![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/01\/90EAD48B-67BB-49A2-B6AB-00212DE91289-300x300.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNew Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person Store.\u201d Think about it for a moment.<\/p>\n
The store (and its web site) sells tee shirts, sweatshirts and other clothes that all display the imperative \u201cBe A Good Person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Streaming past the store were hundreds of people of many kinds. I wondered what the owners of the store mean by \u201cgood person\u201d and what many of the shoppers think \u201cgood person\u201d means.<\/p>\n
My first thought was and is that \u201cgood person\u201d is a pretty vague concept. Sure, if we were to poll many of the people passing by the store or standing by it, we would find some agreement. A good person is surely someone who is kind to others. But what does that even mean?<\/p>\n
As a Christian theologian I had another thought: \u201cGood person\u201d means something else to a Christian. Or it ought to. Jesus said that only God is good. And he called his followers to die to themselves in order to gain themselves. I wonder how many of the mall walkers and shoppers think \u201cgood person\u201d means dying to self? Or that only God is perfectly good?<\/p>\n
There are two major ideas of \u201cgood person\u201d in America. (Setting aside minor ideas that exist on the fringes of society.) One is the general, secular idea that identifies a good person by his or her kindness and lawfulness. The other is the Christian idea that identifies a good person by that PLUS by his or her acknowledgement that he or she is NOT really good and that Jesus was the only really, perfectly good (human) person\u2014the model of personal goodness.<\/p>\n
The two ideas do not necessarily conflict, but the Christian idea goes beyond the secular idea.<\/p>\n
As Christians we believe that it is not possible to be a truly good person simply by being kind, nice, and law-abiding. In fact, we believe being good begins by acknowledging that we are NOT good, at least not in comparison with Jesus, but that we can approach goodness by acknowledging that and by allowing the Holy Spirit to change us into the image of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
As I contemplated the difference I thought of the late President Jimmy Carter who may or may not have been a good president. But he was a good person in both senses\u2014secular and Christian. He was a kind, caring, compassionate person AND a person who knew he was not good except by God\u2019s grace and with God\u2019s empowering presence in his life.<\/p>\n
A key difference between the common, secular idea of personal goodness and the Christian idea lies in the awareness, in the Christian idea, that no one but Jesus is good in and of himself or herself. Whatever goodness we have, the Christian knows and acknowledges, comes from God by grace. We may have a secular, culturally-defined goodness in and of ourselves, by nature or effort (or both), but the \u201cbest\u201d goodness, true goodness requires acknowledging that we are not good except by God\u2019s grace and power at work in us.<\/p>\n
*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief, on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person Store.\u201d Think about it for a moment. The store (and its web site) sells tee shirts, sweatshirts and other clothes that all display […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":11855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T13:56:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/01\/90EAD48B-67BB-49A2-B6AB-00212DE91289.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"348\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/\",\"name\":\"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-15T13:56:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-15T13:56:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\"},\"description\":\"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\",\"name\":\"Roger E. Olson\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\",\"name\":\"Roger E. Olson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Roger E. Olson\"},\"description\":\"Roger E. Olson is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University where he held the Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics and taught Christian Theology from 1999 to 2021. He is the author of over twenty book including The Story of Christian Theology and The Journey of Modern Theology (both published by InterVarsity Press).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/author\/rogereolson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d","description":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d","og_description":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/","og_site_name":"Roger E. Olson","article_published_time":"2025-01-15T13:56:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":348,"height":348,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/01\/90EAD48B-67BB-49A2-B6AB-00212DE91289.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Roger E. Olson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Roger E. Olson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/","name":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-01-15T13:56:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-15T13:56:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca"},"description":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d New Years Day I was window shopping in a large suburban mall. I saw a new store. I\u2019ve never seen it before. \u201cThe Be A Good Person","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/01\/who-is-a-good-person\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who Is A \u201cGood Person?\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/","name":"Roger E. Olson","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca","name":"Roger E. Olson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6fe30530b483e239a4ca15ef464a5902?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Roger E. Olson"},"description":"Roger E. Olson is Emeritus Professor of Christian Theology at Baylor University where he held the Foy Valentine Chair in Christian Ethics and taught Christian Theology from 1999 to 2021. He is the author of over twenty book including The Story of Christian Theology and The Journey of Modern Theology (both published by InterVarsity Press).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/author\/rogereolson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2025\/01\/90EAD48B-67BB-49A2-B6AB-00212DE91289.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n