But the Roman Centurion and the Samaritan came to Him in contrition.
I don't see any contrition. What were they contrite about?
Read about how the Centurions treated their slaves. They could kill them without reaping any repercussions. Yet this Centurion loved his slave. He had even helped to build the Jews' synagogue. He had sent several Jews' unto Jesus wanting to have Him heal his servant. Matthew 8 states he went unto Jesus and Luke 7 states he sent some Jews, so I do not truly understand the difference these two writers made. As this story unfolds, we can read When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.” Jesus said to him, “Shall I come 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. 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.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 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.”[Matt. 8:5-12] All that that Centurion said was not common for them to say. They, according to what info I could find about them, treated them horribly. The word used was 'pais' and that also had a horrible rendering. Some have tried to say the Centurion's slave was his s3x slave, but I do not believe that to be the case. But according to the blue letter bible, it means boy or girl, child, infant, slave, servant, attendant. I think they use Vine's.
At the height of the time of slavery in the 1700's, in America, some of the slave-owners were very cruel and couldn't care less about the value of human life. But some displayed love and kindness. By the end of the civil war many of the slave-owners that displayed that love and kindness were rewarded the same by their slaves wanting to remain, now as their servants, for the provision of room and board and protection.
The same was true in the first century. Not all centurions were as exceptional as this one would travel so far on behalf of his slave. Others would treat him as a piece of human flesh and let him rot, so to speak, not caring a whit about a slave. This man cared before he even met Christ. He was different. Not all people are the same. I am sure that in your experience with people you have found that.
This Centurion and Samaritan, who were outside of Jesus' target audience, the Jews, saw Him for who He was. Heard His words for what they meant. They had to have had 'ears to hear with.' This was an indictment to the Jews' continual unbelief and rebellion towards God. God has sent His Son unto them, yet they fail to believe. This was a fulfilling of “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.[Matt. 21:43] MacArthur had stated in one of his sermons that this Centurion was saved. I am having a hard time finding that quote, though. MacArthur mentioned that Capernaum was not very far from where Christ gave His 'Sermon on the Mount', in fact, one could walk there. Here is what MacArthur stated Now if you remember the sermon, you will remember that Jesus described a true disciple in some very clear terms. A true disciple, true believer, child of God, member of the Kingdom was humble, repentant over sin, loved even his enemies with a supernatural love, was generous, was merciful, compassionate, did good, was righteous, was devoted to the Lord and obedient. And he is the one who built his house on the rock and survives the judgment. This Centurion was highly favored amongst the Jews. They even said “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”[Lu 7:4b-5] The Jews hated anyone not a Jew, but they apparently loved him...even bragged about him to Jesus. He was the Jews' enemy, yet he loved them.
MacArthur is obviously wrong. There are many philanthropic people in high positions that do good things for others. Bill Gates contributes millions to relieve the poor in India. Warren Buffet also contributes millions to charitable organizations. Many billionaires do. Just because they are rich doesn't mean they don't do good with their wealth.
The Centurion spent his money on the society in which he lived and in which it would do him the most good. He was benevolent. MacArthur says he had "supernatural love" without any evidence. Doing good to another (like Mother Teresa did) is not a means of salvation nor a way to judge salvation.
The only point worth pondering is the one where the Centurion confesses his "unworthiness." However that may be because he recognizes that he is a Roman in the midst of the Jewish nation, and they (the Jews) consider all Gentiles as dogs. Therefore, he knew he was unworthy in their sight.
Yes. But still, it all boils down to why they believed. It was not just the fact that they saw his son's healing. If that were the case, no one who witnessed Lazarus' resurrection would have failed to believe. It is more than just seeing the miracles, it is more than just hearing His words(many heard and died lost), it was more than talking to Him. It is about the efficacious works of faith wrought upon the heart.
Look at the facts.
Joh 4:46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Joh 4:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death
Joh 4:49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.
Joh 4:50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.
And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
He believed. He had faith. He had faith that Christ could and would heal his child. This is not the faith that saves. It is faith in a man that has the ability to heal, and that is all.
Joh 4:51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
Joh 4:52 Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.
Joh 4:53
So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth:
and himself believed, and his whole house.
--A whole day had passed according to verse 52. His servants inform him that his child had been healed. He marks the time. The result is that not only does he believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, but so does his whole household. This is clearly salvation.
There is no clear account of salvation in Luke 7 as there is here. What you have with the centurion is a man that has found good favor with the Jews by doing good works. He was able to ask the Jews to ask Jesus on his behalf to heal his daughter and then he came in person to ask Jesus. This marked his character, the outstanding character of an intelligent and wise soldier, not necessarily of a saved man.
Again, you said grace is grace, but not all grace saves. And you also said faith is faith, yet not all faith saves. People have faith in themselves to do a job, but that does not save. You can be gracious to your wife, and you better be...
...but that does not save, either. You can have faith in your parents, but that does not save. You can have faith a chair will hold you, but that does not save. It is 'according to your faith' as it states in Heb. 12:2 that God is the Pioneer/Author and Perfecter/Finisher of our faith. To author a book means you created it. For God to Author our faith, He placed it within us. But you will disagree, so I digress.
Faith in Christ as faith healer will not save. That was true of the centurion. We do not know for sure if he got saved. The record doesn't say.
But the record does say that the nobleman came to a "saving faith" (as you would use the term) in Christ. He did so later, not at the time that he came to Christ having faith that he could heal his child.
