The Spirit Comes to Cornelius (AI generated image)
This is Part 5 in a series about the timing and precedent of receiving the Holy Spirit.
In Part 1, we saw that Jesus was first baptized, and then he received the Holy Spirit. In Part 2, we saw that the prescribed order of “first baptism, and then the Holy Spirit” for new covenant believers finds its precedent in Jesus’ baptism and subsequent reception of the Holy Spirit. Part 3 examined the Holy Spirit’s role in the salvation process. And Part 4 examined the episode in Samaria resolving any issues of interpretation concerning the withholding of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And now, Part 5 looks at the episode of Cornelius representing the Gentiles receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit before their water baptism, which is a disruption of the normative order of “first baptism and then the Holy Spirit.”
The events of God giving the gift of the Holy Spirit to Cornelius in Caesarea are just as exceptional as the events in Samaria. However, instead of Jesus temporarily withholding the Spirit after salvation in water baptism, Jesus baptizes Cornelius with the Holy Spirit before salvation in water baptism. While the timing of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit differs here for Cornelius, the underlying reason is the same: the apostles’ reluctance to take the gospel outside Judea (as in Samaria), still needing to be convinced that salvation is also for the Gentiles.After the events of Samaria and the conversion of Saul, Luke makes it a point to tell the reader, “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up (Acts 9:31).” At this point, the apostles were on the mission to fulfill the great commission, as evidenced by the wake-up call in Samaria in Acts 8 (see Part 4). But they still lacked obedience to what Jesus had commanded them: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
As Jesus in Samaria had to send a wake-up call to the apostles to get them to evangelize the Samaritans, so Jesus again sends a wake-up call to them, Peter in particular, to go to the Gentiles. This wake-up call comes to Peter in the form of a vision, where the Lord tells him to kill and eat ceremonially unclean animals; “But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common” (Acts 10:14-15). The Spirit then tells Peter directly to go to see Cornelius (Acts 10:19-20).
In this heavenly intervention, Jesus moves and prepares Peter and the apostles to do what they have been unwilling to do—take the gospel to the Gentiles. This reluctance shows itself specifically in what Peter says to Conelius once he enters his house: “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Peter finally is on the right track, but he still does not know what is going to happen at this meeting. He still does not know why he is really there.
So, Peter asks Cornelius why he sent for him. Cornelius tells him an angel appeared to him and said, “‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household’” (Acts 11:13-14). At this point, Peter is beginning to put two and two together. Peter’s next words are, “‘Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him’” (Acts 10:34-35). Even with these words, I am not convinced Peter truly believes that God intends to grant salvation to the Gentiles, as I will show momentarily.
Peter then goes on to give Cornelius and those present with him the gospel message about Jesus. And then, as a surprise and in complete astonishment to Peter and his Jewish accomplices, God gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to them:
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:44-48)
God gives the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit before water baptism for the forgiveness of sins, thus disrupting the established, normative order of “first baptism, and then the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The reason for this disruption is because of the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. The division between Jew and Gentile was so monumental for so long that God chose to do something equally monumental in giving them the Holy Spirit the same way he gave it to the apostles in the beginning (Acts 2:1-4). The reason why I previously said I am not convinced that Peter truly believed God would grant salvation to the Gentiles is because of what Peter says when later reporting to the church in Jerusalem:
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:17).
This reveals that Peter is only truly convinced that salvation is for the Gentiles when he sees God give the gift of the Holy Spirit to them—in the same way God gave the gift of the Spirit to Peter and the apostles in the beginning. God did it this way to convince Peter. And not just Peter, but those Jews who accompanied him, and also all Jews who would later hear of this (see Acts 11:2-18 which details the criticism Peter gets from the Jews in Jerusalem for going to Gentiles, and how he convinces them otherwise by referencing specifically how the Spirit fell on them). God, in his foreknowledge, knew perhaps the only way to break down the insurmountable division between Jew and Gentile was through the gift of his Spirit, and not just the gift, but the manner in which it was received. For it is the gift of the Holy Spirit who unifies all who receive him with the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).
But this is not the end of the story. After they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter commands them to be baptized:
Then Peter declared, 47 “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:46-48)
Note that this is Peter, of all people, who spoke the very command for all people to repent and be baptized in Jesus’ name for the forgiveness of their sins as a prerequisite for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). He knows that God does not grant the forgiveness of sins through receiving the gift of his indwelling presence, but in the water of baptism where the Spirit works justification and regeneration for the convert. They still needed to be justified and regenerated, in other words, saved. And seeing that God surprisingly gave them his Spirit, Peter commands their obedience unto salvation in the water of baptism.
So, we see an exception in the normative order. We see that the flip-flop of the normative order of “first baptism, and then the Holy Spirit” that happens here is a result of apostolic reluctance to go to the Gentiles. God works in spite of his chosen instrument’s understanding. In fact, it is God who initiates and orchestrates from start to finish this entire happening of the Gentiles receiving salvation. Peter is, at first, the reluctant vehicle by which the Spirit accomplishes his purposes, which is the reason for Peter’s vision and the Spirit’s subsequent command for him to go. It is God who sends an angel to Cornelius to call Peter; it is God who convinces Peter to repent of his Gentile bias and go see Cornelius; and it is God who gives the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit before their water baptism for the forgiveness of sins—to prove to Peter and his Jewish accomplices that salvation is also for the Gentiles (Acts 10:47-48; Acts 11:17).
Interpretive Problems
As we saw in interpreting the events in Samaria (Part 4), the doctrinal position that conflates the Spirit’s work in salvation with what it means to receive the gift of his indwelling presence, mainly that God gives an indwelling, salvation-working gift of the Holy Spirit for, at, or in the moment of salvation (working the forgiveness of sins), finds interpretive problems here, as well.
The main interpretive problem is that this position of conflation has to explain how someone becomes forgiven and regenerated outside the water of baptism, which is where God does his salvation work for the convert (see Part 3). For if Cornelius received the forgiveness of sins by the means of the gift of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit when he received the Spirit before baptism, then that becomes the moment he was saved. His baptism, then, was not for the forgiveness of sins, and was not the moment of salvation where the Spirit does his work of justification and regeneration, being replaced by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit before the water of baptism. This is contrary to Luke’s paradigm of the Holy Spirit, and Peter as well (Acts 2:38).
More specifically, the problem with this is that it empties water baptism of its biblical purpose and meaning as the moment of salvation in which the Spirit works justification and regeneration. It is a step too far to propose that God also changed the purposes and meanings of the two events of water baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Luke’s paradigm neither calls for this nor allows it. For Luke, one gift of the Holy Spirit exists, which someone receives apart from water baptism for purposes other than working salvation.
Further, if the Holy Spirit worked salvation in Cornelius’ initial reception, as this position must propose, then why did Peter still command them to be baptized? The answer is that the Spirit did not work salvation for Cornelius in first receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, as agreeing with Luke’s paradigm, but when he submitted to Peter’s command to be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins. Peter understands that God merely changed the order for his convincing, and not the doctrine itself. For God to flip-flop the normative order for Peter’s convincing is one thing, but for this position also to change Luke’s paradigm of the established doctrine, meaning and purpose of water baptism for the forgiveness of sins, as well as what it means to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, is inconceivable to Luke and therefore unacceptable.
COULDN’T IT BE THAT God first gave Cornelius THE MIRACULOUS GIFTING OF THE SPIRIT, AND NOT THE SALVATION-INDWELLING GIFT OF THE SPIRIT, before his baptism?
Similar to what we saw in Samaria, a proposed nuance to the incorrect, conflated doctrinal position examined above posits that Cornelius indeed received the indwelling, saving gift of the Holy Spirit in his water baptism, plus a miraculous gift of the Spirit falling upon him for empowerment and as proof for Peter.
And like in Samaria, this proposal similarly also creates two gifts of the Holy Spirit: a falling upon for empowerment, and an indwelling salvation gift in water baptism. The answer is the same for the case of Cornelius as for the Samaritans: Luke knows of only one gift of the Holy Spirit, not a nuanced gift of a separate “indwelling-salvation” gift versus a “falling upon, empowerment gift.” The Spirit’s work in water baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit have distinct scopes, timing and purposes, and are not the same thing or event. Luke expects the reader to understand this, especially in writing this episode on the heels of the events in Samaria.
Luke makes sure to detail that Cornelius received the one and only gift of the Holy Spirit:
45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. (Acts 10:45)
and
16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:16-17)
One “gift of God” exists, not two, and not separated or distinguished in some sort of dual-receiving, salvation-versus-empowerment nuance. Luke has no theology of referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit as a saving, indwelling Holy Spirit versus a spiritual gift empowerment Holy Spirit, where the reader has to try to figure out which one he means. And in this particular episode, that is exactly what this position forces the reader to attempt—was it for empowerment or salvation? The error is obvious.
Final Thoughts
Applying Luke’s paradigm of the Holy Spirit is paramount to coming away with the correct interpretation. When we apply a paradigm that is not Luke’s, confusion and error result, as well as the necessary invention of nuances in order to make the doctrine work. Applying Luke’s paradigm produces the correct interpretation because it does not displace or fundamentally change the purpose and meaning of either of the doctrines of the Spirit’s work of salvation in the water of baptism, or of what it means to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It shows that God merely swaps the normative order, which is what finally convinces Peter that salvation is also for the Gentiles. God did not change the purpose or meaning of either of these two doctrines.
Indeed, applying Luke’s paradigm of the Holy Spirit produces the interpretation of least resistance and of highest efficacy.
Coming up in Part 6, I will look at the events of Acts 19:1-7 where Paul meets some disciples who have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
