True Acceptance with God

We can and should view the conversion of Cornelius et al as symbolic of the great shift which was occurring in God's economy; but it is just as important that we learn from his individual salvation as a God fearer. Was his religious lifestyle acceptable to God? Are there shades of acceptance with God, or is salvation a discrete matter—one is either "in" or "out"? Cornelius may have been well known for his God-fearing life, but he needed to be saved by the blood of Christ, and God saw to it that the gospel was taken to his house. There quickly followed faith and receipt of the Holy Spirit, and this was immediately portrayed in the application of water to the converted audience in the rite of baptism.