Luke 7 is the account of the centurion who had a servant that was very ill. The centurion asked Jewish elders to approach Jesus, to request that He come to heal his servant boy.
2 Now a centurion had a bond servant who was held in honor and highly valued by him, who was sick and at the point of death. 3 And when the centurion heard of Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to Him, requesting Him to come and make his bond servant well. – Luke 7:2-3
General Theme
The Roman centurion cared deeply for his servant, which some think may have been his son or step son (although there is no evidence that I could find), and wanted him to be healed.
The centurion, who respected and supported the Jews, had obviously either heard of the miracles of Jesus, or seen them himself, and thus had faith that Jesus had authority. He obviously assumed that, if LORD Jesus just “said the word,” Divine Authority that superseded natural law would be executed, and his servant would be healed.
The centurion himself, as he sent word to LORD Jesus, was a man under authority and had authority over soldiers. He would give a soldier a command, and that soldier would obey without question. Thus, because he understood authority, he recognized, admitted, and believed that LORD Jesus had authority; that if He would just speak the word/give the command, the centurion’s servant would be healed!
7 Neither did I consider myself worthy to come to You. But [just] speak a word, and my servant boy will be healed. 8 For I also am a man [daily] subject to authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bond servant, Do this, and he does it. – Luke 7:7-8
We can also understand and choose to recognize and admit and believe that, when Christ Jesus speaks the Word (the logos and the rhema), that it shall be done, for He is the Truth and cannot lie. His Word never returns void, but accomplishes that for which He sends it (Isaiah 55:10-11)!
Historical
The Book of Luke was written by a respected physician, Luke, who was one of The Twelve original Apostles of the Lamb.
This was during the Roman occupation of Israel, with the Jews having continuing freedom (although with ongoing tension, since the Romans were pagans) to worship and celebrate and otherwise continue their customs, unless events caused alarm in the Roman government.
Cultural
Jews and Romans were forced to live together in society. Rome tolerated the Jewish religion and customs and practices, and the Jews tolerated the Romans.
Normally, at this time, the Roman centurion would have been feared and not respected by Jews; overall disdained, because Romans were uncovenanted people.
There was constant tension between the Jews and the Romans, because of the extreme differences in their cultures. Romans worshiped many ‘gods’, and the Jews only the One true God, Yahweh, Jehovah, and the Messiah, the LORD Jesus Christ.
However, God is always working, and although the Roman centurion had surely been in extreme battles, because he’d been given charge over 80-100 soldiers, the LORD had touched his heart, and he truly had compassion on the Jews and respected and supported them in blatant ways.
According to the article “The Roman Centurion: A Teaching from Denise Renner”, https://renner.org/article/the-roman-centurion/, retrieved 3/22/2026), “They (Jewish elders) pleaded with Jesus for Him to come to the centurion’s home to heal the servant boy, saying that the centurion even loved their nation and had built them a synagogue (see Luke 7:4,5).”
Philosophical
Romans worshiped many “god’s”, and practiced Epicureanism and Stoicism, and more, and operated with political control, exploitation of economic systems, and influencing culture as much as possible with Greek and Roman thought (https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_roman_occupation.htm; retrieved 3/23/26).
Jews worshiped only One God, the true God, Jehovah, Yahweh, the LORD Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world. While the Romans held power by military force, LORD Jesus and His followers taught true power by humility and service, and worship of the true God, Yahweh.
Because it was against the Roman military below the rank of officer from marrying and thus not having illegitimate children in their home (https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2002/2002.06.41/), it is possible that the Roman centurion loved the servant boy like a son.
It seems obvious that he cared deeply for him, which provoked him to humble himself and ask the Jewish leaders to approach Jesus to come and heal him. As they were going to Jesus, though, the centurion humbly realized his own unworthiness to have the Master come under his roof, and he asked that the LORD simply “say the word.”
The centurion obviously understood the concept of authority, as Ecclesiastes 8:4 states: For the word of a king is authority and power, and who can say to him, What are you doing? – Ecc. 8:4
The unfeigned faith of the centurion astounded LORD Jesus!
9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and He turned and said to the crowd that followed Him, I tell you, not even in [all] Israel have I found such great faith [as this]. – Luke 7:9
An uncovenanted man had more faith than those physical children of Abraham; those of Israel, who had been taught in the Scriptures most of their lives! (Jesus Heals the Centurion’s Servant”, by Phillip J. Long, Sept. 25, 2020. Retrieved 3/25/26 from https://readingacts.com/2020/09/25/jesus-heals-the-centurions-servant-matthew-85-13/)
Linguistic
Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek (“common Greek”), and Latin were the four languages spoken during the Roman occupation of Bible times (https://www.languagehumanities.org/what-are-the-languages-of-biblical-times.htm, May 23, 2024, “What Are the Languages of Biblical Times?” by Mary McMahon; retrieved 3/23/26). Aramaic was related to Hebrew (which comprised the Old Testament). The New Testament, including the book of the apostle Luke, who was a physician by trade, was written in common Greek.
According to Helen K. Bond on the Bible Odyssey site, in the article entitled “Roman Centurion”, retrieved 3-22-26 from https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/roman-centurion/, “We do not know the centurion’s nationality. He was clearly not Jewish, either by birth or conversion. Luke’s account suggests that he had some sympathies for the Jewish faith.”
Conclusion:
According to BibleHub.org, the centurion’s servant was healed in 28 AD (https://biblehub.com/timeline/luke/1.htm)
10 And when the messengers who had been sent returned to the house, they found the bond servant [b]who had been ill quite well again. – Luke 7:10
The ‘one word’ that the centurion clung to in his hope and faith that his servant would be healed if LORD Jesus just spoke the word over his servant is “Authority”.
