Peter now seizes on the similarity of the coming of the Spirit to Cornelius's household and the Spirit's coming to the disciples at Pentecost. He points to the divine origin and the salvation-history significance of the Pentecost experience by remembering Jesus' words of promise (Acts 1:5; compare Lk 3:16). John's baptism of repentance, in preparation for the coming of the Messiah at the last day, would be superseded by the Spirit's baptism, inaugurating the presence of the salvation blessings of that last day. At Pentecost, Peter says, we experienced this same gift, the Holy Spirit himself (Acts 10:45-47; 15:7-11; compare 2:38; 8:20), by meeting only one condition: belief in the Lord Jesus Christ (15:7, 11; compare 2:44; 4:4, 32; 8:12; 10:43). If Cornelius's household has received this gift without being circumcised, then Gentiles too must be acceptable to God on the same condition.

To refuse to incorporate the Gentile believers into the church via baptism and full table fellowship would be to thwart God's purposes. Peter cannot, indeed he would not be able to, stand in the way of God (NIV's Who was I to think that I could oppose God? makes explicit the element of judgment; see comment at 10:47). It was incumbent upon Peter, if he was to follow God's lead, to treat these Gentiles as full brothers and sisters in Christ by accepting their hospitality and eating with them.

As with the Samaritans (8:14-17), the external manifestation of the Spirit's coming and presence serves a limited though vital purpose in salvation history. It should not be taken as a normative pattern for all Christians in all times and places. This time the Spirit comes before any profession of faith or water baptism, demonstrating that God the knower of all hearts has indeed cleansed these Gentiles' hearts by faith, making them fit to receive the Holy Spirit. Not only does this sequence of events convince Jewish Christians of the soundness of Gentile conversions, it also links the Spirit's coming to conversion so as to call into question any view of baptism of the Spirit as an experience subsequent to conversion/regeneration (see note at 1:5).