Westminster Confession on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
At regeneration, which precedes and causes faith
This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
THE POSITION
The Confession fixes the order rather than the moment. WCF 10.2 makes the person 'altogether passive' in effectual calling until quickened and renewed by the Spirit, and only then 'enabled to answer this call' - regeneration precedes and produces faith rather than following it. WCF 13.1 then locates the Spirit's dwelling in those already 'effectually called and regenerated', sanctified 'by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them'. Put together, the indwelling belongs to the regenerate as such, which is what this stance claims.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
9 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
The confessional standard of English-speaking Presbyterianism, completed by the Westminster Assembly in 1646 and adopted with its Scripture proofs. This entry rests on the 1646 text from the manuscript of Cornelius Burges as edited by S. W. Carruthers (1937) for chapters 1-24, and on the 1647 text for chapters 25-33; the Assembly's own proof texts attached to each paragraph supply every reference below.
Cite this page
"Westminster Confession on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/westminster/indwelling (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/westminster/indwelling).