John Chrysostom on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Through baptism, as the ordinary means
For to me who am a believer, he that hath the Spirit is manifest from his having been baptized: but to the unbeliever this will in no wise be manifest, except from the miracles.
THE POSITION
The Spirit comes at the font, and he treats that as settled enough to argue from. Asked how anyone can now tell that a person has the Spirit, given that the sign-gifts have stopped, his answer is that for a believer the fact of baptism is itself the evidence. He describes the moment in the same terms — the Spirit "falling like fire into our souls," burning up the image of the earthy and producing the image of the heavenly.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
4 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Archbishop of Constantinople and the most prolific preacher of the patristic era — the largest surviving body of Greek expository preaching is his. This entry rests on the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translations of his homilies on Romans, 1 Corinthians, John, Hebrews and 2 Thessalonians, together with the Instructions to Catechumens.
Cite this page
"John Chrysostom on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/chrysostom/indwelling (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/chrysostom/indwelling).