In Acts 2, the Lord’s church was established.\u00a0 It’s my understanding that in Acts 10, the Gentiles were officially ushered into the church (with the conversion of Cornelius).\u00a0 My question is: if a Gentile wanted to be saved prior to Acts 10, what was his option?\u00a0 Could a Gentile be baptized and the Lord added him to the church prior to Acts 10?\u00a0 It is my <\/b>understanding that even prior to Acts 2, that if a Gentile wanted to be saved, he would have to proselyte himself (including circumcision).\u00a0 Was this option also his only option, even prior to Acts 10?\u00a0 We have discussed this in our Bible class and are not 100% clear.<\/p>\n
And so, my question is this: if a Gentile wanted to be saved prior to Acts 10 (Cornelius being baptized), did the Gentile have no other option than to become a proselyte?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
The events with Cornelius did not add something new. It proved to those involved that something existed that they overlooked. Gentiles could be saved from the beginning. Those of Jewish background didn’t realize it at first. That isn’t unusual. People tend to talk to people who are similar to themselves.<\/p>\n
That God planned to save the Gentiles with the Jews is shown in Isaiah. “Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth’<\/em>” (Isaiah 49:6). Jesus told the disciples that they would be going to all the world. “Go therefore and\u00a0make disciples of all the nations<\/strong>, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen<\/em>” (Matthew 28:19-20).<\/p>\n The Jews who became Christians had not gotten around to talking to the Gentiles because of their upbringing. God had to give them a nudge to get things started.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: In Acts 2, the Lord’s church was established.\u00a0 It’s my understanding that in Acts 10, the Gentiles were officially ushered into the church (with the conversion of Cornelius).\u00a0 My question is: if a Gentile wanted to be saved prior to Acts 10, what was his option?\u00a0 Could a Gentile be baptized and the Lord…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[276,47],"class_list":["post-36008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-gentiles","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84502,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-baptism-be-refused\/","url_meta":{"origin":36008,"position":0},"title":"Should baptism be refused?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I would need your insights on two questions. We are currently studying baptism, which may seem an unlikely topic for members of the Church of Christ. However, we aim to target some young people who may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-receive-the-holy-spirit-without-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":36008,"position":1},"title":"Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism? Answer: The clear answer to this is \"yes.\" Baptism is a command found in the New Testament, yet people had received the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In addition: \"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20579,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-one-go-to-school-to-be-an-evangelist\/","url_meta":{"origin":36008,"position":2},"title":"Must one go to school to be an evangelist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Must one go to school to become an evangelist? I ask because these guys coming from schools taught you just have to listen to them and that their take on the Scripture is final. I spoke on Ephesians 1:5 at a study that it doesn't teach about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1324,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-cornelius-have-been-an-israelite-of-foreign-birth\/","url_meta":{"origin":36008,"position":3},"title":"Could Cornelius have been an Israelite of foreign birth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This man is used by many as an example of a so-called \"Gentile\" non-Israelite being saved. The place of birth, or citizenship tells us nothing about race. But this man's race can be determined by Scripture, even if he is not described as a \"Jew\" [or \"Judean\"]. In the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-spirit-only-given-to-the-obedient\/","url_meta":{"origin":36008,"position":4},"title":"Is the Spirit only given to the obedient?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In your study on Cornelius, you indicated that receiving the Holy Spirit did not necessarily indicate that a person believed or was saved. You cited the examples of Saul and Balaam as proof, but doesn't\u00a0Acts 5:32\u00a0contradicts this? Answer: The study being referred to is \"Cornelius Received the Holy Spirit.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45635,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-cornelius-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":36008,"position":5},"title":"When Was Cornelius Saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 11:5-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes is it useful to examine the Scriptures in detail, to get more out of an account \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today we will be looking at the conversion of Cornelius, recorded in Acts 10 and recounted in Acts 11. It is also mentioned in Acts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}