Had the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues occurred only at Pentecost, we would have to chalk it up as an awesome but isolated event.  However, the Book of Acts records five instances of individuals or groups receiving the Baptism.  In this post we will examine the events at Cornelius's house.    

     Christ had commanded in the Great Commission that believers were to go to all nations, in the entire world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.  (Mat. 28:19, Mark 16:15).  He also told the Apostles that they were to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and be witnesses unto him in Jerusalem, all Jugea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.  (Acts 1:8).  Never the less, for the next several years after Pentecost, Christians took the Good News of Jesus Christ to no group except the Jewish people.

     Interesting isn't it, that even though Jesus Christ commanded the evangelization of non-Jewish people, the Apostles and Early Church did not act on Christ's command?

      They must have mentioned the Great Commission in their various sermons.  They surely repeated Christ's command in their teachings.  Questions and speculations must have arisen about this command.

     But no one acted on it. 

     I believe two elements motivated their inaction.  First, since there is no mention of God reproving them for disobedience, the Holy Spirit must not have given them any specific leading to begin this missionary work.

     In other words, God's timing had not arrived. 

     And second, as with church work today, it is always easier to stay within your own little group.  Christ called them to be fishers of men, but rather than casting their nets out into the seas of hurting, lost humanity, they were fishing only in their own cultural bathtub.  Isolation was deeply engrained in the minds of Jewish Christians.

     According to the traditions of the time, Jews did not enter the house of a Gentile, or eat with them.  Nor did they invite a Gentile into their home.  Jews did not marry Gentiles.  On the street, Jews did not even say "hello" to a Gentile, unless the Gentile spoke to them first.

     The Jews knew that they were God's chosen people.  Since the days of Abraham, God had revealed Himself to the world exclusively through the Jewish people.  God had no relations with non-Jews.  If a Gentile wanted to know God, he had to convert to the Jewish religion.

     God was about to rock the worlds of both the Jews and the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius.

     Cornelius was a Roman Centurion, a commander of 100 soldiers, living at Caesarea.  His job was to keep the peace, prevent riots, stop rebellions, and generally to keep a lid on things.

     Cornelius was a believer in the Jewish religion, and embraced it as thoroughly as his position would allow.  The Scriptures call him: 

"A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always."--Acts 10:2. 

     God responded to his faith, prayers, sincerity, and giving, by sending an angel to direct Cornelius toward receiving salvation through Christ.  The angel said: 

"Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.  And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter:  He lodges with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside:  he shall tell you what you ought to do."--Acts 10:4-6.

      The angel instructed Cornelius to send for Peter, even giving him Peter's address.

     God knows where you live.

     Cornelius sent two servants and a soldier to request Peter's presence.

     Shortly before they arrived at Peter's house, God gave Peter a vision.  In the vision were numerous kinds of animals.  According to Jewish Law, some of these animals were considered "clean" and therefore edible.  Others in the vision were deemed "unclean" and inedible.  In the vision: 

"...there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.  But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.  And the voice spoke unto him again the second time, What God has cleansed, that call not you common.  This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven."--Acts 10:14-16. 

     While Peter thought on this vision, wondering what it meant, the three sent from Cornelius arrived.  The Holy Spirit said to Peter: 

"...Behold, three men seek you.  Arise therefore, and get you down, and go with them, doubting nothing:  for I have sent them."--Acts 10:19-20. 

     Here you see the graciousness of the Spirit of God.

     It was terrifying in that day to have a Roman soldier show up at your door.  Roman soldiers were rough, crude, and part of a violent occupying force.  A Roman soldier never abruptly appeared on your doorstep to exchange pleasantries.  The appearance of a Roman soldier usually meant extortion, abuse, arrest, or death.

     Do you see in this experience the Holy Spirit's tender concern and grace?

     He prepared Peter's heart before the soldier even knocked at Peter's gate by giving him this vision.  That is so like Him, to carefully prepare us for unexpected events, lest our hearts be overwhelmed.

    Do you also see Peter's absolute trust in the Spirit of  God?

     It was enough for Peter to hear the Holy Spirit say, "I have sent them."  A brief word from God was enough for Peter to abandon a lifetime of behavior. 

     Without hesitation Peter did the unthinkable:  he invited the gentile soldier and servents into the house.  He ate with them.  And he lodged them overnight.  Never before in his life had Peter eaten with Gentiles or invited them into a home.

     The next day, Peter and some Christian brethren, accompanied the three to Cornelius' house.  Once  there, Peter and the brethren again did the unthinkable:  they entered into the house of Cornelius the Gentile.

     Cornelius told Peter about the angel's visit and ended the account by saying: 

"Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded you of God."--Acts 10:33.

     Such a statement is music to any preacher's ears.

     They didn't come to fight, debate, or refute what was preached.  They didn't come to criticize the preacher.  They came to listen and receive whatever God wanted them to have.  They were hungry for God, and Peter had the Bread from Heaven to feed them.

     Breaking social restrictions, Jewish Law, and religious tradition, they listened and Peter preached.  Evidently, their hearts drank in everything he said because Peter never got to finish his sermon.  The last sentence Peter spoke was: 

"To him (Jesus Christ) give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins."--Acts 10:43.

     By this point in the sermon, they had heard about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They believed what they heard.  They believed in this Jesus Christ Peter was preaching tro them about.  They believed that he died and rose again.  Believing each sentence that fell from the Apostle's lips, when he spoke of the remission of sins, they believed and received that remission instantly.

     Before Peter could speak his next sentence, they were born-again.  In a moment of time, the Holy  Spirit placed them into the Body of Chirst, and indwelled their newly recreated hearts.  Immediately, Jesus Christ became their Lord and Savior, and he also fulfilled his role as Baptizer, pouring out the Holy Spirit upon all the assembled people: 

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.  And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost."--Acts 10:44,45. 

     How could Peter and the other brethren tell that the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles? 

     Did they have to rely on guesswork, waiting years and years to see whether spiritual fruit or ministry offices developed in these new believers?

     No.

     They were able to tell instantly that the Gentiles had received not only salvation, but also the empowering Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

     How?

     What was the evidence?

     The very next verse answers these questions: 

"For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God."--Acts 10:46. 

     Could it be that there was one kind of Baptism and speaking in tongues for the Jews at Pentecost, but an entirely different kind of Baptism and speaking in tongues for the Genttiles at Cornelius' house?

     No.

  Peter makes it clear in the next verse that this was the same kind of speaking in tongues that he experienced at Pentecost: 

"Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"--Acts 10:48. 

     Later, Peter explained the entire episode to believers at Jerusalem, emphasizing the point that the Gentiles had received the exact same experience that Jewish believers had received on the day of Pentecost: 

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.  Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.  Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ:  what was I, that I could withstand God?  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentence unto life."--Acts 11:15-18. 

     Peter said the Holy Spirit came on the Gentiles exactly "as on us at the beginning."  This wasn't a different or lesser experience.

     Peter associated this outpouring of the Spirit with Jesus' phrase "Baptized with the Holy Ghost."  He did not call this outpouring by the term "salvation."

     The experience at Cornelius' house reminds us:  

• Salvation was for the world, but the baptism in the Holy Spirit was for those in covenant relationship wit the Lord.

• Jesus Christ would not pour out the Holy Spirit upon sinners in order to empower them to be more sinful sinners.

• He would pour out the Holy Spirit only on believers, to empower them to be his witnesses.

• Therefore, only the truly born-again could  receive the outward, tangible Gift of the Holy Spirit.

• To Peter's mind, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was the convincing factor which proved the Gentiles' conversion.

• And the unquestionable evidence of the Baptism is that the Gentiles had spoken in other tongues in precisely the same manner as Peter had experienced at Pentecost.

Copyright 2006  Mel C. Montgomery  All rights reserved.  Material may be copied and shared with others as long as it is done so free of charge, in entirety, and attribution is given.