Note 2 at Ac 10:2: Cornelius was a very godly man, but that was not enough. He had to believe the Gospel, and that's why the angel instructed him to send for Peter. His holiness paid him dividends in the sense that the Lord responded and sent someone who shared with him the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. However, if he had refused to believe on Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins, trusting instead in his performance to make him accepted by God, he would have "split hell wide open."