Identity

Identity. In the most general terms identity refers to one’s answer to the question, Who am I? Erik Erikson, the most well-known thinker in this area, proposed that identity involves a sense of personal uniqueness and self-continuity and an identification with group ideals. Erikson (1968) described the identity development process, maintaining that it “employs a process of simultaneous reflection and observation, a process taking place on all levels of mental functioning, by which the individual judges himself in the light of what he perceives to be the way in which others judge him in comparison to themselves and to a typology significant to them; while he judges their way of judging him in the light of how he perceives himself in comparison to them and to types that have become relevant to him.… Furthermore, the process described is always changing and developing: at its best it is a process of increasing differentiation, and it becomes ever more inclusive as the individual grows aware of a widening circle of others significant to him, from the maternal person to ‘mankind’ ” (pp. 22–23).

Identity In a Christian theological context, this term refers to how individuals understand themselves in relation to God, community, and their roles in the faith.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible, 14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.

CONSISTENCY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—16 making the most of the time,, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS

4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”,

Parallel Verses: Mark 1:10 “As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.”

Luke 3:21 “When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As he was praying, heaven opened,”