If you listen to certain Charismatic teachers, you will get the impression that the exact events of Pentecost are supposed to happen to every Christian at some point in their life.

They may not teach that every believer will speak in tongues and prophesy, but they claim that a “second blessing” or “second work of the Spirit” can occur to a Christian at some point after conversion—often called the “baptism in the Spirit.”

R. C. Sproul addresses this notion head-on in his sermon “Undervaluing Pentecost” from the Strange Fire conference:

One of the most significant aspects of the emerging Charismatic theology was the idea that it is normal or even normative for people to have what is understood as the baptism of the Holy Spirit after their conversion. It is admitted that some people can have conversion or regeneration simultaneously with the so-called second blessing, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But in the main, the usual, normal process is understood to have some kind of time differential between conversion or regeneration and the receiving of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Charismatics construct this doctrine on the events of Pentecost and the subsequent “mini-Pentecosts” (Acts 2:1–13; 8:14–17; 10:34–48; 19:1–7). Sproul summarizes, “Pentecost fell upon people who had been believers and now are receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And so you can see how some of our Pentecostal friends would draw from this text the idea that it’s normal to believe first and then receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”

So, on face value, it appears that conversion and the baptism of the Spirit can occur with a temporal gap between them.

Against this interpretation, Sproul argues Pentecost should be understood in terms of historia salutis (history of salvation) instead of ordo salutis (order of salvation). Ordo salutis refers to the logical and chronological ordering of the different aspects of salvation in the individual Christian (election, then regeneration, then faith, etc.). Historia salutis concerns God’s activity in history to accomplish salvation (incarnation, resurrection, ascension, etc.). To pose it as a question: Is Pentecost a matter of personal history or redemptive history?

To answer this question, Sproul examines all four iterations of Pentecost in Acts—to the Jews (2:1–13), Samaritans (8:14–17), God-fearers (10:34–48), and Gentiles (19:1–7)—and their significance in redemptive history.

He concludes that Pentecost should be understood as an unrepeatable, era-shifting event on the redemptive-historical timeline rather than a personal experience that some believers have and others do not.

If this is true, then the baptism of the Spirit experienced by believers on the Day of Pentecost did not signify a second work of the Spirit, but the normal work of the Spirit for everyone living this side of Pentecost. After all, the point of Joel’s prophecy is that the Spirit is now poured out on the whole church, not select believers.

To understand the place of Pentecost in the timeline of Scripture and value it appropriately, listen to R. C. Sproul’s message “Undervaluing Pentecost.”

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