Bible Strands
Matthew 27:54
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Roman centurion and his fellow guards declare this after witnessing the earthquake and the surrounding events, speaking as observers rather than to a specific audience.
The words — ἑκατόνταρχος (hekatontarchos) identifies the commanding officer of a hundred soldiers, while τηροῦντες (tērountes) specifies their continuous duty of keeping guard over the crucified man.
The thread — The declaration directly responds to the earlier taunt in Matthew 27:43, where opponents demanded proof of Jesus’ sonship, and aligns with Mark 15:39, where the same officer links Jesus’ manner of death to divine recognition.
Why it lands — The text records that supernatural phenomena and witnessed death force hostile guards to verbally acknowledge Jesus’ identity, requiring the reader to confront the claim that divine sonship is confirmed through crucifixion and resurrection events rather than political or religious validation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Matthew 27:36 And sitting down, they kept watch over Him there.
- Mark 15:39 When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
- Matthew 27:43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
- Luke 23:47 When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
- Romans 1:4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Matthew 4:3 The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
- Matthew 8:5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him,
- Acts 21:32 Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
- Acts 23:23 Then he called two of his centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea in the third hour of the night.
- Acts 27:1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.