在〈使徒保羅與西方的內省良心〉一文中，施滕達爾認為，保羅在皈依前和皈依後都有著「剛強的良心」，路德卻依從自己的信仰經歷將之錯誤解讀為「受折磨的良心」，而這一解釋進路可以追溯到奧古斯丁。本文則試圖論證，相較於從古希臘到希臘化時期的良心學說，奧古斯丁轉換了保羅因信稱義學說的教義主旨，在西方思想史上的確首次發明了內省良心，並將之劃分為兩個階段。前者是指，在恩典先行臨在之後和皈依完成之前，內在心靈經歷著善、惡意志的持續衝突；後者是指，在皈依之後，內在心靈在預定的總體確定與救贖的個體不確定之間反而經受著更深層的折磨。我們可以看到，這一內省良心理論參與塑造了西方基督徒深刻的「罪感」意識。

In the article “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West,” Krister Stendahl argues that Paul always has a “robust conscience” before and after his conversion, but Martin Luther in accordance with his own religious experience misinterprets it as a “plagued conscience,” and this misinterpretation can be traced back even to Augustine. This paper attempts to clarify that debate and examine in the context of the ancient Greek and Hellenistic theory of conscience how Augustine transforms the core of Paul's doctrine of justification by faith and consequently invents the concept of introspective conscience in the western intellectual history. Augustine divides this conscience into two stages. The former refers to a period after the descent of grace but before the conversion of a believer. The latter refers to Paul's post-conversion. He interprets that, in the former period, the inner self experiences a continuous spiritual conflict between good will and evil will; however, in the latter period, the inner self experiences a much deeper spiritual struggle because of a certainty of God's plan of predestination but an uncertainty of salvation for each individual. We can see that the concept of introspective conscience has shaped the deep consciousness of sin for many Western Christians.