The various miraculous (grace) "gifts" charis-ma of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12) were to be "coveted, desired", but notice that the Spirit distributed these individually. The Spirit decided which of these miraculous individual grace gifts was given: "to whomever" (1 Corinthians 12:11).   On the other hand, there are non-miraculous grace gifts from the Holy Spirit just as there were miraculous grace gifts.   One of them is even a “more excellent” grace that will abide after the various miraculous grace gifts (e.g., prophesy) have ceased (1 Corinthians 13:9,10).   This excellent one is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).  "But now we still have faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love."  These "plural" grace gifts we appropriate to ourselves by our choice.   But the source is the Holy Spirit.  "Because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us" (Romans 5:5).   Notice the language as used: the Holy Spirit is given to us as the medium of shedding forth to us the love of God within our hearts.   Love like faith is a grace gift of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 8:7; 1 Timothy 1:14).   What is given (presents; gifts; things) through or by the Holy Spirit is referred to also as "giving the Holy Spirit": Acts 15:8; Acts 10:45; Acts 11:17; John 20:22; 1 Corinthians 2:12.  

Acts 2:38’s verb is a different grammatical voice than Acts 10:45 and Acts 2:1-4. Although voice is not always clear in English, the Greek is very specific by their endings. While the gift given in Acts 2:1-4 and Acts 10:45 by Jesus is passive (which means that the recipients received the gift without the statement considering any activity on their part). The gift of Acts 2:38 is active (middle deponent but still active) which means that the recipients had to actively pursue the getting [receiving] of the gift for themselves. Middle voice is something one does for one's self. For example, the soldiers at the cross divided Jesus’ garments among themselves (Matthew 27:35). That is, they diamerizo-^G1266 "divided for themselves" (Aorist MIDDLE Indicative). The deponent ending [in Greek] underscores it being active.   I've heard preachers proclaim that accepting the gift offered in Acts 2:38, does not mean that you don't do anything: you still have to do something; i.e., you have to "accept" it. Actually, that's exactly what Peter said we have to do [in the Greek]. "Receive for yourselves the gift of the Holy Spirit." I say "we" because Peter so instructs in verse 39.

Remember in the previous verse (Acts 2:37) the audience begged, "What shall we do?"   In the text, they were accused of being in the state of sin; their promised Savior (verse 21), their Messianic King, the Lord Jesus, had been slain, crucified by them (the Jewish nation). Peter said in verse 38 that they were to do three things.   (1) Repent.   (2) Be baptized.  And contrary to what some interpret, Peter did not say that this would equal receiving anything. He didn't say that they would receive the same portion of gift of the Holy Spirit as the apostles had received.  The conjunction "and" is not equivalent to "equals."   It is not "Repent and be baptized equals receiving" (passive) in the text.   "And" in this text is a coordinating conjunction in both Greek and English and means "in addition to"; i.e., you must do something else.  The third part of the answer by the apostle then is (3) "You shall accept (i.e., receive, take, etc.) the gift of the Holy Spirit." They were to reach out as it were and receive the gift being offered by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter.   This is what "receive" in the middle voice in Greek means.  1 Corinthians 6:11 uses being baptism in the same way. I have pointed this out below.   In English it is easier to understand if we add the prepositional phrase "for yourselves."   The only thing that they actively "got" (accepted or received) in the context of Acts 2:38f was the revelation of the Spirit as was prophesied by the prophet Joel (verse 41-42) and preached by the apostles (i.e., "received for themselves the Word"*).

“MIDDLE VOICE” CAN BE AND IS USED TO IDENTIFY ONE’S OBEDIENCE. Compare the grammatical voice of the verb “receiving” to that of obeying baptism. 1 Corinthians 6:11-- "And such were some of you: but ye are washed*, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
        Water baptism in this verse i.e., "ye are washed", is the only verb listed that is middle ("doing something for oneself"). The Greek scholar A.T. Robinson in his Word Pictures comments, "First aorist middle indicative, not passive, of apolouō." On the other hand, the actions that God does to one according to this passage (1 Corinthians 6:11) are "passive" from the man’s point of view. See the difference? We cannot justify ourselves; we cannot sanctify ourselves. That’s in God’s realm of actions. God does that when we obey Him; in this passage the action of one’s obedience is the “being baptized” in water (washed; cf. Acts 10:47,48). Receiving the Word would be understood. The Acts 3 Jerusalem audience is not said to be baptized but they are specifically said to actively receive the Word: "Hearing and believing the Word" (Acts 4:4) are BOTH active verbs. When one hears the Word properly it shall be received by believing it and obeyed (including the "be baptized" command). That's what the Pentecost obedient did (Acts 2:41). Since the 5000 plus in Acts 3 believed Peter's other sermon, they apparently received (1) the Spirit's gift, the Word, (2) repented and (3) were baptized.

Please visit my article on this subject,
http://biblestudylessons.net/articles/8_27_15acts%202_38%20receive.html. *the Greek words translated “receive” (vv. 38, 41) are synonyms and both are properly translated "receive" while both are middle deponent verbs. This is interesting since to properly translate it into English, one must tell himself that this receiving is the action of the subject person.