Under Authority: The Centurions of Scripture - Our Essential Ensample
Matthew 8:10
“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.”King James Version (KJV)
Under Authority: The Centurions of Scripture - Our Essential Ensample
All scripture quoted from the King James Bible.
Thesis
The King James Bible never commands a soldier to lay down his post. Every centurion it names is shown with honour: one for faith greater than any in Israel, one for confessing the Son of God at the cross, one as the first Gentile household received into the church, and others for protecting the apostle Paul. A Christian who serves under rightful authority, as the centurion did, is not committing sin by his service. He stands in the line of the very men Jesus Christ commended.
Essential Background Studies
This study builds on my earlier works The Third Heaven Traveler (thethirdheaventraveler.com):
- Seeing Him Who Is Invisible: the Roman centurion
- Corollary to the Faith of the Roman Centurion
- The Song of Moses: corollary garland study
- Created to Work, Saved to Rest
- The Age and the Time of the Gentiles
- To Understand the Abrahamic Covenant Is to Understand the Mystery
Personal Testimony and Disclaimer
"There is a strong push of people, Christians, even Christians, saying, hey, if you serve in the military like the United States, you are committing genocide because they're supporting the national Zionist state of Israel in the Palestinian question. And I know for sure from my own experience, I am a retired naval officer. Also my adult sons have served, and I lost my one son. He died. I lost him as a war casualty. So I'm speaking from experience here, and I've written about this. I've been attacked verbally twice and in writing a few times by mostly women, one or two men, that are saying, if you're in the military, get out, get out, do not serve in the military.
Under Authority: The Centurion's Own Words
The title of this study comes straight from the centurion of Capernaum. When he asked the Lord to heal his servant, he explained his faith in military terms:
"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. 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. 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." (Matthew 8:8-10, KJV)
The centurion understood that authority flows downward from a higher power. He recognised that Jesus Christ held authority over sickness just as he held authority over his soldiers. Jesus did not rebuke his profession. He marvelled at his faith.
Luke's account adds the witness of the Jewish elders about this same soldier:
"And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue." (Luke 7:4-5, KJV)
Significance: A commander of Gentile soldiers in an occupied land was called "worthy" by the very people he governed. His rank was used to build a house of worship, not to oppress. Faith and military command stood together in one man, and the Lord honoured both his faith and his request.
The Centurion at the Cross
At the crucifixion, a centurion was the officer in charge. All three synoptic Gospels record his confession:
"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, KJV)
"Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God." (Matthew 27:54, KJV)
"Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." (Luke 23:47, KJV)
Significance: While the religious leaders mocked and the disciples had fled, a Roman soldier on duty was the first man after the death of Christ to confess Him as the Son of God. God chose a soldier to bear that witness at the foot of the cross.
Cornelius: The First Gentile Household
"There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." (Acts 10:1-2, KJV)
"And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee." (Acts 10:22, KJV)
"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." (Acts 10:34-35, KJV)
"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." (Acts 10:44, KJV)
Significance: God opened the door of the gospel to the Gentiles through a serving military officer. The scripture calls him devout, just, God-fearing and of good report. The Holy Ghost fell on his household, yet nowhere did Peter or the Lord instruct him to resign his commission.
The Bigger Picture: Cornelius and the Times of the Gentiles
Background study: The Age and the Time of the Gentiles, The Third Heaven Traveler - see link above
What was really happening in Caesarea was far larger than one soldier's conversion. Through a Roman centurion, God broke Peter out of his Jewish mindset and opened the age of the Gentiles.
"And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." (Acts 10:15, KJV)
"And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." (Acts 10:28, KJV)
"When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." (Acts 11:18, KJV)
The Lord Jesus had already foretold this age:
"And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24, KJV)
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Romans 11:25, KJV)
The Prophecies of Daniel
The centurion was an officer of the very kingdom Daniel saw: the fourth kingdom, strong as iron, which was Rome. In the days of that kingdom, God set up a kingdom of His own.
"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever." (Daniel 2:44, KJV)
"And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." (Daniel 7:27, KJV)
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." (Daniel 9:24, KJV)
The everlasting kingdom is given to "the people of the saints of the most High," not to a nation by bloodline. A centurion of iron Rome was among the first Gentiles brought into it.
The Lesson for Christian Zionism
"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." (Romans 2:28-29, KJV)
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:28-29, KJV)
Significance: Many Christian Zionists have been misled into treating the modern national state of Israel as the object of God's will and devotion. The centurions teach the opposite lesson. Peter learned at Cornelius's house that God is no respecter of persons, and that His people are those in Christ, Jew and Gentile alike. The Christian's allegiance is to the everlasting kingdom of Daniel's prophecy, not to any earthly nation. This also answers the critics on both sides: the soldier is not condemned for his uniform, and no nation is to be worshipped in God's place.
The Mystery Given to Paul
To Understand the Abrahamic Covenant Is to Understand the Mystery, The Third Heaven Traveler [See link above.]
What Peter learned at the house of Cornelius, Paul was given to proclaim: the mystery hid from ages and generations.
"How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:" (Ephesians 3:3-6, KJV)
"Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Colossians 1:26-27, KJV)
The Mystery Rooted in Abraham
"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:3, KJV)
"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." (Galatians 3:8, KJV)
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." (Galatians 3:16, KJV)
The promise to Abraham was always for all nations, and its Seed is Christ. Cornelius the centurion was the firstfruits of that promise among the Gentiles.
"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;" (Ephesians 2:14, KJV)
Three Errors Exposed by the Mystery
- Hyper-dispensationalism divides what Christ made one. Ephesians 2:14 declares the middle wall broken down, and Ephesians 3:6 makes the Gentiles fellowheirs of the same body.
- Kingdom dominion theology seeks to seize earthly rule in Christ's name. Yet the Lord said, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight" (John 18:36, KJV).
- Christian Zionism gives to a national state the promises God gave to Abraham's Seed, which is Christ (Galatians 3:16), and to all who are His (Galatians 3:29).
Let Us Examine Ourselves
"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Corinthians 13:5, KJV)
Significance: The centurions stand at the doorway of the mystery. The soldier at Capernaum showed a faith not found in Israel. The soldier at the cross confessed the Son of God. The soldier at Caesarea opened the age of the Gentiles. Each one testifies that God's people are those in Christ, and each one calls the church today to examine whether it has traded the mystery for a nation, a system, or an earthly kingdom.
The Centurions' Eternal Witness
The centurions stand as a witness, an eternal testimony, against the church of Laodicea, against these wrong and heretical teachings, and against national Zionist Israel.
The Lord Himself pronounced this witness the moment He marvelled at the centurion's faith:
"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. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:11-12, KJV)
Against Laodicea, the soldier's humble, burning faith stands in stark contrast to a church that is rich, satisfied and lukewarm:
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:15-17, KJV)
The centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy." Laodicea says, "I have need of nothing." The Gentile soldier sat down with Abraham; the children of the kingdom who trusted in their lineage were cast out. That testimony stands forever.
The Valley of Decision
Here every Christian comes to a crucial point, the valley of decision. It is again a call to examine ourselves.
"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision." (Joel 3:14, KJV)
Will we take these centurions as an ensample? Or will we overlook them, and walk in ignorance?
Background study: Why the King James Bible Uses "Ensample" and "Example", The Third Heaven Traveler [See link above.]
"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." (1 Corinthians 10:11, KJV)
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me:" (Hosea 4:6, KJV)
Significance: The centurions were not recorded by accident. They are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. To receive them as an ensample is to walk in the light of the mystery. To overlook them is to walk in the ignorance that has led so many into Laodicean comfort and false teaching. The choice lies before every believer.
The Centurions Who Protected Paul
When Paul was about to be scourged unlawfully in Jerusalem, a centurion stepped in:
"And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman." (Acts 22:25-26, KJV)
When more than forty men bound themselves under an oath to kill Paul, centurions carried out his rescue:
"Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him." (Acts 23:17, KJV)
"And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night;" (Acts 23:23, KJV)
Significance: Here the military served exactly as Romans 13 describes, as a minister of God for good, upholding the law and restraining murderers. God used soldiers under lawful authority to preserve the apostle so the gospel could reach Rome.
Julius: The Centurion of Augustus' Band
"And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band." (Acts 27:1, KJV)
"And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself." (Acts 27:3, KJV)
"And the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:" (Acts 27:42-43, KJV)
Significance: Julius shows that an officer's authority can be used for mercy. He showed courtesy to a prisoner and, at the shipwreck, overruled his own soldiers to save every life aboard. Righteous leadership in uniform is honoured in the very record of the apostle's voyage.
John the Baptist's Charge to the Soldiers
"And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." (Luke 3:14, KJV)
Significance: Soldiers came to the forerunner of Christ asking how to bring forth fruits meet for repentance. John did not tell them to leave the army. He told them how to serve righteously: no wanton violence, no false accusation, no extortion. The standard was righteous conduct within their service, not abandonment of it.
Government and the Sword: Romans 13
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." (Romans 13:1-4, KJV)
Significance: God Himself ordained civil government and gave it the sword. The soldier who bears that sword lawfully is called "the minister of God" to restrain evil. The centurion's words, "I am a man under authority," describe exactly this chain: God, the ruler, the officer, the soldier.
Yet that authority has a limit. When men command what God forbids, the higher authority prevails:
"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29, KJV)
Seeing Him Who Is Invisible
"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." (Hebrews 11:27, KJV)
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1, KJV)
The centurion of Capernaum never asked to see Jesus come under his roof. He asked only for the word: "speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" (Matthew 8:8). He trusted an authority he could not see at work, just as a soldier trusts an order from a commander far beyond his sight. That is faith seeing Him who is invisible.
The centurion at the cross saw what the religious rulers could not. Looking on a dying Man, he saw the Son of God, "the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15).
"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18, KJV)
Significance: The faithful soldier endures as Moses did, not fearing the wrath of men, because his eyes are fixed on the invisible King. The critics see only the uniform. God sees the faith of the man who wears it.
The Song of Moses: The LORD Is a Man of War
The first song of redemption in scripture, sung on the far shore of the Red Sea, names the LORD Himself as a warrior:
"The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name." (Exodus 15:3, KJV)
Significance: Those who call all military service sin must reckon with this verse. God does not describe Himself with shame as a man of war. The deliverance of His people came by His strong arm against an oppressor's army. War waged in righteousness is not foreign to the character of God.
Moses closes Psalm 90, the prayer of a man who led Israel forty years through the wilderness, by asking God to establish the work of their hands:
"And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." (Psalm 90:17, KJV)
As I wrote in Created to WORK, Saved to REST, the work of our hands is a God-given calling, and every believer will one day be judged by it. Faithful military service is part of that work, and it can be established by God.
The Corollary: The Good Soldier and His Crown
Paul uses the soldier as the very picture of the faithful Christian, and joins it to the crown that is won by striving lawfully:
"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." (2 Timothy 2:3-5, KJV)
"And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible." (1 Corinthians 9:25, KJV)
Significance: The Holy Ghost would not hold up the soldier as the model of Christian endurance if soldiering itself were sin. And the key is the same one John the Baptist gave: lawful service. As in my study The REWARD of The Inheritance in Striving Lawfully, the crown, the corollary garland, goes to the one who strives lawfully. The soldier who serves lawfully under authority, and the Christian who strives lawfully for Christ, walk the same road toward the incorruptible crown.
A Word to Young Soldiers Today
If someone calls you a baby killer, or accuses you of promoting genocide simply because you wear the uniform, you must know where you stand. You follow lawful orders only, just as John the Baptist told the soldiers who came to him: do violence to no man. Do no evil.
If you receive an unlawful order, you disobey it. The Uniform Code of Military Justice requires obedience to lawful orders, and an order to commit a crime is not a lawful order. You have the authority, and the duty, to refuse it.
That is what it means to be a man under authority. Your first authority is God, and every lawful order you carry out stands beneath His. Serve with honour, serve with a clean conscience, and remember that the Lord Jesus Christ marvelled at the faith of a soldier.
Conclusion
The King James Bible gives the soldier no command to lay down his post, and no centurion in its pages is condemned for his uniform. Instead, the Holy Ghost records them with honour. The centurion of Capernaum showed a faith not found in Israel. The centurion at the cross confessed the Son of God. Cornelius opened the door of the gospel to the Gentiles. Others protected the apostle Paul and spared the lives of prisoners.
John the Baptist did not tell the soldiers to leave; he told them to do violence to no man. Romans 13 calls the lawful bearer of the sword the minister of God. The Song of Moses declares, "The LORD is a man of war." And Paul holds up the good soldier of Jesus Christ, who is crowned only if he strives lawfully.
Yet the centurions teach more than the honour of lawful service. Standing at the doorway of the mystery given to Paul, they bear eternal witness that God's people are those in Christ, the Seed of Abraham, Jew and Gentile made one. That witness stands against the lukewarm church of Laodicea, against hyper-dispensationalism, kingdom dominion theology and Christian Zionism, and against the worship of any earthly nation in God's place.
So every Christian stands in the valley of decision. We may receive these centurions as an ensample, written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come, or we may overlook them and walk in ignorance. Let us examine ourselves.
To every young soldier: serve lawfully, refuse what is unlawful, and fear not the accusations of men. Like the centurion, be a man under authority, with God as your first and final Commander.
"I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." (Matthew 8:10, KJV)
AI Disclosure
I narrated this entire study and used Claude Opus 5.5 to assist me in assembling the outline. This study is also built on my own posted studies at The Third Heaven Traveler blog. All thoughts and all statements are absolutely my very own, and everything is based in the King James Bible as the final authority of God's word.
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