And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptised with water, but *ye* shall be baptised with [the] Holy Spirit.
Peter had just come back from a Gentile household, and he was telling the believers in Jerusalem what had happened. He explained himself not by his own judgment, but by a sentence of the Lord's that came back to him at the moment he needed it.
Peter had watched the Spirit fall on Cornelius and his friends. At once he called for water baptism. His own account explains why he moved so fast.
When Peter told the believers in Jerusalem what had happened (Acts 11:16), we learn from him what was in his heart at the time. We also see why he was so quick to command that the Gentiles be baptized. He said that when he saw the Spirit fall on them, "I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" It was just the right word for the occasion. Coming to him at that moment, it gave him the guidance and authority he needed to receive the Gentiles publicly into the company of believers.
That has an obvious lesson for anyone facing a decision with no time to look things up.
At some point in your life you may come to a difficulty, and you will say, I really do not know what to do. If you had the Scriptures filling your mind, you would know what to do. "And I remembered the word of the Lord" (Acts 11:16) saved Peter from error.
The verse sets two baptisms side by side, and commentators are careful to keep them apart.
Baptism with the Holy Spirit is distinct from baptism with water. John's baptism is contrasted with it, Acts 11:16; Matthew 3:11. Christian baptism, though distinct, was in view of the reception of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), but does not give it. Acts 19:5-6. Baptism of the Holy Spirit took place at Pentecost. The Lord said to His disciples, "You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). So at Pentecost the saints were all baptized by the one Spirit into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Peter quotes a promise about something only the Lord Jesus does. Scripture records just two times it happened.
Baptism with water was nothing new; John had administered such a rite. The disciples too were empowered to baptize with water. The Lord Jesus alone has baptized with the Holy Spirit. But only twice do we have any hint that such a baptism took place. On the day of Pentecost in the upper room in Jerusalem it was first administered. In the house of Cornelius (must we not say?) it again took place. (Acts 11:16.) … But Christians have no hint to ask for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit again, and no hint to ask for the baptism of the Spirit again. There is no ground to look for it.
Peter's memory picked out the Holy Spirit only. He says nothing about a baptism of fire.
He does not give a hint that the baptism of fire had taken place. He speaks of that of the Holy Spirit. He is completely silent about the other, and rightly so. That still awaits its fulfilment. But were there not tongues like fire seen in the upper room? Certainly. Was that the baptism of fire? We firmly believe it was not. The Lord in the Acts did not mention it; and Peter never referred to it.
Peter's point was simple. God had done for Gentiles what He had already done for Jews.
In verses 15 and 16 we see that Peter recognized the gift of the Spirit to Cornelius as a baptism of the Spirit. It came in addition to what the believers in Jerusalem had known at the beginning. It was God doing for believing Gentiles what He had previously done for believing Jews. God put both on the same footing, and who was Peter or anyone else to withstand God?
Peter's words draw one more distinction. God gave the Spirit to people who already believed.
Notice again that the gift of the Holy Spirit belongs to those who believe. It is not His work in enabling souls to believe, but a precious gift given to those who believed. … The Spirit of God alone gives life through faith in Christ. Without the action of the Holy Spirit faith is impossible. But this enabling power and the gift of the Holy Spirit are two very different things. The gift follows the enabling power.
- Remembered. A sentence of the Lord's, stored in memory, arrived exactly when Peter needed it and kept him from going wrong.
- Contrasted. Baptism with water and baptism with the Spirit are not the same. Christian baptism points to the Spirit but does not give Him.
- Given. Only the Lord Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. He gives the Spirit to those who have believed; the gift is not the power that first made them believe.
- Extended. What happened in Jerusalem at the beginning happened again in a Gentile house. God put Jew and Gentile on the same footing.
- Unanswerable. God Himself had acted, so no one could stand against Him — not Peter, and not those who questioned him.
If then God has given them the same gift as also to us when we had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who indeed was *I* to be able to forbid God?
Back in Jerusalem, Peter faces a challenge — not for preaching to Gentiles, but for entering their house and eating with them. His answer ends with a question, not an argument. God had already acted. What right had Peter to block Him?
Peter's defence rests on one fact he did not create and could not undo. In the house of Cornelius, the Spirit fell while Peter was still speaking.
Peter then quickly reaches the high point of the evidence of God's working. He tells them that as he began to speak, the Spirit of God fell on those who heard the word, just as He had on the Jewish disciples at Pentecost. He also quotes the Lord's words about the baptism of the Spirit. There is no mistaking the clear power and grace of God controlling this entire matter. This being the case, how could he dare to withstand God by refusing to accept the Gentiles whom God had accepted?
The weight of Peter's case sits on one word: same.
Peter's companions were astonished, "because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles." Why should they have been? Why so slow to rise to the thoughts of God? Peter afterwards said, "God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us" (Acts 11:17). Standing based on natural birth counts for nothing now. Distinctions have no place in Christianity, and salvation is open to all, whether Jew or Gentile. "There is no difference."
Yet Peter's own grasp of this had limits.
This goes no further than admitting that blessing is for Gentiles just as truly as for Jews. No one had yet declared the truth of the one body. Paul was the one entrusted with it. God gave him the work of unfolding the heavenly union of all saints with the risen and exalted Head by the Holy Spirit. Peter went no farther than to admit the Gentiles to an equal place with the Jews: "God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us."
Peter attaches the gift to faith, and the order matters.
What led to the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2? They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. What brought in this fullness of blessing in Acts 10? They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. They heard of Jesus, of His death and resurrection, the power of His name, and forgiveness through His name, and, like simple souls, they believed the word, and God gave them the Holy Spirit on the spot. They did not get the Holy Spirit to help them to believe, but they got the Holy Spirit as the seal of their simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cornelius was already a believer before Peter arrived. So what did Peter's visit add?
Again, let us note how clearly this discourse of Peter distinguishes new birth from salvation. Cornelius was certainly born of God before Peter visited him at Caesarea. Even so, Peter had to speak to him words by which he would be saved. It is a serious mistake to suppose that the salvation which he now found is not far beyond new birth. Present salvation is the first foundation privilege of the gospel. To be born again was always true from Abel onwards. But those who are only born again do not enter Christian ground until they receive at least the first and most needed blessing. Christ's finished work entitles every believer to it.
Peter did not ask the Gentiles to sign a statement or pass a test of understanding. He pointed to what God had given them.
The true ground of reception is not the acceptance of certain articles of faith, spoken or understood. Still less is it a measure of understanding about the one body and one Spirit. It is unlikely that a single soul in Jerusalem then grasped that clearly. It is a far weightier fact, the possession of "the same gift". ... To be born again never did suffice. One must have, through faith in Christ as the gospel proclaims Him and His work, the Spirit given to one as a believer.
This was more than a change of policy for Peter. It reached his heart.
What a scene to melt the last bit of legal ice out of the soul of Peter, as he realises how impossible it is for him to withstand God! Truly it is impossible! The floodgates are giving way, and all the fullness of divine love, long held back by the requirements of divine righteousness, is hurrying to show itself.
- Cause: They believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. God did not give the Spirit to help them believe. He gave Him to seal faith already there.
- Gift: The same gift — nothing lesser for the outsider. Distinctions of background have no place in Christianity.
- Reach: Peter granted Gentiles an equal place. Paul later unfolded the fuller truth: all believers joined to the risen Christ as one body.
- Result: New birth was true from Abel onwards. Salvation and the sealing Spirit are more. Cornelius was born of God, and still needed Peter's words.
- Rule: Receive whom God has received. The ground is not shared opinions or maturity. It is the same gift. To refuse it is to withstand God.