******"But it still fell on Cornelius BEFORE he..."
Nope. Again. Gal 3:21-29. This is not hard.*******
Let's see.
These signs shall follow them that believe....
....and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming with signs FOLLOWING. Mark 16: 20.
To Cornelius...While Peter yet spake these words, the HOLY GHOST fell on all of them which heard the word.
And they were astonished that..."The Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the HOLY GHOST". ACTS 10:45
Again, was Cornelius and those with him saved BEFORE they were baptized or not! If not, why did they receive the Holy Spirit that was the proof of their salvation!! If they were saved, why would they need to be baptized for the remission of sin!
You can't have it both ways! Something is changing!
"If not, why did they receive the Holy Spirit that was the proof of their salvation!!"
I can see we are not going to get together on this one. I don't think the scripture teaches anything like the statement you just made above. Just as it was on Pentecost, the HSB was evidentuary. It was manifest evidence from God, and it validated what Peter spoke on Pentecost in opening the kingdom for the Jews, and in Acts 10 it proved to the Jews present that salvation was also for the Gentiles. These are the only two cases of HSB recorded in the Bible and since Peter was given the keys to the kingdom it fell to him to open the door of the kingdom to both Jew and Gentile. Sorry I can't agree with you. Regards.