Hi Susan,

First, I would still disagree that presumptive generation means the visible and invisible church are the same, but in any event ...

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The reason I don't think Cornelius was saved already was that he didn't have the Holy Spirit indwelling him and Paul says that without the Holy Spirit, we are not God's children.

Well, I don't have a lot of time or energy to write a response that would do justice to this topic (perhaps Pilgrim has an article here that deals with this more thoroughly), but the particular form in which the Spirit is operating in that Acts passage does not deal so much with regeneration, it is the fulfillment of the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit that resulted in charismatic gifts bearing witness to the apostolic testimony. Acts 1:8 begins with Jesus preparing the apostles for the coming of His promise given in the upper room discourse of John (chapters 14 and 15).

Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Now, we would expect that the apostles were converted men by this time, yet the receiving of the Spirit was a peculiar gift that was to be given to bear witness to the apostolic testimony. They themselves receive the Spirit (in this sense) at Pentecost in Acts 2. As the ministry of the apostles expanded over the territories mentioned in Acts 1:8, we see the Spirit being poured out upon those who receive the apostolic testimony. Notice in Acts 8:

14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.(Acts 8:14 - 17)

The apostles were sent to an area where there were already believers in order to confer this particular gift of the Spirit. It is my understanding that it was only under the direct ministry of the apostles that this gift was given (it was not passed down), and we see another example of it in Acts 19:

Acts 19:1 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." 3 And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." 4 Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:1 - 6)

Other Scriptures support this idea of the peculiar gift of the Spirit accompanying the apostolic testimony, for they are called "signs of an apostle" (2 Corinthians 12:12) and in Hebrews we read that signs and wonders bore witness to what was testified by those who heard Christ:

3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? (Hebrews 2:3 - 4)

So, if we look at the situation with Cornelius, it fits right into this pattern of miraculous revelatory gifts being poured out to bear witness to the apostolic message rather than the converting work of the Spirit.

I suppose more examples and a fuller outline could be made, but hopefully that gives you an idea as to where I am coming from.

Sincerely in Christ,

~Jason