"Authentic Christian"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It) Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that,\" \/>\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\/08\/authentic-christian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Authentic Christian"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It) Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Roger E. Olson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T14:53:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2017\/01\/photo-1473993702977-1706a7f23164_opt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"314\" \/>\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\/08\/authentic-christian\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Authentic Christian\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-14T14:53:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-14T14:53:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca\"},\"description\":\"Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It) Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Authentic Christian”\"}]},{\"@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_head_json":{"title":"\"Authentic Christian\"","description":"Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It) Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that,","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\/08\/authentic-christian\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Authentic Christian\"","og_description":"Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It) Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/","og_site_name":"Roger E. Olson","article_published_time":"2025-08-14T14:53:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":314,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/21\/2017\/01\/photo-1473993702977-1706a7f23164_opt.jpg","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\/08\/authentic-christian\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/","name":"\"Authentic Christian\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-08-14T14:53:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-14T14:53:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/#\/schema\/person\/84d70594b349147e27843d59d5db8cca"},"description":"Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It) Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that,","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Authentic Christian”"}]},{"@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\/12908","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=12908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":12908,"date":"2025-08-14T09:53:41","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?p=12908"},"modified":"2025-08-14T09:53:41","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T14:53:41","slug":"authentic-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/08\/authentic-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"“Authentic Christian”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Am I an \u201cAuthentic Christian?\u201d (Why I Question It)<\/p>\n

Some people get very upset when I question the authenticity of their \u201cChristianity.\u201d I understand that, but I also don\u2019t. It confuses me because I am not sure that I am authentically Christian. Let me explain.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll begin by referring to two very old Christian (church) songs from my childhood. One was \u201cI\u2019m Saved (and I Know that I Am)\u201d and the other was \u201cLord I Want to Be a Christian in My Heart.\u201d The first one well expressed my confidence that I am saved. I don\u2019t worry about that and I strictly avoid questioning others\u2019 salvation. My salvation is secure in God\u2019s hands; I am in the grip of his grace. The authenticity of my Christianity, on the other hand, is partly up to me. And because I question, wrestle with, the authenticity of my Christianity (which means \u201cChrist follower\u201d) I also sometimes question the authenticity of others\u2019 Christianity. We should all be questioning the authenticity of our own Christianity and sometimes the authenticity of others\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So there you have it. I know that\u2019s not how most American evangelical and Baptist Christians think about these words. They think \u201cIf I\u2019m saved, I am already a fulfilled, authentic Christian.\u201d I don\u2019t look at or use these words that way.<\/p>\n

Why am I confident of my salvation? Because I know that I have repented of my sinfulness and thrown myself with faith upon the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, trusting only in him and his atoning death and saving resurrection for my reconciliation with him. I renew that relationship daily through repentance and faith and trust continually in God\u2019s promise of salvation for those, including me, who trust in him alone and not in themselves.<\/p>\n

Why do I struggle with the authenticity of my Christianity? Because \u201cChristianity\u201d means \u201cfaithful Christ follower\u201d\u2014a lifestyle and pattern of being like Christ in every thought, word and deed by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. It also means being conformed to the \u201cmind of Christ.\u201d So, for me, being authentically Christian<\/em> is an aspiration, a hope, a task based on a gift. It is both gift<\/em> and task<\/em>. I am never certain that I have achieved it fully or authentically. I see other people who I\u2019m not sure have achieved it fully or authentically either but are far ahead of me in conforming themselves to the (possibly) impossible ideal of following Christ in every thought, word and deed.<\/p>\n

My prayer daily is expressed in another song: \u201cMay the mind of Christ my Savior dwell in me from day to day\u2026.\u201d I never think I have fully arrived at that place where Christ my Savior already dwells in me completely or perfectly. It is always a hope and aspiration. And if someone says to me \u201cI am already an authentic Christian\u201d I inwardly doubt it. I think it is always a hope and aspiration and not something anyone can already boast of.<\/p>\n

Even the Apostle Paul did not claim to have \u201calready arrived.\u201d For him, as for me\u2014and I suspect all of God\u2019s people\u2014being fully, authentically Christian is always at best a \u201cbecoming.\u201d \u201cLord I Want to Be a Christian in My Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or link.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"