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In those days physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit were signs of being saved.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

As for Cornelius again...

14Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. 15And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

Saved first, baptized later.

But then there is this in which baptism did not save.

12But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Didn’t work out well for him did it.

concerning PAUL,(Saul) was he pre-ordained to be saved? This was said before Paul was baptized. God obviously looked upon him as already saved.

15But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.

Before the Church Age the Holy Spirit would come 'upon' a person, come upon their mind or will or emotions. In other words, before the Church Age the Holy Spirit came upon the soul not the spirit of the man. With the birthing of The body of Christ Body of Believers God puts the seed of his Life 'in' the Believer. As Paul wrote, 'It is God Who is in you both to will and do of his good pleasure.

How does that work you might ask?

Each descendant from Adam has a spirit, a soul, and a body. The soul is fashioned as a behavior mechanism of will, mind, and emotion.

God designed the human to have an active spirit, to direct the behavior mechanism, mush like conscience but with a big difference: the spirit of the man of God should be directed by God's Spirit directing the human spirit in the way that the person should go. That is Life in the human spirit. But with the fall of our father Adam there was no Spirit of God Life in the human spirit, so every man did what was right in his own eyes and a spirit of deadness reigned in the human spirit.

By an act of the will, we are now able to hve God's Spirit Life back in our spirit. That's what the Cross accomplished, our sin-debt relationship to a Holy God was paid on His Cross and we can receive that Grace by an act of our will. The Grace of God births a person from a spirit of deadness in the human spirit to the spirit of eternal Life in our human spirit, and once born again it is God Who then abides in our new spirit man (1 John 3:9).

There is no deed we must perform to be born again, born from above. God does it all when He detects our will believing in Whom He sent for our deliverance. That act of the will is placing Faith in God's Promise and Provision for our deliverance. It is a spiritual gifting by God for God's Glory in Christ on our behalf. We just with our will accept His Grace.

It is a good idea to get Baptized, to make an outward show of the inward Grace now residing in the born again spirit. It is wise to seek His Spirit directing once in His family. Being born again is God Justifying us individually. Turning to seek His direction for our life thereafter in the flesh in His work of sanctifying our new born life. The best way to feed His new life in us is to spiritually ingest His Word.