We disagree, of course… what a surprise, right? <smile>Jesus had said this to the apostles before His ascension:
Acts 1:5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The apostles already believed in Christ at this point, yet they were not yet baptized with the Holy Spirit yet. So, that shows that they believed before being baptized by the Spirit rather than it being the case that they believed because they were baptized by the Spirit.
Jesus was referring to what would happen on the day of Pentecost not long from then.
Here's what happened on the day of Pentecost...
Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all [a]with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language......16 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
This is clearly related to the fulfillment of what Jesus had previously told the apostles would happen to them "not many days from now". And it happened to many others on that day as well, of course.
Then, a little after many had already received the Holy Spirit, Peter indicated that repentance, which goes hand in hand with faith, occurs before the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which occurs upon the receiving of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
So, repentance and faith precede the baptism of the Holy Spirit rather than people believing "because they get baptized by the Spirit".
What you say is fair enough, but what I would say, particularly about Acts 1:5 is, Pentecost was a unique, once-for-all event in salvation history that inaugurated the New Covenant church. The baptism Jesus is talking about in Acts 1:5 is not the individual salvific baptism by the Holy Spirit that we receive when we are born again, the baptism John the Baptist is talking about in Matthew 3:11… “I baptize you with water for repentance, but He Who is coming after me is mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
Again, and stated slightly differently, what we see in Acts 1:5 is Christ promising the extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit that would empower the apostles and establish the church. And yes, this is what happened at Pentecost. It’s actually a complete reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel… instead of confusion, everyone heard the Gospel in his own tongue.
As for Acts 2:38, the outward act of baptism is a sign of God’s promise… a sacrament given to us by God to remind us all of God’s granting of salvation and His grace in doing so; it is not conferring of salvation on the baptized (no man can possibly do that), but a calling on God’s promise of salvation through Christ Jesus. In this way it is a 1:1 correlation to the Old Testament sign, circumcision, having replaced the Old Testament sign, as can be seen in Colossians 2:11-12… “In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, Who raised him from the dead.” And as such it is not to be withheld from anyone, regardless of any reason, even age, so even babies... <smile> …”the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off.”
That last bolded part is reeeeeerrally important… <smile> …”the powerful working of God.” Which fits perfectly with what Paul says, too, in Ephesians 2:4-10, particularly “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ~ by grace you have been saved… ~ 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.”
These passages rule out even our belief as the reason for our salvation, because even our belief is “something we do” and therefore by definition a work.
To your final statement that “repentance and faith precede the baptism of the Holy Spirit,” this is kind of a… discombobulated… statement…. I would say, rather, that this baptism by the Spirit and being born again of the Spirit are… well, I’ll say either a) one and the same event… two ways of saying the same thing, or b) simultaneous events… but in either case God’s having mercy and compassion on the person and the conferring of salvation upon us… in God’s own words, through Ezekiel (36:25-27), “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.”
And as I have pointed out many times, Jesus is very clear in John 6, 8, and 10 especially that, we believe because we have received this grace of salvation, because we have been born again of the Spirit and are thus of God and no longer of our former father the devil and only desiring to do his will… that, as He says in John 10 particularly, we believe because we are His sheep, having been given to Him by His Father, and therefore we hear His voice and we know and follow Him… not the other way around. Salvation is from and of the Lord.
Grace and peace to all.
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