Augustine of Hippo on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Through baptism, as the ordinary means
"The sacrament of baptism is one thing, the conversion of the heart another; but that man's salvation is made complete through the two together."
THE POSITION
Baptism is the ordinary means, but sacrament and the conversion of the heart are explicitly separable in both directions — the sacrament can exist in an infant without the heart's conversion, and the thief on the cross had the heart without the sacrament. Elsewhere Augustine ties the Spirit's actual indwelling to the presence of love rather than to the rite alone, which is why this entry should not be flattened into bare baptismal regeneration.
5 He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
4 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Bishop of Hippo. The single most influential theologian in Western Christianity; both Catholic and Reformed traditions claim him. Anti-Pelagian works, the Enchiridion, and On Baptism Against the Donatists.
Cite this page
"Augustine of Hippo on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/augustine/indwelling (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/augustine/indwelling).