did Cornelius repent and accept Jesus as Savior BEFORE he recieved the gift of tongues from the Holy Spirit?
or did the Holy Spirit fall on all those who heard Peter speaking in Acts 10, Cornelius and his family as well as the Jewish believers who came with Peter?
did Peter command Cornelius be baptized as a first act of obedience?
does Ephesians 4 tells us there is one baptism or two baptisms?
“did Cornelius repent and accept Jesus as Savior BEFORE he recieved the gift of tongues from the Holy Spirit?
or did the Holy Spirit fall on all those who heard Peter speaking in Acts 10, Cornelius and his family as well as the Jewish believers who came with Peter?”
If Cornelius had known of Jesus prior, there would have been no need to send Peter to preach to him. While Peter was yet speaking, they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. The Jewish believers looked on in astonishment as the gentiles spoke in tongues.
This is the same phenomena that the Apostles experienced as well:
Act 1:4-5 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. (5) For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Act 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (2) And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. (3) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. (4) And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And Peter concludes (the event with Cornelius and the gentiles) with saying to the Jews “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”
Therefore, they were baptized by the Holy Spirit, as promised by Jesus Christ, before they were baptized in water. This makes it clear that water baptism is not THE event, but a sign of that believer’s oneness with the Body of Christ, a precept that all Christians follow as the first act following conversion.