bored, though, and can find challenging things to do that are variable and fascinating. We just cannot comprehend such things.
    *INFP: Introverted Feeling, Extroverted iNtuiting, Introverted Sensing, Extroverted Thinking
    INFJ: Introverted iNtuiting, Extroverted Feeling, Introverted Thinking, Extroverted Sensing

  • Meagen J

    Joseph Smith: ENFP. ENFPs are the champions of causes. Heavenly Father needed to have someone to champion that cause of the Gospel.
    ESFPs are so frivolous sometimes (I as an INFP say that). Joseph felt things deeply. His sorrows were deep; his care was intense. NF.
    Also, he wasn’t locked in reality. He wasn’t “down-to-earth” as is often used to describe Ss.
    -shrug-

  • hawkgrrrl

    Meagen – you make some good points about JS – I think he may be on the cusp between N and S, or possibly too much information has been lost through time. On the N side, he clearly had a strategic vision, and was often lost or caught up in his deep feelings. On the S side, though, he was also very practical minded, tending quickly to people’s physical needs, very good in a crisis, etc. At times he exhibits both the hands-on of an S and the over-delegation of an N. I do have to say, though, that he does seem occasionally frivolous or directionless (Zion’s Camp comes to mind), but that may not be his defining characteristic. Good points! Thanks for commenting.

  • Jonathan Pressley

    Actually he was an INTP. Don’t confuse his caring for others as not being a thinker. Consider what he was doing during his preaching outlining a new ideology on how to worship God. This is more thinking. INTPs are called the Architect and he outlined through his teachings a new theology. Similar to Einstein and Issac Newton’s outlining new views of the universe through their ideas. Here is a listing of INTP traits that he exhibited

    Profile by Sandra Krebs Hirsch and Jean Kummerow

    They are full of questions, sometimes voiced, most often not. INTP children often challenge and even stump their elders – Luke 2:41-50

    Profile by Paul James

    central goal of the INTP: to understand and seek truth, This is his Mission; to be the provider of clarity, Finally, the dominant Ti function means that the INTP takes his interests and beliefs very seriously, The INTP’s serious nature also makes them almost immune to mockery and being made fun of, penetrate deep into the understanding of a subject, INTPs have a very strong requirement to keep their external, social world as simple and as uncluttered as they can so that they can focus as much energy as possible on their internal world-Matt. 8:20.

    He was definitely an INTP his feeling was just more developed than most if not all INTP’s

  • David

    From a fellow INFP:

    Regardless of Jesus’ personality type, I believe God is out to shape our -character-, not to change our personality. God can and does love and use people in His kingdom from all the personality types (it is certain He loves diversity). To put Jesus into a box is a slippery slope…He just might surprise -you- as He did with the religious leaders and people of the first century. He caused the paradigm shift of the world in the span of a three year ministry. Was it a flashy personality or His character?

  • Jonathan

    The MBTI should have no place in the Christian realm. Jung practiced occultism and necromancy, yet rejected religion as mythology. Here are some links that support this notion. There is enough humanism in the world. We don’t need it in the church. We should stand for something different.

    http://www.psychologydebunked.com/email0408_MBTI.htm

    http://workhelp.org/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=3676

  • Jonathan

    When my wife’s Christian school wanted to use te MBTI to test all the teachers, my wife did the research. She successfully had the MBTI thrown out of use. Once she pointed out the problems, the turnaround was easy. And it turns out that many other teachers didn’t want to take it either, but were reluctant to speak up.

    Christian schools need to be fundamentally different from public schools. Otherwise, why should parents pay them money? Christian schools need to be salt and light to the world. It’s not about being able to pray in school and have nativity plays for Christmas. It’s much, much more than that.

  • -q

    A few years ago I attempted the same analysis of Jesus’ personality, and thought Him to be more of and inTp, but I see the case for either. It is written that if any man hath seen me he hath seen the father. Basically He is saying they are the same in character. So now we have a ton of additional information to analayse- the personality of The Father. This will help further reveal what Jesus’ personality is like. Thanks for the hard work in publishing your research. God bless!

  • dieserotefrosch

    I beg to disagree with the “EISNTFJP” concept. If that was the case, all people will be EISNTFJP. In MBTI, we are talking of the dominant attributes, for we had our own degree if introversion and extroversion (in few instances, you might scored 100% introverted, but not the case when you’re with a few, trusted companions whom you’re comfortable talking with, but not with the people whom you don’t know well).

    As an NF, I am able to portray another character according to need. In my case, my MBTI varies according to my mood. When I’m currently having a debate, I scored INTJ. When I feel depressed and down, I scored INTP. When I feel happy together with the person I loved, I scored INFJ. But it’s wrong for me to be an INTFPJ. Especially for NFs, we had the quest of searching for self, to “be himself” and “somebody”. My complex character was just a characteristic of being an INFP, but it doesn’t mean that if I am able to portray as another character I became EISNTFJP. That’s why we should not judge someone else’ MBTI especially if we are not trained to administer this test. MBTI is not a tool to stereotype someone as one of the 16 types.

    Yes, I am an INFP, but I still had many differences with Jesus, especially when I’m still in the process in searching myself and still in a constant state of doubt I myself hated.

  • Mitekle

    right on! u know jesus well!

  • Darius

    I love that Jesus would be 1 letter type away from me (ENFP) but wasn’t Jesus also talking to god in the woods? God is pretty intresting so idk just puting out he might be Enfp lol. I would love to claim him =)

  • Guest

    He’s not a P. He went and lived life according to his father’s plan. He organized his own ministry. Christ’s principles were based around living in heaven, ergo not in the moment. Christ is a J. Full type: INFJ (though very likely an E.)

  • INFP

    So… I hate to say it, but I don’t think we can ever truly pinpoint Jesus’ personality type. I say this because, even though Jesus was a human being that roamed the Earth, he also allowed God the father to use him and speak through him. God created all people in His image; and so God is both extremes, and I believe that while Jesus may have had a certain personality type, we’ll never really know what it was because God the father so heavily influenced Jesus’ actions, that anything is possible.
    It is possible that Jesus could have been an extravert, as he was so willing to preach to 5,000 for hours on end and to eat with them even when his disciples were exhausted. But he spent a great deal of alone time too, so he could just as easily be an introvert. I think both are reflections of God’s character and what God the father was doing in His son’s life. Jesus was never really alone; he was always with his father!!!
    We also may never know whether Jesus was sensing or intuitive. We don’t know 1) how much God the father revealed Himself to Jesus in concrete ways (so we don’t know how sensing or intuitive Jesus’ faith in his father is), or 2) how many of his parables were related to actual things he had seen or done. For all we know, God the father could’ve revealed parables to Jesus in very concrete ways, or Jesus used parables because he was sensing and the stories helped provide more concrete ways of explaining what it means to have a more abstract relationship with God. Maybe the parables helped Jesus in his own relationship with God, because he needed more concrete examples. We don’t know. He could have just as easily been intuitive, and simply just trusted God and let God share the parables through him.
    Thinking or Feeling- absolutely both!! Jesus was very clever with his responses to people, and yet he was full of compassion and was often moved by that. You can tell from scriptures that Jesus had spent a lot of time with God in deciding answers to things, i.e. “what is the most important commandment?” Jesus knew to ask what the law said. He was very articulate, though he also showed great emotion. Again, it’s hard to tell how much of that is God speaking through Jesus.
    Judging or Perceiving: To the naked eye, Jesus’ schedule… didn’t really exist. It was a very ‘go-with-the-flow’ ministry. But when you think about it: how well was Jesus aware of the plans that his father had for him? Though one could argue that Jesus didn’t make his own plans, he seemed to be very set on the plan that God had put in front of him. How soon before Jesus approached the woman at the well in Samaria (John 4) did he know he would deliberately be going through her town when, according to maps, he could have taken another route that avoided the Samaritan community altogether? Sounds like there was a plan behind that. Who knows how much of what Jesus did and where he went was planned? Only God really knows.

  • Michellerfell

    I’m another who thinks Jesus’ personality would have scored a perfectly balanced capacity of EISNTFJP, functioning as needed and by the Father’s leading in each situation. I’m also wondering if personality tests may simply describe the natural strengths and weaknesses of our fallen nature, hopefully helping us see our specific need for a new spiritual nature, created to be like Christ – a whole, balanced, and complete resemblance of the Father. It seems the tests may simply show us the areas that have yet to be redeemed in us, until the fullness of God’s perfection and glory fill us one day, when every last bit of hindering sin and shortcoming of the flesh is completely blown away by the fullness of His indwelling glory. Through Jesus’ constant reliance on and spiritual oneness with the Father, He is the only perfect example of one constantly bypassing the flesh in its fallen state (including natural personality strengths and weaknesses I think) in order for the fullness of God to be seen in him instead. 
    “He who finds his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  

  • Tammy

    I totally agree with your findings and conclusions however there is a huge misunderstanding I would like to put in proper perspective.

    You said, “If these are the characteristics Christ had,”  

    Issue = “had”. Jesus knew he was the Christ and taught people in a Way that the seed of thought concerning “Christ” is Spiritually planted in the garden of the listeners’ mind. He knew the day was coming that this seed would soon take root, break ground, bloom and be harvested. Never did Jesus speak of Christ as past tense in fact it was the opposite.    

    “… does that also color our perception of the suitableness of other personality types to be religious leaders? Let me further hypothesize that we are probably more critical of religious leaders who don’t fit this type, especially those who are outgoing or extraverted or boisterous, who are less theoretical and more hands-on.”

    The seed of thought Jesus planted concerning His Christed Nature has taken root and has broken through ground in the consciousness of every man and every woman and every child. We are Christ…Jesus is Christ…We are One. The harvest is soon to arrive and every man is preparing regardless of his ego’s awareness. Because this awakening is happening in deep consciousness and followed by the mind…many men find low tolerance for teachings that are not weeding their garden with forgiveness and watering their garden with Spiritual Truths. This awakening has been all of our lifetimes so we do not recognize it for what it Is….. :)

    Good work! You are Right On.

  • Zylesie

    Haha nice. I am INFP and always wondered what Jesus might be..

    As far as the P goes, I am slightly unsure, because I see both P and J aspects of Jesus.. He reflects perfectly his Father, who is “a God not of disorder, but of peace,” (1Co 14:33, New World Translation).

    That’s not to say he was entirely organized and orderly. Maybe God’s idea of order is more like the Perceivers’ idea of order, but nonetheless..

    Really, I don’t know. I can definitely see him as a Perceiver, but perhaps a very balanced P/J..?

    Just my thoughts.

  • Denode8

    I see that I’m the only one that cared to solve your little riddle ENTJ.

    Intresting analysis, though a bit shallow. You seem to have oversimplified the matter of Jesus’s P/J preferance.

    Embrace extraordinarity: denode8@gmail:disqus .com

  • Gillprestwood

    Get on with life, trust in God,  do what is correct, do not hurt anyone  and wait until God in his wisdom, judge us  when we  have finished or last breath. So why should we judge anyone, in our ignorance, until we have known them for a life time or walked in their shoes for a life time.. Let God put his arm arround our shoulder and his hand over our mouth. but leave our ears and eyes open, to learn and teach others who may go astray,… in a very caring way. God bless us all.  

  • Glenevan

    Those are good points. Jesus Christ came into this life as a man. He had to overcome the natural man just like any one, I think He had to depend of Heavenly Father to overcome the weakness of the flesh and He always succeeded. Jesus the Christ discusses his need to have faith that He was really the Messiah. We all have the potential to become like Jesus. I see personality types in the prophets and apostles and they are all great men who accomplish great things in different ways. A personality is part of what makes us different than animals who don’t have the degree of agency that we have. Will we still have personalities as we perfect ourselves? Will we be perfect ESTJs or INFJs?  Regardless of what Jesus became, he probably started life as a man with a personality. My guess is INFP.