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The Holy Spirit told Peter He had sent them to him and that He was to go with them without misgivings. When Peter greeted the men he went with them and when he arrived at Cornelius’s house, he said to him and the others gathered to hear him,

"I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him." (Acts 10:34-35)

What do we see demonstrated here? We see that even though Jesus had died, risen from the dead and afterwards had spent forty days with the Apostles teaching them and then they witnessed His ascension, they still did not yet have a full understanding about what their salvation in Jesus was all about, the universal scope of that salvation to all mankind including the Gentiles as well as the Jews, nor how it was to be received and administered. Up until this vision, Peter believed that Jesus’ salvation was only for the Jews, not the Gentiles. The book of Acts is a recording of the beginnings of the church, their growth and the Apostles’ learning experience of all that Jesus’ salvation involved. In Acts 2, to the best of Peter’s understanding, which was based on John the Baptist’s baptism and instruction, he was explaining to them what they needed to do to be saved, but at this point Peter did not believe this included Gentiles. Now in Acts Chapter ten Peter learns through the Holy Spirit that Jesus’ salvation includes the Gentiles also.

As Peter was sharing the Gospel with these Gentiles, in Acts 10:43 he made the following statement:

"Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."

Groups which tell you that you are saved through water baptism will tell you that believing means to be baptized in water. However the sects of the Pentacostal believers who teach this will also tell you that the person is not truly saved until he receives the Holy Spirit and speakes in Tongues. They base this on Romans 8:9: "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." I have had this said to me many times on the field when sharing the Gospel with men.

After Peter made this statement in Acts 10:43, what happened next? Acts 10:44 tells us:

"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message."

Wait a minute? These groups tell us that a person is saved when baptized in water and that only afterwards can they then have someone lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. Had these Gentiles been baptized yet? No. What had happened? After Peter told them that in order to receive forgiveness for their sins they had to believe on the Gospel, they believed in their hearts the message of the Gospel. When God saw in their hearts their saving faith, he automatically gave them His Holy Spirit as a result. Therefore saving faith is not being baptized in water, but believing on the message of the Gospel which is Jesus’ death and shed blood for our sins. Peter affirms this truth in Acts 11:15-17 and again in Acts 15:8-11,

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If God therefore gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?" (Acts 11:15-17)

"And God, who knows-the-heart¹⁷⁹, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. . . . But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are." (Acts 15:8-11)

In these passages Peter reaffirms repeatedly that not only where these Gentiles saved not because they were baptized in water, but because they believed his message of the Gospel, but also makes it plain that he and the rest of the disciples were saved in the same way. How? How were they saved? ". . . after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. . . . cleansing their hearts by faith." When did Peter baptize them in Water? Note what Peter said in Acts 10:47-48,

"‘Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?’ And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ."

It was only when Peter saw the evidence of the saving faith they had that he would then baptize them in water, but not as the means of their salvation, but because of the salvation they already had. How did they receive the Holy Spirit? After they were baptized in water? No, when they believed God gave them the Holy Spirit automatically as a result, just as it was for Peter and the Apostles; but not as the means of their salvation, but because of the saving faith they already had. This is in total agreement with what Paul teaches in His Epistles. Paul wrote to the Ephesians,

"In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14)

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