A Study by Scott Sperling
Matthew 8:5-13 -
The Faith of the Centurion
5
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help.
6
“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”
7
Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”
8
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do
not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my
servant will be healed.
9
For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers
under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I
say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10
When Jesus heard this, He was
astonished and said to those following Him, “I tell you the truth, I have not
found anyone in Israel with such great faith.
11
I say to you that many will come
from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
12
But the subjects of the kingdom will
be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.”
13
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you
believed it would.” And His servant was healed at that very hour.
Matthew, showing that Jesus had the authority to say what He said in the Sermon
on the Mount, continues to recount some of the miracles that Jesus performed. The
next miracle was performed on behalf of a centurion: “When Jesus had entered
Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘my
servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.’ Jesus said to him, ‘I will
go and heal him.’ The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you
come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed’” (vss.
5–8). From these few verses, there is much commendable we can say concerning
this centurion. First, he showed great care for his servant, humbling himself to ask
Jesus to heal the servant. We too should show such care for others, helping them in
their needs, even those who, from a worldly point of view are “below” us. Second,
he went to the best possible place for help for his servant: to Jesus Christ, Lord of
the Universe. We too should seek help from the Lord Jesus Christ first, bringing
our needs and the needs of others before Him, with the faith that He can tend to
our needs. Third, he came to the Lord in humility. From a worldly point of view,
the centurion was in a position of authority over Jesus. But he humbly came before
Jesus, stating his request, and acknowledging that he did not even deserve to have
Jesus in his house. And we too should come to the Lord in humility,
acknowledging our unworthiness as sinners before Him who alone is worthy in the
eyes of God.
Then also, the centurion showed great faith that Jesus could heal his servant
without even coming near his servant: “But just say the word, and my servant will
be healed.” The centurion explained the rationale for his faith: “For I myself am a
man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes;
and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does
it.” (vs. 9). The centurion applied his understanding of the rules of authority in the
Roman guard in order to understand how Jesus’ authority works. The centurion
was a subordinate commander, so he knew well what it was both to command and
to be commanded. He understood that true authority and power comes not from
within oneself, but from being under the authority of someone greater than oneself.
For example, the authority that the centurion had over people came from the fact
that (ultimately) the Roman emperor stood behind his authority. Thus, the
centurion was, in effect, vested with the authority of the Roman emperor: people
obeyed the centurion as if they were obeying the emperor. In the same way, the
centurion understood that Jesus is under the authority of God the Father, the
Creator of the Universe. Thus, Jesus has authority over the Creation, just as God
does. Given this, the centurion correctly reasoned, Jesus could command the forces
of nature such that his servant would be healed. The centurion realized the Jesus’
healing power was not magic and did not depend on ritual, but was power as given
under the authority of the Father.
“When Jesus heard this, He was astonished and said to those following Him, ‘I
tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith’” (vs.
10). Some may be surprised that Jesus, God in the flesh, was “astonished”.
However, Jesus, having come as a man to earth, was limited in His knowledge
when He walked the earth. “Jesus [could be ‘astonished’] as a man, while as God
nothing could [‘astonish’] Him. It is only the same difficulty that we meet with in
such facts as His growing in wisdom (see Luke 2:52), and His not knowing the day
and hour (Mark 13:32)” [Broadus, 179]. “Though amazement is not appropriate for
God, seeing it must arise from new and unexpected happenings, yet it could occur
in Christ, inasmuch as He had taken on our human emotions, along with our flesh”
[Calvin, cited in Morris, 194].
Jesus was all the more “astonished” because the man who showed so much faith
was not a Jew, but a Roman centurion. One of Jesus’ primary missions on earth
was to be the Messiah to the Jews and to fulfill the Old Testament Messianic
prophecies. Yet, sadly, as Jesus told those following Him: “I tell you the truth, I
have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”
The lack of faith of the Jews would have dire consequences for those who did not
believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah: “I say to you that many will come from
the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be
thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth” (vss. 11–12). Many Jews thought that mere descendency from the patriarchs
“Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” earned them entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
But Jesus here explicitly teaches us that many of the original “subjects of the
kingdom”, the descendants of “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, because of their lack of
faith, “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.” “The centurion comes from the camp to Christ, and the
Israelite goes from the synagogue to hell. The harlot bows at Jesus’ feet a penitent,
while the self-righteous Pharisee rejects the great salvation.” [Spurgeon, 90]. Let us
note here that there are only two choices: the kingdom of heaven, and the outer
darkness. And one’s final destination is tied to his faith in the power of Jesus
Christ. Faith in Jesus as the Messiah to the Jews, and the Savior of all, leads to the
“feast” in the kingdom of heaven. Rejection of Jesus Christ leads to the outer
darkness. We may differ on our understanding concerning what hell is
like—whether it is literally a burning fire or not—but let us understand clearly that,
whatever the specifics of hell may be, hell is always described in the Bible as a place
of great torment and suffering.
The immediate result of the centurion’s faith was the healing of his servant: “Then
Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.’
And His servant was healed at that very hour.” (vs. 13). Jesus, though He had the
power to heal all who were afflicted, chose often to respond to faith. And He
responded to faith, not only in the act of healing, but also in the manner of healing.
Had the faith of the centurion been weaker, Jesus was prepared to go to his house
and lay hands on the servant (see vs. 7). Because the centurion had strong faith in
the absolute power of Jesus over sickness, Jesus responded to his faith and healed
the servant immediately, without going to the centurion’s house, or even seeing the
suffering servant. So even now, Jesus chooses often to respond to our faith, when
we pray for need. Thus, it is very important to strengthen our faith in the power of
Christ, in the sovereignty of God, through meditation, and through study of the
Bible, which chronicles His wonderful works.
———————————————————————
Bibliography and Suggested Reading
Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to Matthew. New York: Charles
Scribner Publishers, 1861.
Broadus, John. Commentary on Matthew. Philadelphia: American Baptist
Publication Society, 1886.
Calvin, John. Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke. 3
Vols. Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846. (Originally published in Latin in
1555).
Carson, D. A. “Matthew” from The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII, ed. by
Frank Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
Clarke, Adam. The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Vol. I. New York: G.
Lane & C. B. Tippett, 1846. (Originally published in 1831).
Dickson, David. A Brief Exposition of the Evangel of Jesus Christ According to Matthew.
Cornhill, U.K.: Ralph Smith, 1651.
Exell, Joseph S. and Henry Donald Spence-Jones, eds. The Pulpit Commentary. Vols.
33 & 34. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1884.
Henry, Matthew. An Exposition of All the Books of the Old and New Testament. Vol. IV.
London: W. Baynes, 1806. (Originally published in 1710).
Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. A Commentary: Critical,
Experimental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments. Glasgow: William Collins,
Queen’s Printer, 1863.
Lange, John Peter, ed. and Philip Schaff, trans. A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures:
Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical. New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1865.
Morgan, G. Campbell. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: Revell,
1929.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdman’s, 1992.
Ryle, J. C. Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew. New York: Robert
Carter & Brothers, 1857.
Spurgeon, Charles. The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular Exposition of the Gospel
According to Matthew. New York: The Baker and Taylor Co., 1893.
Thomas, David. The Genius of the Gospel: A Homiletical Commentary on the Gospel of
St. Matthew. London: Dickinson & Higham, 1873.
------------
Most of these books, those in the public domain, can be downloaded free of charge
from:
http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com
© 1994-2018, Scott Sperling
A Study by Scott Sperling
Matthew 8:5-13 -
The Faith of the Centurion
5
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion
came to him, asking for help.
6
“Lord,” he said, “my
servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible
suffering.”
7
Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal
him.”
8
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve
to have you come under my roof. But just say the
word, and my servant will be healed.
9
For I myself
am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I
tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’
and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he
does it.”
10
When Jesus heard this, He was astonished
and said to those following Him, “I tell you the truth,
I have not found anyone in Israel with such great
faith.
11
I say to you that many will come from the
east and the west, and will take their places at the
feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven.
12
But the subjects of the kingdom will be
thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13
Then Jesus
said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you
believed it would.” And His servant was healed at
that very hour.
Matthew, showing that Jesus had the authority to say
what He said in the Sermon on the Mount, continues
to recount some of the miracles that Jesus performed.
The next miracle was performed on behalf of a
centurion: “When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a
centurion came to him, asking for help. ‘Lord,’ he
said, ‘my servant lies at home paralyzed and in
terrible suffering.’ Jesus said to him, ‘I will go and
heal him.’ The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not
deserve to have you come under my roof. But just
say the word, and my servant will be healed’” (vss.
5–8). From these few verses, there is much
commendable we can say concerning this centurion.
First, he showed great care for his servant, humbling
himself to ask Jesus to heal the servant. We too should
show such care for others, helping them in their needs,
even those who, from a worldly point of view are
“below” us. Second, he went to the best possible place
for help for his servant: to Jesus Christ, Lord of the
Universe. We too should seek help from the Lord
Jesus Christ first, bringing our needs and the needs of
others before Him, with the faith that He can tend to
our needs. Third, he came to the Lord in humility.
From a worldly point of view, the centurion was in a
position of authority over Jesus. But he humbly came
before Jesus, stating his request, and acknowledging
that he did not even deserve to have Jesus in his house.
And we too should come to the Lord in humility,
acknowledging our unworthiness as sinners before
Him who alone is worthy in the eyes of God.
Then also, the centurion showed great faith that Jesus
could heal his servant without even coming near his
servant: “But just say the word, and my servant will
be healed.” The centurion explained the rationale for
his faith: “For I myself am a man under authority,
with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he
goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my
servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (vs. 9). The
centurion applied his understanding of the rules of
authority in the Roman guard in order to understand
how Jesus’ authority works. The centurion was a
subordinate commander, so he knew well what it was
both to command and to be commanded. He
understood that true authority and power comes not
from within oneself, but from being under the
authority of someone greater than oneself. For
example, the authority that the centurion had over
people came from the fact that (ultimately) the Roman
emperor stood behind his authority. Thus, the
centurion was, in effect, vested with the authority of
the Roman emperor: people obeyed the centurion as if
they were obeying the emperor. In the same way, the
centurion understood that Jesus is under the authority
of God the Father, the Creator of the Universe. Thus,
Jesus has authority over the Creation, just as God does.
Given this, the centurion correctly reasoned, Jesus
could command the forces of nature such that his
servant would be healed. The centurion realized the
Jesus’ healing power was not magic and did not
depend on ritual, but was power as given under the
authority of the Father.
“When Jesus heard this, He was astonished and said
to those following Him, ‘I tell you the truth, I have
not found anyone in Israel with such great faith’” (vs.
10). Some may be surprised that Jesus, God in the
flesh, was “astonished”. However, Jesus, having come
as a man to earth, was limited in His knowledge when
He walked the earth. “Jesus [could be ‘astonished’] as
a man, while as God nothing could [‘astonish’] Him.
It is only the same difficulty that we meet with in such
facts as His growing in wisdom (see Luke 2:52), and
His not knowing the day and hour (Mark 13:32)”
[Broadus, 179]. “Though amazement is not
appropriate for God, seeing it must arise from new
and unexpected happenings, yet it could occur in
Christ, inasmuch as He had taken on our human
emotions, along with our flesh” [Calvin, cited in
Morris, 194].
Jesus was all the more “astonished” because the man
who showed so much faith was not a Jew, but a
Roman centurion. One of Jesus’ primary missions on
earth was to be the Messiah to the Jews and to fulfill
the Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Yet, sadly, as
Jesus told those following Him: “I tell you the truth, I
have not found anyone in Israel with such great
faith.”
The lack of faith of the Jews would have dire
consequences for those who did not believe in Jesus
Christ as their Messiah: “I say to you that many will
come from the east and the west, and will take their
places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in
the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the
kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”
(vss. 11–12). Many Jews thought that mere
descendency from the patriarchs “Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob” earned them entrance into the kingdom of
heaven. But Jesus here explicitly teaches us that many
of the original “subjects of the kingdom”, the
descendants of “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, because
of their lack of faith, “will be thrown outside, into the
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.” “The centurion comes from the camp to
Christ, and the Israelite goes from the synagogue to
hell. The harlot bows at Jesus’ feet a penitent, while
the self-righteous Pharisee rejects the great salvation.”
[Spurgeon, 90]. Let us note here that there are only
two choices: the kingdom of heaven, and the outer
darkness. And one’s final destination is tied to his
faith in the power of Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus as the
Messiah to the Jews, and the Savior of all, leads to the
“feast” in the kingdom of heaven. Rejection of Jesus
Christ leads to the outer darkness. We may differ on
our understanding concerning what hell is
like—whether it is literally a burning fire or not—but
let us understand clearly that, whatever the specifics of
hell may be, hell is always described in the Bible as a
place of great torment and suffering.
The immediate result of the centurion’s faith was the
healing of his servant: “Then Jesus said to the
centurion, ‘Go! It will be done just as you believed it
would.’ And His servant was healed at that very
hour.” (vs. 13). Jesus, though He had the power to
heal all who were afflicted, chose often to respond to
faith. And He responded to faith, not only in the act of
healing, but also in the manner of healing. Had the
faith of the centurion been weaker, Jesus was prepared
to go to his house and lay hands on the servant (see vs.
7). Because the centurion had strong faith in the
absolute power of Jesus over sickness, Jesus responded
to his faith and healed the servant immediately,
without going to the centurion’s house, or even seeing
the suffering servant. So even now, Jesus chooses
often to respond to our faith, when we pray for need.
Thus, it is very important to strengthen our faith in the
power of Christ, in the sovereignty of God, through
meditation, and through study of the Bible, which
chronicles His wonderful works.
———————————————————————
Bibliography and Suggested Reading
Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to
Matthew. New York: Charles Scribner Publishers, 1861.
Broadus, John. Commentary on Matthew. Philadelphia:
American Baptist Publication Society, 1886.
Calvin, John. Commentary on a Harmony of the
Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke. 3 Vols.
Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1846.
(Originally published in Latin in 1555).
Carson, D. A. “Matthew” from The Expositor’s Bible
Commentary, Vol. VIII, ed. by Frank Gaebelein. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.
Clarke, Adam. The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Vol. I. New York: G. Lane & C. B. Tippett,
1846. (Originally published in 1831).
Dickson, David. A Brief Exposition of the Evangel of Jesus
Christ According to Matthew. Cornhill, U.K.: Ralph
Smith, 1651.
Exell, Joseph S. and Henry Donald Spence-Jones, eds.
The Pulpit Commentary. Vols. 33 & 34. New York: Funk
& Wagnalls Company, 1884.
Henry, Matthew. An Exposition of All the Books of the
Old and New Testament. Vol. IV. London: W. Baynes,
1806. (Originally published in 1710).
Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. A
Commentary: Critical, Experimental, and Practical on the
Old and New Testaments. Glasgow: William Collins,
Queen’s Printer, 1863.
Lange, John Peter, ed. and Philip Schaff, trans. A
Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal,
and Homiletical. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.,
1865.
Morgan, G. Campbell. The Gospel According to
Matthew. Grand Rapids: Revell, 1929.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Grand
Rapids: Eerdman’s, 1992.
Ryle, J. C. Expository Thoughts on the Gospels:
Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1857.
Spurgeon, Charles. The Gospel of the Kingdom: A
Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew.
New York: The Baker and Taylor Co., 1893.
Thomas, David. The Genius of the Gospel: A Homiletical
Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. London:
Dickinson & Higham, 1873.
------------
Most of these books, those in the public domain, can be
downloaded free of charge from:
http://www.ClassicChristianLibrary.com
