Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit an additional work or experience after conversion?

** extract from assignment I handed in yesterday

Philip Yancey when asked to give a definition of grace, replied;

Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more – no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries and divinity schools, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less – no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possible love.

This pastoral application of grace in response to God’s love gives the impression that the initial work of grace through Jesus is enough. The perception that baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second work affects the completeness of God’s grace in his work through Jesus Christ. To determine the Spirit baptism as a subsequent work of sanctification is to try and find a way to ‘make God love us more’ by being ‘more holy’, or ‘perfect in love’. To say that it is a second work of empowerment is to demote Jesus’ work of redemption to only introductory, and the Spirit’s following work as definitive to salvation.

Schwertley agrees stating;

If one… makes Spirit-baptism an addendum to the work of Christ or some kind of spiritual bonus for elite Christians, one must logically assert one of two unbiblical ideas. One can argue that Jesus did not achieve a perfect redemption and therefore the Holy Spirit must come and finish what the Lord left unfinished… [or that] Spirit-baptism is based in part on human merit… Spirit-baptism comes only to those who have correct knowledge or seek the baptism in a proper way…

In this regard, if a biblical understanding of grace is to be held, one must see baptism of the Holy Spirit as part of the initial work of grace, given by Jesus as a gift of righteousness and regeneration.