14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be SAVED.
15 And as I began to speak, THE HOLY GHOST fell on them as on us at the beginning.
According to Peter's account, these Gentiles received salvation and the baptism of the
Holy Spirit almost simultaneously. (Actually, the best time for someone to receive the
baptism in the Holy Spirit is when he is first saved J Notice that no one in Cornelius'
household failed to receive the Holy Spirit.
Notice, no one laid hands on these Gentiles. They all received the Holy Spirit about the
same time. And, again, not one person failed to receive the Holy Spirit.
Actually, speaking with tongues is what fully convinced Peter's company — the Jewish
believers who accompanied Peter — that these Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit.
The Jewish believers were astonished that the Holy Ghost was poured out on the
Gentiles.
ACTS 10:45,46
45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with
Pet er, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
46 For they heard them speak with TONGUES, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Also, as we mentioned earlier, there is no suggestion of waiting in order to be filled with
the Holy Spirit.
The Ephesian Disciples: Salvation and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
We find another example in the Bible showing that salvation and the baptism in the Holy
Spirit are two separate experiences.
ACTS 19:1-7
1 And it came to pass, that, while A pollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through
the upper coasts came to Eph esus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said
unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's
baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the
people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ
Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, THE HOLY GHOST CAME ON THEM;
and THEY SPAKE WITH TONGUES, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
These Ephesian disciples were also all Gentiles. They had all been followers of John the
Baptist, but they hadn't heard that Jesus had come, and therefore they had never been saved
and baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus. They had been baptized in the Name of the
Father according to John's baptism.
We must understand that news didn't travel then like it does now. Back then, you could live
your entire life and die, and something newsworthy could have taken place a hundred miles
from you, and you would probably have never known about it because in that day news only
traveled by word of mouth.
These folks had heard John the Baptist preach and tell that One was coming who would save
them from their sins and baptize them in His Holy Spirit. They believed John's message and
were baptized by John. But they had never heard that Jesus had come. They were walking in
all the light they had, of course.