7. Timing and meaning of Spirit baptism. Some scholars believe Paul and Luke differ in their understanding of the timing and meaning of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They say that Paul shows the baptism in the Spirit to be an initiatory experience occurring at salvation and bringing the believer into salvation. On the other hand they suggest that Luke sees the baptism in the Spirit as an experience subsequent to salvation that takes place for the purpose of empowering for service (Dunn 1970, 129–130; Bruner 1970, 153–289 and Stott 1964, 8, 23).
However, the emphases of Paul and Luke are not contradictory, they are complementary. These two biblical authors are simply looking at two sides of the same coin. The Holy Spirit is involved at the point of integrating the new believer into the Body of Christ, and He is also involved in a subsequent experience of empowering for service. Stronstad has rightly observed that Paul is as aware of this second experience as Luke is, making reference to it in the book of Ephesians (Stronstad 1984, 12 and 2005, 12).
The issue of interpreting narrative and whether or not it is intended to teach is a continuing discussion among scholars. It is important to note that several non-Pentecostal evangelical scholars as well as some noted Pentecostal scholars affirm that some narratives are intended to teach. They suggest helpful guidelines for determining if a passage is intended to be prescriptive (normative) or if it is merely descriptive (a unique historical event that occurs only once.) Some of these scholars from both camps also do not fully agree with Fee and Stuart on this point. (Stronstad 1984 and 2005, Duvall and Hays 2001 and 2005, and Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard 1993).