The dispute over Spirit-baptism is a serious one among believers who share the gospel, turning on the right reading of Pentecost and of Paul. The Pentecostal tradition, born in the early twentieth century, teaches a baptism of the Spirit distinct from and subsequent to conversion—a second blessing that empowers for service and is evidenced by speaking in tongues. This reading draws on the narrative of Acts, where the Spirit’s coming sometimes appears subsequent to belief and is accompanied by tongues. The intent is often devout: to recover the Spirit’s power in a church grown cold.

The Reformed objection is that this construction erects a two-tier Christianity, dividing the church into Spirit-baptized “haves” and ordinary “have-nots,” and makes a particular gift the badge of a higher spirituality—contrary to Paul, who teaches that all believers are baptized by one Spirit into one body, and that not all speak with tongues. The transitional events of Acts, where the Spirit fell in stages as the gospel crossed from Jew to Samaritan to Gentile, mark the unique founding of the church, not a normative pattern for every believer’s experience thereafter. The genuine truth the Pentecostals reach for—that believers may and should be repeatedly filled with the Spirit for power and holiness—is better named the filling of the Spirit, distinct from the once-for-all baptism that unites every Christian to Christ. To confuse the two is to fracture the body and to burden the saints with a quest for an experience the gospel says they already possess.