On the day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter told those who believed that in order to have their sins remitted they must submit to the rite of water baptism:

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"(Acts 2:38).

As noted earlier, the "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" was in regard to bringing the nation of Israel back into "fellowship" with the Lord. Likewise, the various ordinances under the law were the means whereby an "individual" could be restored to "fellowship" with the Lord.

Philip W. Grossman writes that "It cannot be emphasized too strongly that 'the law of animal sacrifices,' in the words of Dr. Chafer, 'was the divinely appointed means for a Jew in the Old Testament—one who was already in a covenant relation with God—to be restored to a fellowship which had been broken by sin.' In other words, these ceremonial sacrifices performed by the priests teach what we may call restoration truth, not salvation truth. Just as 1 Jn. 1:9 does not teach salvation but tells how a saved person, a Christian whose fellowship with God has been interrupted by sin, may have that fellowship restored by confessing, so also the Jew who was one of God's own could be brought back to the place of fellowship, after he had wandered away, and that by bringing the appropriate sacrifice. Thus while we can see today that the blood of bulls and goats was a figure of the blood of Jesus Christ which is able to 'cleanse us from all unrighteousness,' the ministries of the priest had a present purpose for the Jew other than that as serving as a figure of the saving work of Christ" [emphasis added] (Grossman, "Jewish Anticipation of the Cross," Bibliotheca Sacra, July 1949, Vol. 106, #423, pp.367-368).

As Grossman points out, the sacrifices under the law were in regard to being restored back into fellowship with the Lord. He correctly states that "Just as 1 Jn. 1:9 does not teach salvation but tells how a saved person, a Christian whose fellowship with God has been interrupted by sin, may have that fellowship restored by confessing."

Just as 1 John 1:9 tells how restoration to fellowship is achieved by "confession" we can also understand that the "baptism of repentance" was also a "confession" of sins:

"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand...Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins" (Mt.3:1-2,5-6).

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

Here we can see that the believer must first submit to the rite of water baptism before he could receive the "gift of the Holy Spirit." Does this mean that the gift is the Holy Spirit or does this speak of a gift that is bestowed by the Holy Spirit? Let us look at the following verse that speaks of multiple gifts that were bestowed by the Holy Spirit:

"God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?" (Heb.2:4).

From this we can understand that the Holy Spirit bestowed multiple gifts of one kind or another to believers. At Acts 2:38 the reference is just to one gift. Before the believer could receive a gift bestowed by the Holy Spirit it was necessary for him to submit to the rite of water baptism. And it is not difficult to understand exactly what "gift" of the Spirit was received on that day. In the following verses we can see that the "gift" that was bestowed upon Cornelius and his household was the ability to speak in tongues:

"And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God" (Acts 10:45-46).

This "gift" is among the same gifts which Paul refers to in the following verses:

" Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit...For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues" (1 Cor.12:4,8-10).

Those who submitted to the rite of water baptism on the day of Pentecost received a gift bestowed by the Holy Spirit--the ability to speak in tongues.