Second blessing
A view held among orthodox Christians
The teaching that, after conversion, believers should seek a distinct experience of the Holy Spirit that brings a new level of holiness or spiritual power.
Also called: second work of grace, crisis experience
What it means
Second-blessing teaching holds that the Christian life has two stages: conversion, and a later crisis experience of the Spirit. In the Wesleyan and Holiness traditions the second blessing is entire sanctification. In classical Pentecostalism it is usually called baptism in the Holy Spirit and is understood as an empowering for witness and service, often marked by speaking in tongues.
Those who hold the view point to the book of Acts, where some believers received the Spirit after first believing, and to the experience of many Christians who testify to a later, decisive encounter with God. They see it as a call not to settle for less than God offers.
The Reformed tradition, and many other evangelicals, teach that every believer receives the Spirit at conversion and is united to Christ fully then. Later experiences of fresh filling are welcome, but they do not create a second class of Christian. The episodes in Acts are read as unique moments in the spread of the gospel to new peoples, not as a pattern for every believer.
In Scripture
Believers in Samaria received the Spirit when Peter and John laid hands on them after their baptism.
Disciples in Ephesus received the Spirit after Paul instructed and baptized them.
All believers were baptized by one Spirit into one body, which the Reformed cite against a two-stage pattern.
Believers are commanded to keep being filled with the Spirit.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Where it comes up
On this site: Sanctification
Related terms
Entire sanctificationA view held among orthodox Christians
The Wesleyan teaching that believers can, by a second work of grace, be freed from the inward bent to sin and filled with perfect love in this life.
Keswick theologyA view held among orthodox Christians
A teaching on holiness, named after conventions held at Keswick, England, which calls believers to a crisis of surrender that brings them into a higher, victorious Christian life.
ContinuationismA view held among orthodox Christians
The view that all the spiritual gifts in the New Testament, including prophecy and tongues, continue in the church until Christ returns.
Initial evidenceA view held among orthodox Christians
The classical Pentecostal teaching that speaking in tongues is the first outward sign that a believer has received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Progressive sanctificationHistoric orthodoxy
The Reformed teaching that believers grow in holiness gradually throughout life, by the Spirit through ordinary means, without reaching sinless perfection before death.