That God allows Gentiles to be adopted into the Commonwealth of Israel and thereby to qualify for salvation was brought out during Peter’s visit with Cornelius (Acts 10:9-16,28). That Gentiles must leave their religions and embrace God’s religion in order to be saved is brought out in Romans 11:11-24 where Paul tells Gentiles that they must be broken off from their “wild olive tree” (Gentile religions) and be grafted into God’s “good olive tree” (His church). The spiritual route Gentiles must take to receive eternal life was perfectly personified by Ruth the Edomite when she rejected her Gentile religion and embrace Naomi’s Israelite religion. Her total spiritual change was revealed by her words spoken to Naomi: “Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.” Having rejected her Gentile past and having been adopted into the Israelite tribal system, God then used this former pagan to become the mother of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David from whom would come Israel’s Savior.

The spiritual condition of Gentiles prior to being broken off their pagan “tree” and grafted into God’s “tree” is brought out in Ephesians 2:11-13 and 1 Corinthians 12:2 where Paul reminded both groups that they had at one time been Gentiles who had been without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants (plural), without hope and without God in the world. This changed when they, as did Ruth, made Israel’s God their God and His religion their religion.

That God established the New Covenant with the 12 tribes of Israel is brought out in Joel 2:27-29, Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12. This was accomplished by the apostles as they went “into all the world” (Mat. 28:19) to seek out the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel (Mat. 10:6). Their ministry to God’s lost sheep cost them their lives. That Paul knew he would die for the House of Israel is brought out in his statement made when he was on trial for preaching God’s Word: “For the hope of Israel I am in these chains” (Acts 28:20/Rom. 10:1). In Scripture two groups of people are called “Gentiles” relative to the church: 1) Biological Israelites who had become Gentilized from living among them, and 2) biological Gentiles who have come to Israel’s light (Jn. 7:35/Eph. 2:11/Mic. 5:8/ Isa. 60:3). L.J.