Paradoxes in the Character of the Centurion
Luke 7:1-10
Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.…


He was —

1. A soldier accustomed to scenes of bloodshed, yet preserving, amid all the hardening tendencies of his profession, a tender heart.

2. A slave-owner, yet solicitous for the welfare of his slave.

3. A representative of the usurping power, yet one who had secured the respect and affection of the leaders of the subjugated people among whom he lived.

4. A proselyte to the religion of Israel, yet more truly religious than the people whose religion he had adopted.

5. A Pagan by birth, a Jew by conversion, a Christian by faith. "The first heathen man of whom we read, that he acknowledged Christ." Learn that a true religious faith is able to overcome in the man who possesses it the untoward influences of

(a)  birth;

(b)  training:

(c)  calling;

(d)  circumstances.

(J. R. Bailey.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

WEB: After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum.




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