What is Acts 10:44-46 talking about? Some people use this scripture to
support that baptism is NOT neccessary for salvation, but I belief that
baptism is indeed necessary for salvation.

The context of Acts 10:44-46 is that this is the event through which God
was able to convince Peter that salvation was for the Gentiles and not
just for the Jews. Up to this point, as far as we know, the apostles had
only offered the gospel to Jewish people. This is true despite the fact
that Jesus had taught again and again that the gospel was for “all
nations” (quoting Matthew 28:18). The Jewish disciples of Jesus were
extremely biased; so much so that it never entered their heads that God
wanted all men to be saved (1 Tim 2;4)! God knew that even Peter would
strongly resist the teaching that Gentiles could be saved. In order to
make it unmistakeably plain, God caused Peter to have a vision in which
God told him to eat “unclean” food (ie unclean under the Mosaic law). God
caused the vision to happen three times (Acts 10:10-16), presumably
because he knew how difficult a teaching this would be for Peter. As a
final proof of God’s intention to offer salvation to the Gentiles, he had
the Holy Spirit fall on Cornelius and the others with him “as he had come
on us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15). As Peter answered to his Jewish
critics in Acts 11, when asked why he had offered baptism to the Gentiles,
he explained that God had proved it was his intention to offer salvation
to the Gentiles. His proof was that God caused the Holy Spirit fall on
Cornelius and his friends just like it had in Acts 2 when the Spirit fell
on the apostles. This has to be what Peter is referring to in Acts 11:15.

The explicit comparison Peter makes between the miraculous outpouring of
the Holy Spirit in Acts 10 and Acts 2 is the key to understanding Acts
10:44-46. Without this parallel, it might be possible to confuse the
miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-46 and Acts 2:1-4)
with the promised gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39). The
Bible promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, a deposit guaranteeing our
salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14), for anyone who repents of their sin and is
baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38-39). It definitely does NOT promise the
miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit, with its accompanying speaking
in toungues, fire and wind, to everyone. The events in Acts 2 and 10 were
special outpourings of the Holy Spirit which God caused as a way to
announce the offer of a new covenant, first to the Jews (Acts 2), then to
the Gentiles (Acts 10).

To summarize, in Acts 10:44-46, the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his
companions, as it had “at the beginning.” This remarkable fact is what
convinced Peter that salvation was for the Gentiles too. Upon witnessing
the miracle, he finally accepted God’s plan. Peter offered baptism to
Cornelius and his friends. Based on Acts 2:38-39, we can only assume that
those who were baptized in the name of Jesus that day also received the
promised gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, even though the passage does
not specifically mention this fact.

John Oakes