Salvation According to Scripture, Contrasted with Oneness Salvation

Oneness Pentecostals love to quote Acts 2:38: "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." They claim that it lays out an ordo salutis ("order of salvation"), in which a man repents of his sins, is then baptized as an act that brings remission of sins, and then receives the Holy Spirit (marked by ecstatic gibbering that they call "speaking in tongues"). They claim that the lack of water baptism as they understand it and of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as they understand it, means that a man cannot be saved.

Not even considering the contradiction of their interpretation - actually, misinterpretation - of Acts 2:38 with the doctrine of salvation in the rest of the Scripture, it is overthrown even by the actions of the Apostles in the Book of Acts.

We see the Apostle Peter (the same speaker as in 2:38) in Caesarea, preaching to the friends and relatives of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48): "While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 'Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days."

So, we have Peter, preaching to a crowd of Gentiles, but the events aren't in the order of 2:38. The Gentiles heard the word preached, believed, received the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues, and then were baptized. If we assumed the Oneness interpretation, then we would have to claim that these Gentiles received the Holy Spirit before they were saved! Can even Oneness believers suggest any such thing?

However, there is no such conflict with the biblical Gospel: "By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Unlike the Oneness perversion of Acts 2:38, salvation in the Bible is by grace through faith, not by baptism or any other ritual or action of men. And then the believer receives the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13, John 7:39), without any gibbering (speaking in tongues having been temporary). Then he is baptized upon professing his faith in the church (we aren't addressing infant baptism here).