Matthew 27:54

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.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
when	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
centurion	ἑκατόνταρχος hekatontarchos	G1543	the captain of one hundred men · noun — nominative singular masculine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
were	Ὁ Ho	G3588	the (sometimes to be supplied · article — nominative singular masculine
with	μετ᾽ met᾽	G3326	properly · preposition
him	αὐτοῦ autou	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
watching	τηροῦντες tērountes	G5083	perhaps akin to G2334 (θεωρέω)) · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
Jesus	Ἰησοῦν Iēsoun	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
saw	ἰδόντες idontes	G1492	used only in certain past tenses · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
earthquake	σεισμὸν seismon	G4578	a commotion · noun — accusative singular masculine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
done	γενόμενα genomena	G1096	to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent participle, accusative plural neuter
feared	ἐφοβήθησαν ephobēthēsan	G5399	to frighten · verb — aorist passive deponent indicative, 3rd person plural
greatly	σφόδρα sphodra	G4970	of uncertain derivation) as adverb · adverb
saying	λέγοντες· legontes	G3004	properly · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
Truly	ἀληθῶς alēthōs	G230	truly · adverb
this	οὗτος.¶ houtos	G3778	the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
was	ἦν ēn	G2258	I (thou
Son	υἱὸς huios	G5207	a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — nominative singular masculine
God	θεοῦ theou	G2316	figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 27:36 And sitting down they watched him there;
Mark 15:39 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 o…
Matthew 27:43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
Luke 23:47-49 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.
Romans 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Matthew 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
Acts 21:32 Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beatin…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 27:54

Now when the centurion--the military superintendent of the execution. and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake--or felt it and witnessed its effects. and those things that were done--reflecting upon the entire transaction. they feared greatly--convinced of the presence of a Divine Hand. saying, Truly this was the Son of God--There cannot be a reasonable doubt that this expression was used in the Jewish sense, and that it points to the claim which Jesus made to be the Son of God, and on which His condemnation expressly turned. The meaning, then, clearly is that He must have been what He professed to be; in other words, that He was no impostor. There was no medium…

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John Gill on Matthew 27:54

Now, when the centurion,.... That was over the band of soldiers, that mocked Christ in Pilate's hall, and who was particularly over the guard of soldiers, set about the cross of Christ: and they that were with him, watching Jesus: the soldiers that were with him, who were set to watch the cross of Christ, lest he should come down, or any should take him down from thence, See Gill on Matthew 27:36. Saw the earthquake, and those things that were done; as besides that, the darkening of the sun, the rending of the rocks, and particularly heard with what a loud voice Christ spoke, and then at once expired: they feared greatly; not with a true godly fear, but with a fear of punishment; lest di…

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John Calvin on Matthew 27:45-56

Matthew 27:45-56 Matthew 27:45-56 Mark 15:33-41 Luke 23:44-49 45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole land [280] till the ninth hour. 46. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47. And some of those who were standing by, when they heard it, said, He calleth Elijah. 48. And immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and fastened it to a reed, and gave him to drink. 49. But others said, Let him alone, let us see if Elijah will come to save him. 50. And Jesus having again cried with a loud voice, gave up his spirit. 51. And, lo, the…

The Church Fathers

Observe, that in the very midst of the offence of His passion the Centurion acknowledges the Son of God, while Arius in the Church proclaims Him a creature.
— Jerome ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Whence with good reason by the Centurion is denoted the faith of the Church, which, when the veil of heavenly mysteries had been rent by the Lord's death, immediately asserts Jesus to be both very Man, and truly Son of God, while the Synagogue held its peace.
— Rabanus Maurus ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

And the Centurion too then glorified God, saying, "Truly this was a righteous man. And the multitudes that came together to that sight, returned beating their breasts." So great was the power of the crucified, that after so many mockings, and scoffs, and jeers, both the centurion was moved to compunction, and the people. And some say that there is also a martyrdom of this centurion, who after these things grew to manhood in the faith.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 88

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Army — The Israelites marched out of Egypt in military order (Ex. 13:18, “harnessed;” marg., “five in a rank”). Each tribe formed a battalion, with its own banner and leader (Num. 2:2; 10:14). In war the…
Centurion — A Roman officer in command of a hundred men (Mark 15:39, 44, 45). Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, was a centurion (Acts 10:1, 22). Other centurions are mentioned in Matt. 8:5, 8, 13; Luke 7:2,…
Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
Earthquake — Mentioned among the extraordinary phenomena of Palestine (Ps. 18:7; comp. Hab. 3:6; Nah. 1:5; Isa. 5:25). The first earthquake in Palestine of which we have any record happened in the reign of Ahab…
Centurion · this was the — this was the
Earthquakes · Men always terrified by — Men always terrified by

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 27:54

John Gill on Matthew 27:54

John Calvin on Matthew 27:45-56

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 27:54

John Gill on Matthew 27:54

John Calvin on Matthew 27:45-56

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 27:54