In light Jeremy’s post today I would like to discuss this issue with some seriousness. I pose a simple question: What is the correlation between a person’s PERSONALITY and his or her SPIRITUAL GIFT?
(A) There is no real correlation.
(B) There appears to be some correlation. But there are too many counter-examples to create a rule of thumb.
(C) There is a correlation as a rule of thumb, with some notable exceptions.
(D) There is a clear and strong correlation. Most of the time you can determine a person’s spiritual gift, if you know their personality.
I have taken numerous “spiritual gifts tests” over the years. I feel that most of them consciously or unconsciously assume some correlation. This discussion is important because when someone is being discipled we inevitably want them to find and use their “gift.” But how you answer the above question greatly influences that discovery process. How does one discover their gifts? How are the gifts recognized within a local body? Why does Paul exhort us all to desire the greater gifts? I appreciate everyone’s comments on this subject.
November 24, 2008 at 7:34 pm |
Answer: (A). Actually, I would like to think the question is self answering. Everybody has a personality profile, regenerate or not. The fact that we can administer one of these “spiritual gifts” tests to an unregenerate person and “discern” that they have a supposed gift of prophecy ought to be enough to tell us something is woefully amiss.
Heb. 2:4 tells us a personal God distributes “gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will.” Not according to your Myers-Briggs type.
Good post.
December 3, 2008 at 1:18 am |
I agree with Jonathan. Spiritual gifts are supernatural abilities given to people. That being said, Eph 4 is not talking about gifts to people, but people given as gifts to the church. A more appropriate question to Jeremy’s sorter is:
Is there a relationship between personality type and the four-fold ministry described in Eph 4? Since Paul was a “Pharisee’s Pharisee”, didn’t God help direct his vigorous personality towards the advancement of the Kingdom?
December 8, 2008 at 10:31 am |
I see personality as a part of the hardware of a person’s life and of course no one would deny certain hardware is required for various callings. For example an Apostle who is focused on details he can’t see the big picture would hardly be able to architect church structures or a teacher who struggles reading, studying and thinking would find it difficult for finding the meaning of the text etc. So here are some MBTI correlations I’ve noticed (so far 100% of the time) but I’m sure there are exceptions –
Apostles are typically HUGE N’s (Intuitive)
Evangelists are typically E’s (Extroverts)
Prophets are typically F’s (Feelers)
Teachers are typically T’s (Thinkers)
Pastors are typically SF’s (Sensing Feelers)
I don’t think you can determine 5-fold gift by MBTI type but certain personalities and temperaments can be very helpful hardware for assisting in one’s calling.