Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Agreed. As you said, Iron sharpens iron.
Negative. The Centurion said, "I also am a man under authority..." He meant it was not his authority, but he was under the authority of Caesar. The key is to translate the Greek "Ypo" as "under" (almost all English translations do this). Perhaps you're misapplying the verse, as you say, to support a pet doctrine. In this case, the Centurion was arguably recognizing Jesus as man under the authority of God. He knew that Jesus merely needed to speak a word, and the servants under Him would go forth and heal. Jesus didn't need to go under the man's roof, and be defiled.
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Oh, it is very possible that I am misapplying the verse, but then again; we have two accounts of that incident, right?
Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
Here, Jesus had said to the centurion that He, personally, will come & healed the servant. He did not infer sending a servant or imply a servant underneathe Him to be doing this for Him.
Then the centurion stopped Him and expplained why.
8 The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
So already, the servant acknowledge Him as Lord and explained he was not worthy to come under his roof, but believed that Jesus need only to speak the word, and his servant shall be healed.
Just so you know where I was coming from in my earlier post before we read on to his expounding on his authority in relations to His, but only to confess his faith in Him as God.
9
For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Now maybe you are referring to the incident as given account by in Luke?
Luke 7:1Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house,
the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him,
Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore
neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. 8
For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.
Okay. I can see how you got your perspective on it as if referring to Jesus being also under authority as He was but Matthew's account left out the word also in verse 9, but one could further misread your application further by saying that the centurion just saw Jesus as a man with that "For I also am a man set under authority" and so discernment is needed here since in both incidents, the centurion had acknowledged Him as Lord, but the point of the incident was his faith in Him to give the word and his servant shall be healed that he had impressed Jesus to be marvelled by that centurion's faith.
Now; I could say that Luke's account has some more details in showing how the centurion had spoken unto Jesus by way of his friends; and back again, as it makes sense since his actions matches his message to Jesus, but I believe the word "also" is where I wonder, if left out, his message would be how I was reading it in Matthew's had he said it personally. In other words, with his friends speaking for him, I can understand why they would include the word "also" in his personal message to Him.
Anyway, I can see how we may disagree on this reading of it as surely it seems that the account in Matthew is not the full story, but between the two accounts, it was his faith in acknolwedging Him as Lord and it was his faith that marvelled Jesus that he believed in Him to just say the word for that servant to be healed.
Iur difference is that Matthew's account reported Jesus as saying "
7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him." whereas Luke's account did not. Hopefully, you can see why I believe that statement defers from your application of the reading in Luke's whereas your reading in Luke's account of "8
For I also am a man set under authority,.." whereas the account in Matthew was not applying that word "also" as if referring to Jesus of His authority over servants or to referring Jesus as a man, but as a testimony from his friends that were speaking for the centurion. Had the centuron given the message himself, I believe he would not use the word "also".
It is disturbing to see two accounts deferring in this way, but in essence, how the centurion had spoken is still him speaking; and his faith was shown by his actions; and not just in his words in Luke's, but they both give account that Jesus marvelled at this centurion's faith in Him to point it out to the Jews around Him at that time that for Him to heal the servant, He need not come, but give the word.
So now I understand why we are in a disagreement, but I do have a point about the use of the word "also" in Luke's account since one can misconstrued that the centurion was also referring to Jesus as just a man, when He was not, since the centurion had Him addressed as Lord, personally, and by way of his friends in both accounts to show his faith in Him as God.