The Gentile Pentecost

Luke does not tell us explicitly that Cornelius and his friends and family trusted in Christ after Peter preached the gospel to them (Acts 10:34–43). We rightly infer that they did, however, because in today’s passage, we read that the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the other gentiles who heard Peter.

The coming of the Spirit upon Cornelius and the gentiles included the gift of tongues, thus matching the experience at Pentecost when the Spirit came upon the Jews (vv. 44–46; see 2:1–4). For that reason, many commentators have referred to the descent of the Spirit at that moment as the “gentile Pentecost.” This amazed “the believers of the circumcised who had come with Peter”—Jewish followers of Jesus—for it tangibly proved that the Lord was grafting gentiles into His people. Dr. R.C. Sproul comments on the meaning of the Spirit’s falling upon those without any Jewish ancestry: “That is the significance of this Gentile Pentecost, that we are all brought in to the body of Christ.”

Additionally, the coming of the Spirit on Cornelius represents another stage in the fulfillment of Acts 1:8. Remember that this took place in Caesarea (see 10:1). Caesarea was the capital of the Roman province of Judea, and Jesus promised that the gospel, and therefore the Holy Spirit, would go from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria to the end of the earth. Jerusalem had already had its Pentecost, as had Samaria (2:1–4; 8:14–17). Now that Judea had its Pentecost with Cornelius, all that remained was for the end of the earth to have its Pentecost, which would occur in due time (see 19:1–7).

Finally, the gentile Pentecost in today’s passage says something about the necessity of water baptism. In our day, some professing Christians treat water baptism as optional, thinking that all that matters is the baptism of the Spirit. Yet while water baptism is not absolutely necessary for salvation, it is ordinarily given to all who profess faith in Christ as well as their children. We see this in today’s passage because Peter still baptizes Cornelius and the others after they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit (see 10:47–48). John Chryso­stom comments, “On one occasion, when the Spirit had been poured out before the water was applied, the apostle did not stay at this point, but, as though the water were necessary and not superfluous, observe what he says: ‘Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’”