Were the Household of Cornelius Baptized in the Holy Spirit? Acts 10

Were the Household of Cornelius Baptized

in the Holy Spirit?Acts 10

CORNELIUS: THE SUBJECT

• A soldier, and a centurion (HEKATONÁRCHES) (10:1).

• A devout (EÙSEBÈS) man (10:2).• A God-fearing (PHOBOÚMENOUS

TÒN THEÒN) man (10:2).• A generous giver of “alms”

(ELEEMOSÚNAS) (10:2).

• One “who prayed continually” (DEÓMENOUS DIÀ PANTÓS) (10:2)

• An “upright man” (ANÈR DÍKAIOS) (10:22)

• “Well-spoken of by the whole Jewish nation” (10:22)

CORNELIUS HAD A VISION

• His first reaction was of fear or terror (ÉMPHOBOS GINÓMENOS) (10:4).

• Was told his alms and prayers were just a reminder, “a memorial” (MNEMÓSUNON) to God (10:4, 31).

• He was advised to see a preacher (10:5).

Cornelius and his household needed to hear what the gospel preacher had

to say (10:22). The angel told him: “Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;

who shall tell the Words whereby thou and all thy house shall be

saved” (11:13-14).

PETER THE PROCLAIMER• He was on the housetop praying (10:9).

He was hungry, wanted to eat, but lunch was not yet ready (10:10).

• An ecstasy came upon him (EGÉNETO EPH’ AUTÒN ÉKSTASIS (10:10).

• The heaven opened and a great sheet descended containing all animals that he could eat (10:11-12).

A voice from heaven told him, “Rise, Peter,

kill and eat!”(10:13; 11:7).

The Jewish culture in him persisted: “By no means,

Lord,” he said, “for I have not eaten anything common

(KOINÒN) or unclean (AKÁTHARTON)”

(10:14; 11:8).

The voice came to him again a second time saying, “What God has made clean (EKATHÁRISEN, aorist

indicative active), do not call unclean (KOÍNOU)” (10:15; 11:9). This happened three times and the

thing was taken up at once to heaven (10:16; 11:10).

When cornelius’ men cameThe Holy Spirit told Peter, “Go down with these Gentiles, do not be hesitant to accompany them. I myself have sent them” (EGÒ APÉSTALKA AUTOÚS) (10:20; 11:12).

Peter now understood the meaning of the vision

That the bar that separates the Gentiles and the Jews has been removed,

That the gospel that saves everyone who believes now transcends boundaries of cultures and nations and skin colours (10:28, 34, 35).

The Gentiles Heard the GospelActs 10:35-43

And the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who

heardActs 10:44

ACTS 10:47 Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? ACTS 10:48 And he command-ed them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ…

WERE THEY BAPTIZED in the spirit?

1) They spoke in tongues, but THAT does NOT prove they had received the Holy Spirit baptism. The twelve Johannine disciples in Ephesus did speak in tongues and prophesied (19:6) but that was after they were baptized in water (19:5), and after Paul laid hands on them (19:6). Tongue speaking was a gift but never the sign that one had received the “baptismal measure.”

2) They were “filled with the Spirit,” but THAT does NOT prove that they had undergone Holy Spirit baptism. These PEOPLE were said to have been “filled with the Spirit” BUT had not undergone Holy Spirit baptism: The wise-hearted (EXO. 28:3); Bezaleel (EXO. 31:3); John the Baptist (LUK 1:15); Elizabeth (LUK 1:41); Zacharias (LUK 1:67). The phrase simply means that they were “Spirit-filled”; it does not mean that they were “baptized in the Holy Spirit.”

3) They “received the Holy Spirit” (ELABON TO HAGION PNEUMA) (10:47). The phrase is used of those who had undergone Holy Spirit baptism as well as those who received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands: The Samaritan church (8:15); the twelve disciples of John (19:2). Simon too must have received it (8:19)! It does not necessarily mean the subject in question had been baptized in the Spirit.

4) “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning” (11:15). το

. Πνευμα Αγιονεπεπεσενεπ αυτουςThere is nothing in , επεπεσεν “fell,” that could mean baptism. The Holy Spirit too is said to be “poured out” (ÉKCHÉO) (JOEL 2:28). ÉKCHÉO and EPEPÍPTO do not mean BAPTÍDZO.

5) Acts 11:17 “If then God gave unto them the like gift (DOREÁ) as he did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?” Verse 16 is Peter’s recital of how God gave the Spirit to them, “by being baptized in the Holy Spirit.” What is the like gift given? It is not baptism in the Spirit; rather it is the Spirit itself. Holy Spirit baptism had never been called “a gift.”

6) There is nothing in the phrase that says the household of Cornelius received the “Holy Spirit baptism” in the same manner as the apostles on Pentecost. To express that thought in grammar, Peter would have said: “Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit IN THE SAME MANNER AS WE DID?”

Finally,Notice here the absence of the rushing of mighty wind and cloven tongues

like as of fire, details that are noticeable in the

Pentecost Holy Spirit Baptism Event!

(Acts 2:1-4)

Addendum“Apparently the widely read and generally accepted book, The Mission and Medium of the Holy Spirit, by Foy E. Wallace, Jr., has caused the acceptance on the part of many of the idea that Cornelius was not baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ~ O. C Birdwell http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume17/TM017682.html

GODhead

12 APOSTLES

Jewish Church

GENTILES

Spirit was poured.Spirit fell on them. Received

Holy Spirit

Good NewsPreached

Water baptismcommanded

Spirit fell on them

Baptized inHoly SpiritSet into theChurch Samaria

Laidhands

ReceivedHoly Spirit

GOD’S TEMPLE ON EARTH, THE

CHURCH, NOW CONSISTING OF

JEWS, HALF-JEWS, AND GENTILES!

What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit falling on the household of Cornelius? It is to show to that God now accepts people who were not His people before by virtue of their acceptance of His will, by their faith in His Son (11:17). “God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him” (10:34-35).