Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 7:9
When Jesus heard these things, he marveled 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.
9. he marvelled at him ] The only other place where the astonishment of Jesus is recorded is astonishment at unbelief. Mar 6:6.
I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel ] Rather, Not even in Israel found I so great faith. These words are preserved with similar exactness in St Matthew. “He had found,” says St Augustine, “in the oleaster what He had not found in the olive.” Nothing can be more clear than that neither Evangelist had seen the narrative of the other, and, since St Matthew is the less exact, we infer that both Evangelists in this instance drew from some cycle of oral or written apostolic teaching. The words added by St Matthew (Mat 8:11-12) are given by St Luke in another connexion (Luk 13:28 sq.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When Jesus heard these things,…. Which the friends of the centurion related from him, and in his name; or which he himself delivered, coming up to Christ after them:
he marvelled at him; at his great humility and modesty, and the strength of his faith, and his manner of reasoning:
and turned him about; from him, and his friends:
and said unto the people that followed him; from the mount to Capernaum, and as he was passing along the streets:
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel; or “among the Israelites”, as the Syriac; or “among the children of Israel”, as the Persic; or “in all Israel”, as the Arabic version reads, as he did in this single Gentile; [See comments on Mt 8:10].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Turned (). Second aorist passive participle of , to turn. Common verb. A vivid touch not in Matthew’s account. In both Matthew and Luke Jesus marvels at the great faith of this Roman centurion beyond that among the Jews. As a military man he had learned how to receive orders and to execute them and hence to expect obedience to his commands, He recognized Jesus as Master over disease with power to compel obedience.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him,” (akousas de tauta ho lesous ethaumasen auton) “Then when Jesus heard these words (from his friends) he marvelled at him,” at his fervent faith, his humility, and his persistent love for his critically ill servant, Mat 8:10; as he marvelled at the faith of the Syrophenician woman, Mat 15:28.
2) “And he turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him,” (kai strapheis to akolouthounti auto ochlo eipen) “And turning to the crowd that was following Him, He said,” directly to them to challenge their faith.
3) I say unto you,” (lego humin) “I tell you all,” very personally, for the only other time Jesus Himself is said to have marvelled was not because of faith but because of man’s unbelief, Mar 6:6.
4) I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” (oude en to Israel tosauten pistin heuron) “I have not found such faith as this in Israel,” indicating a constant state of insubordination to the will of Christ, among even my own race of people, Mat 9:2; It is much as also expressed Mar 6:6. His own people, those to whom He first came, did not receive Him with the faith and gratitude that He found in certain Gentiles, Rom 1:16; Joh 1:11-12; Mat 23:37.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(9) I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.It is, perhaps, characteristic of both the Evangelists that St. Luke omits the warning words which St. Matthew records as to the many that shall come from the east and the west, and the exclusion of the children of the kingdom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. So great faith Great because he had to ascend from paganism to attain it; great, because not purely physical, but spiritual, realizing his own unworthiness and the superiority of Jesus as a holy one; great, because it realized the divine mission of Jesus from Jehovah, and expressed a sense of profound submission to his absolute word. It was a faith enabling him to accept all that Jesus should teach, and obey all that he should command. Apostolic faith did not surpass it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned and said to the crowd who followed him, “I say to you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” ’
When Jesus heard these words he marvelled. Here was a man with a high view of God, and a high view of Him, higher than any He had come across before. And a man whose high view also included genuine faith. Indeed greater faith than any that Jesus had yet found in man. For this man believed in Him implicitly.
We are not told so but we can assume that Jesus immediately spoke the word of healing. The Creator spoke and the disease vanished.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
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.
Ver. 9. He marvelled ] See Trapp on “ Mat 8:10 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9. ] After this there is an important addition in Matt. on the adoption of the Gentiles, and rejection of Israel who shewed no such faith.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
He marvelled, &c. The only other instance of the Lord’s marvelling is at their unbelief (Mar 6:6).
not. . . . no, not = not even. Greek. oude.
in. Greek. en. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] After this there is an important addition in Matt. on the adoption of the Gentiles, and rejection of Israel who shewed no such faith.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
he marvelled: Mat 8:10, Mat 15:28
not in: Psa 147:19, Psa 147:20, Mat 9:33, Rom 3:1-3, Rom 9:4, Rom 9:5
Reciprocal: Joh 1:50 – Because
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
9
The Jews had not produced any example of faith that was as great as this. Jesus announced this truth to the people who were following him.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 7:9-10. The Cure.
The severe words respecting the Jews, which in Matthew Jesus adds to the praise bestowed on the centurion’s faith, seem to prove that Matthew makes use of a different source of information from Luke’s. These words are found, in fact, in Luke in a totally different connection (Luk 13:28), at a more advanced period, when they are certainly more appropriate.
Several ancient and modern critics identify this cure with that of the nobleman’s son (John 4). The differences, however, are considerable: here we have a soldier of Gentile origin, there a courtier of Jewish origin; here the place is Capernaum, there Cana; here we have a man who in his humility is reluctant that Jesus should enter his house, there a man who comes a long way seeking Jesus that he may induce Him to go with him to his home; lastly, and in our view this difference is most decisive, here we have a Gentile given as an example to all Israel, there a Jew, whose conduct furnishes occasion for Jesus to throw a certain amount of blame on all his Galilean fellow-countrymen. In truth, if these two narratives referred to the same fact, the details of the Gospel narratives would no longer deserve the least credence.
According to Keim, the miracle is to be explained, on the one hand, by the faith of the centurion and the sick man, which already contained certain healing virtues, and on the other, by the moral power of the word of Jesus, which word was something between a wish and a command, and completed the restoration. But does not this ethico-psychical mode of action require the presence of him who effects a cure in this way? Now this presence is unmistakeably excluded here in both narratives by the prayer of the centurion, and by this word of Jesus: so great faith! And what is this something between a wish and a command?
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 9
In Israel. The centurion was a Gentile.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Jesus’ comment did not slander the faith of the Jews. One would expect them to have faith since they had the prophecies about Messiah in Scripture, but the Gentiles did not have that light. The centurion believed that Jesus could heal His servant, not that He would heal him. The only two instances of Jesus "marveling" at people are here, on account of faith, and at Nazareth, because of unbelief (Mar 6:6). The centurion’s belief in Jesus’ authority was unusual, apparently because it rested on reports, and perhaps personal observation, of Jesus’ previous ministry. Jesus rewarded his faith by healing his servant.
"Here was one, who was in the state described in the first clauses of the ’Beatitudes,’ and to whom came the promise of the second clauses; because Christ is the connecting link between the two, and because He consciously was such to the Centurion, and, indeed, the only possible connecting link between them." [Note: Edersheim, 1:549.]
Jesus did not limit His healing ministry to people who believed that He was the divine Son of God. He evidently healed some people who expressed no understanding of His true identity simply because He felt compassion for them and chose to bless them (cf. Joh 9:11; Act 10:38). Even the Twelve did not understand that Jesus was both God and man until God revealed that to Peter at Caesarea Philippi (Mat 16:16). It may therefore be incorrect to conclude that this centurion became a believer in Jesus’ deity here, though He may have. He did believe that Jesus was at least a prophet of God, and probably he believed that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. Jesus rewarded his faith because he responded as he should have to the information about Jesus that he had. That is essentially what Jesus had been teaching his disciples to do in the Sermon on the Mount. That is what Luke wanted his readers to do too. [Note: See Zane C. Hodges, "The Centurion’s Faith in Matthew and Luke," Bibliotheca Sacra 121:484 (October-December 1964):321-32.]