Epaminides, Lewis, and the Vantilians, April 9th, 2025.

One of the difficulties that hampers our efforts in apologetics is an unfortunate tendency that we have in projecting New Testament categories back into the Old Testament.

What this amounts to is that Christians

tend to make a simple equation between Jew and Gentile in the Old Testament as being equivalent

to Christian and non-Christian in the New Testament era. But this is simply not the case. In the New

Testament era, because the Church is not Catholic and universal, it is necessary for everyone who wants to be

saved to come to Christ for that salvation.

They must call upon Him, and when they do, they have a responsibility to then be baptized

in order to come into the visible Church.

The elect among them are part of the Invisible Church.

Neither is their salvation in any other, for there's none of the name

under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 412. In short, those who want to be

saved today need to become Christians, but was it necessary for those who wanted to be saved

in the Old Testament to become Jews? Well, not a bit of it, Old Testament Goyim. We have multiple examples of Gentiles trusting in the

God of the Jews, but without becoming Jews themselves. For ease of reference, let me pack just some of them

into one paragraph for you. We have name in the Syrian, Luke 427, and after his conversion, 2nd

Kings 517, he was even given permission to push his master's wheelchair into the House of Rimen, 2nd Kings 518.

We have the King of Nineveh and all his people, Jonah 3, 6, and following.

We have Jethro, the priest of Midian, Exodus 3-1.

We have Melchizedek, a Canaanite priest, and type of Christ, to whom Abraham paid tithes,

Genesis 14, 18, Hebrews 7, 1, and 2.

David stored the Ark of the Covenant at the House of a Gentile, Obed Edom, 2nd Samuel 610,

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