Who was the first known gentile convert?

Answer 1

Cornelius

Yes you are right about Cornelius being a devout man and that he was "warned by Angels" and that the "Holy Spirit" was poured out on the Gentiles. It is noted in Acts 10:2 that he was [A] devout [man], and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway, He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. Before all the above happened Corneleus was. And remember this passage is regarding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles with signs following.

However i want to show you an earlier convert. The Centurion at the Cross.

And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. (Mark 15:39)

It is to do with Christ, as the Passover lamb. The last person under the Law to come to know Christ as the "Lamb of God" was this thief at the side of our Lord on that place of the skull, Golgotha. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom was his cry in this time of death. Verily I say unto thee, shalt thou be with me in paradise. Came the Lords reply. This reprobate was the last person to seek Gods salvation under the "Law", his place in time was as one looking forward toward the moment of our Lords Death. His confession was to seek the Lords mercy in his own last hour of need. The Lord was faithful to his promise "Seek and ye shall find"

The Centurion on the other hand was looking back and Heavenwards to the Cross when he believed in his very being and declared with his mouth that …truly this is the Son of God. How could this be when he had just finished helping, this beaten and bloody aggravator of the Jewish leaders, to be nailed to his wooden cross waiting for death. When he had plunged his lance into the side of this stranger. It is finished cried the Christ and gave up the Ghost. But what was finished?

The Centurion knew nothing about a "Passover Lamb" he was a Roman, a gentile. Not the Jewish Law for him. He would have none of that. Yet our Lord was, even in his last breath, fulfilling the words of the Prophets. The Passover was now fulfilled. No more just an expectation but a reality. The law was at last fulfilled. IT IS FINISHED. Grace would now abound. This heathen army man would never know that the veil in the Temple had been rent in two, would never know creation itself was groaning because of the agony of this man's passing. Yet he could now profess that this man was indeed, the Son of the Most High.

The first man to be saved by that Grace was a simple soldier that had done as his orders commanded. Put this "criminal" to death on a wooden cross. Yet in doing this very act he had become one with history and was now written into the pages of a book that he was never to see printed, never to read. No one will ever know his name, only his Lord and Saviour, but we that have the privilege of this book can now see the true impact that this soldiers faith played.

The last one under the Law was a thief on a wooden cross beside his Lord and Master. The first of this "new covenant" was a man that had in some way put the last to death and had been instrumental in the death of his new Lord and master. Yet now this man stood beside, over against, his redeemer, knowing nothing of "the Lamb of God". Knowing nothing of a "Messiah".

This man of Rome that would share the focal point of history only knew that something had happened in his soul when his eyes were opened to look upon this man from Galilee.

The one that he came to know as THE SON OF GOD.

May the God of this Centurion greatly bless you all:

Rakau

Answer 2

The first known gentile convert to Christianity was Cornelius, a Roman centurion, as recorded in The Bible in Acts 10. He was a devout man who received a vision from God instructing him to send for the apostle Peter, who then shared the Gospel with him and his household. This event marked a significant milestone in the early spread of Christianity to non-Jews.