Finally, there’s the fact that both Christ and his disciples have the opportunity to tell Roman soldiers who believe in Christ to leave their positions. Neither the centurion in Matt. 8, nor the one in Acts 10, are told, as far as we know, that their soldiering is incompatible with Christian life. Nobody brings it up. This is pretty different from what happens with the woman taken in adultery (“Go and sin no more”) or the rich young man who is told to leave his wealth behind. This is, of course, another argument from silence, and so I don’t want to put too much weight on it; but it’s striking nonetheless, and becomes more striking when you look at some of the stuff I’ll discuss below under the heading LIVES OF THE SAINTS.

Professor Work’s take on these matters: “During his ministry, Jesus doesn’t seem overly concerned about discipling Gentiles. (John the Baptist’s request in Luke 3:10-14 for centurions not to be corrupt belongs to an even earlier stage of eschatological pre-fulfillment, so it is no use either.)

“Now Cornelius the centurion might be another matter (Acts 10). However, we never learn what becomes of him after the Holy Spirit falls on him and he turns into a Pentecostal (Acts 10:44-48). He drops off the radar. We’ll have to wait to see whether he became a Mennonite or a Constantinian. With Pentecostals, you never can tell.”