The Face Of Faith: The Centurion Series

I realize that the centurion’s confession of faith was not enough to join the average Bible church, but let’s go back in time to that day. He is at the crucifixion. He knew nothing about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He had never read any books on theology. This poor fellow was in the dark, but he couldn’t have said anything that revealed his faith more than this: “Truly, this was the Son of God.”

We have more evidence than the centurion, because we know of the glorious resurrection and continued work of Jesus. Look at the evidence carefully and it will lead you to have faith.

Now we are ready to look at the evidence of faith that can be seen in the centurion.

We have two separate accounts of the centurion’s confession. According to Luke the centurion declared, “Certainly this man was a righteous man.” And Matthew reports that he confessed Jesus to be the Son of God. No doubt both accounts are accurate.

The evidence of this man’s faith becomes apparent in two ways.

First, there is his act of confession and then there is the substance of the confession. Let’s look first at the act of confession.

The centurion’s confession itself reveals faith. His voice is the only voice we hear at the cross commending Jesus. It is one thing to have some impressions in your heart but another thing to verbalize those impressions.

True faith leads to confession. Any born again child of God will want to tell others about the Savior. It’s important that we tell others about Jesus. Jesus said that if we don’t confess Him before men, he will not confess us before His Father. If you have never confessed your faith in Jesus Christ, your faith is in question.

The next thing to see is the substance of the confession. What the centurion confessed is the real evidence. He confessed the righteous character of Jesus, contradicting the judgment of the world. The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy against God, and Pilate sentenced Him to death by crucifixion, but the centurion saw the truth, and he confessed, “Certainly this man was a righteous man.”

The centurion also confessed the uniqueness of Christ: “Truly this was the Son of God.” Scholars will debate how much the centurion actually understood, and whether or not he meant to acknowledge the deity of Christ.

Surely Matthew included this account because he saw it as being the logical end of Christ’s life and death. Both Matthew and Luke put it at the climax of the Gospel story.

Without trying to make a theologian out of the centurion, let’s accept this confession for what it says. He had come to believe in the uniqueness of Christ. He had come to believe that Christ was the Son of God.

Conclusion

There is the story about an old English farmer who went to London and visited one of the great art galleries in the city. There he was attracted by a painting of the crucifixion. He sat before it, studying each detail with intense interest. At last, forgetful of his surroundings, he cried out, “Bless Him! I love Him!” Others nearby, startled by his words, came to see what was wrong with the old man. From different parts of the gallery they gathered around him. They saw the tears flowing down his bronzed cheeks. They too looked at the painting of the crucifixion. After a while, one man in the group with tearful eyes, reached for the farmers hand and said, “And I love Him too!” Then another and another and still another took the old man’s hand until there was a sizable group of sobbing believers rejoicing in front of the painting of Christ’s crucifixion and declaring, “We love Him too!”