Charles Grandison Finney on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

None of the stances fits without misdescribing the figure

Every listed stance was tested against the sources, and each asserts something the figure does not. The reasoning is recorded in full, and it is the content.

THE POSITION

No listed stance fits. He does answer the question, and his answer is that the promised Spirit comes after conversion. "After we believe we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise," and this blessing "is to be received by faith", by believers, and there are "thousands of Christians who have not received the promises on account of their ignorance and unbelief." What they lack is "that measure of the Holy Spirit which constitutes the New Covenant, and produces the entire sanctification of the soul." A reception subsequent to saving faith is not at regeneration, not at the moment of saving faith, and not tied to baptism. This rests on a single 1839 article. See PROPOSALS in the research folder.

WHAT OTHERS HOLD HERE

ABOUT THIS FIGURE

Law student turned revivalist of the Second Great Awakening, licensed and ordained by a Presbyterian presbytery in 1824, later professor of theology and president at Oberlin College. His Lectures on Revivals of Religion argued that a revival is the right use of means and not a miracle. His Systematic Theology built a doctrine of salvation on moral government and on the sinner's natural ability, and denied original sin as a sinful nature, imputed righteousness, and that the atonement paid what sinners owed. This entry rests on that Systematic Theology (1878 edition), the Revival Lectures, one chapter of the Memoirs, three Oberlin Evangelist pieces and one letter.