The Enneagram and The 3 Paths of Discipleship for Personality

How can a psychological tool like the enneagram help us understand discipleship better? What are the three paths of discipleship for our personality?

by Jesse Eubanks

In the 1st century, the disciples (talmid) of a teacher (rabbi) would seek to be like their teacher, to become what the teacher was. They did not just learn from his teaching. They adopted his lifestyle and imitated him in every way. One translation of Luke 6:40 tells us, “A talmid is not above his rabbi; but each one, when he is fully trained, will be like his rabbi.” To be a disciple of Jesus is to be formed into his likeness, to walk in the life and lifestyle of Jesus. We seek to become like our rabbi. 

Discipling Your Personality

The enneagram explores our relationship with our thoughts, feelings and actions. The head triad reveals the way our emotions drive us, the head triad reveals the way our thoughts drive us and the body triad reveals the way our gut instincts and embodied experiences drive us.

What would it mean for our thoughts, actions and feelings to become more like those of Jesus?

Theologians use the words orthodoxy, orthopraxy and orthopathy to describe this pursuit.

To think like Jesus, we pursue right thinking (orthodoxy).

To live like Jesus, we pursue right actions (orthopraxy).

To attach like Jesus, we pursue right affections (orthopathy).

To deny one of these is to live a lopsided life. 

So often, we believe that orthodoxy (right thinking) alone will lead us to orthopraxy (right action). We often ignore orthopathy (right affections) altogether.

However, as my friend Leandro says, “The devil’s problem is not that he’s not thinking adequately. The problem is that he loves the wrong thing.” He says that any sin you can think of is, at its core, disordered affection. (It should not surprise us that motion and emotion both stem from the same Latin root. Our actions and our emotions are intertwined.) 

We must cultivate emotions, thoughts and actions that resemble Jesus. 

How can you pursue orthodoxy (right thinking), orthopraxy (right action) and orthopathy (right affection)?

It begins with waking up to the reality of how your personality is skewing your reality and your relationships.

As Jesus calls you to a new way of life, he calls you to produce virtue. Developing virtues comes by persistence, intentionality and the Holy Spirit. It will require the support and grace of friends. Some days, you will feel like an infant taking your first steps. Developing the Virtue for your Type will likely not come easy. It will be like swimming against the current. Becoming virtuous will require you to fight with your False Self and challenge it often. It will require the development of spiritual disciplines and confronting your own slanted way of seeing the world.

Remember, the Apostle Paul calls it the Fruit of the Spirit, not the Chia Pet of the Spirit. This is because fruit takes time to grow and requires intentional care. Developing a virtue does not happen overnight as we sleep. Be patient and be persistent. As you stumble along the way, you will fall. But grace will catch you.

Your idols have asked you to sacrifice far more than they ever gave you. Jesus sacrificed himself to give you far more than he asks of you. As you uncover hard truths about yourself, don’t lose hope. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) Jesus did not come to eradicate you. He came to set you free.

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