This is the start of my newest piece for RELEVANT Magazine.
The Enneagram—a personality assessment tool—has gotten a lot of press lately. People are interested in it; they’re taking online tests, listening to podcasts and buying books (For example, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, released at the end of 2016 and sold over 100,000 copies in just a little over a year).
The enneagram is based on a numbering system—one through nine—and your number helps to uncover your unique personality traits. No system is perfect, but here at RELEVANT, we thought it would be fun to comb through the Bible and try to determine where some of our spiritual ancestors might land on the enneagram—and determine our biblical doppelgangers that way.
What's your Biblical #Enneagram doppleganger? Share on X1: THE REFORMER
You’re strong-willed and justice-oriented, and you’re willing to make a stand for what you care about.
Your doppelganger is the Apostle Paul, who turned from being a (literal) judgmental Pharisee (judgment is an achilles heel of this personality type) to being a man willing to suffer extremely for the cause of Christ.
2: THE HELPER
“Service” is your middle name; you love giving to others and, as long as you’re healthy, don’t need attention to do so. (If you’re unhealthy, you’re probably looking for affirmation from others when you serve.)
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is your doppelganger—willing to serve God at a large cost to herself but to the ultimate glory of God. Some think John the Apostle is also a 2.
3: THE ACHIEVER
You’re driven and success-oriented, sometimes to the point of caring more about how you appear to others than you should. But you’re faithful and focused—a lot like Moses.
Although he cared too much about how he looked to others (see Numbers 20:8-13), he ultimately obeyed the Lord and led his people well. Jacob may also be a 3.
4: THE INDIVIDUALIST
You feel deeply and emotions are central to your experience—as is being unique. King David could be your enneagram doppelganger—a man after God’s heart who expressed his feelings openly and wholeheartedly to God in the book of Psalms. Like him, work to focus your attention back on the Lord when you feel tempted to focus on yourself and your pains above anything else.
Read the rest of the numbers–and article–here, at RELEVANT Magazine!
Share your thoughts!