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The Gentiles Receive
the Holy Spirit

Acts 10:44-48

Good News Translation (GNT)

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44  While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit
   came down on all those who were listening to
   his message.
45  The Jewish believers who had come from
   Joppa with Peter were amazed that God had
   poured out his gift of the Holy Spirit on the
   Gentiles also.
46  For they heard them speaking in strange
   tongues and praising God's greatness.
   Peter spoke up:
47  "These people have received the Holy Spirit,
   just as we also did. Can anyone, then, stop
   them from being baptised with water?"
48  So he ordered them to be baptised
   in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked
   him to stay with them for a few days.

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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)

Gentiles Receive the
Holy Spirit

     Acts Chapter 10:44-48

Just as the Holy Spirit had come upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, so, as Peter was speaking, did the Spirit come suddenly upon Cornelius and all his household.

In Acts 2:38, Peter had said to the Jews: "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

But here, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household first, before they even had a chance to be baptised.
The Holy Spirit comes to men according to His own plans and purposes; we men must not try to set rules lor Him. Just as the disciples had spoken in tongues on the day of Pentecost, so these Gentiles began to speak in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

If they had not spoken in tongues, it's possible that Peter and the circumcised (that is, Jewish) believers he had brought with him from Joppa would not have believed that the Holy Spirit had indeed come upon these Gentiles.

It is not actually written here that Cornelius and his family repented and believed in Jesus. But we can assume that they did. According to Acts 15:9, Peter later said that the Lord purified their hearts by faith.

After seeing the remarkable work that God had done in the lives of these Gentiles, Peter could see no reason why they should not immediately be baptised. If the Holy Spirit had not come upon them first, Peter would not have been prepared to baptise Gentiles.

But now to refuse to baptise them would be to resist God. Baptism is the outward confirmation or sign of new spiritual life. If one has already received the life, why should he not also receive the sign of it?

The day that Peter came to Cornelius' house was an extremely important day in the history of the Christian religion. On that day the first Gentiles became Christians. From that day on, this new Christian religion was not only for Jews but for all people of every nation.

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