Acts Chapter 10:

Acts Chapter 10:

42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.

Acts Chapter 15:

7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Okay, I would like to make just a few points about these scriptures I've posted. The verses from Acts 15 is Peter's recalling of what happened in Acts 10, which I've copied above. The point is that according to Peter, Cornelius and his household had their hearts "purified by faith" upon being baptized with the holy Ghost, and showing forth the sign of the experience, which is "speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance," even as it was in the beginning at Pentecost (Acts 2:4). The only thing their hearts could have been purified from is sin, and that means their sins were taken away through the experience of the baptism of the holy Ghost, even as was the case in the beginning at Pentecost. No one at Pentecost had their sins taken away before Pentecost, according to the "new and living way;" because there was no offering presented in heaven before Pentecost, and there was no high priest or mediator of the new covenant until Jesus went back to heaven to become just that (Heb. 10:19-21). "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us... For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Heb. 9:11,12,24). When Peter said that God "bare them witness," he was talking about the manifestation of the sign of speaking with other tongues, that came upon Cornelius and his household. It is quite evident from Acts 10:46 that Peter and the brethren who accompanied him to the house of Cornelius knew that God had given the holy Ghost to these Gentiles because they heard them speak with other tongues. That is exactly what the scripture says.

When Peter made the point that it is "God, who knows the hearts," he was saying that the sign of speaking in tongues came upon these people because God saw that their faith was genuine, and therefore he gave them the holy Ghost. Neither Peter or anyone who came with him coaxed these people to confess anything, nor did they try to confirm that these Gentiles were born again BEFORE they saw and heard the witness of God manifest with these people. But when they saw and heard the God-given sign manifest with them, they knew they were born again and had their sins taken away. In fact when the Spirit fell on these people, that was pretty much the close of the show, because that was the whole point of the preaching, praying, and anything else that could have been done. My point is that nothing has changed about the Gospel, or about how people are born again, or about how we know that people are born again. Unless we have been elevated to a spiritual level above the apostles and the early elders, and unless we now in this modern age also know the hearts of men as God does; we should stop confirming to people that they are born again because they have made some verbal confession, or because they have experienced one thing or another by faith in Jesus. The Samaritans in Acts chapter 8 had in fact experienced many supernatural things by faith in Jesus through the ministry of Philip, but they had still not received the Spirit (Acts 8:5-15). Every minister in this modern age would have confirmed to the Samaritans that their sins were taken away and that they were in Christ, due to the miraculous experiences that they received by their faith in Jesus. And every minister of this modern age would have been wrong in their assessment. Philip knew that the Samaritans had not received the Spirit the same way that Peter and his brethren knew immediately when Cornelius and his household DID receive the Spirit. Philip saw and heard no manifestation of the sign of speaking in tongues with the Samaritans, even as Peter and company DID see and hear that sign with the first Gentiles to believe.

Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, didn't have to stipulate that the Samaritans spoke in tongues after Peter and John came and prayed for them, but it is more than evident that they did (Acts 8:17-19). Everyone that Luke was writing to already knew that everyone who receives the Spirit speaks in tongues, and that is why he didn't specify that the Samaritans spoke in tongues. This is a monumentally significant point because the scripture plainly tells us, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Rom. 8:9). And we can add to that, "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11). We can also add to that the reality that none are righteous on their own merits or works, and the only way to be righteous is to be IN the one who is righteous, which is to say Christ. Being in him is the only way we can be a partaker of him, and there is only one way to be in Christ: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). So again we see that it is the baptism of the holy Ghost that puts us into Christ, and only by being in him are we made righteous. The scriptures show us this clearly: "IN whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. 1:7). And this: "IN whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:14). So there is no remission of sins apart from being IN CHRIST, and there is only one way to get into Christ; and that way is to be BAPTIZED BY CHRIST INTO CHRIST. Like I said, the Gospel has not changed since the beginning, and neither has the new birth or it's accompanying sign. Plain and simple. We can cleave to modern erroneous tradition, or we can believe the scriptures. I think it's an easy call. Amen.