Matthew 8:5–8:13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Matthew 8:5–8:13
A centurion trusts Jesus' authority at a distance
A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language.
What helps us understand it
Place in the book
Matthew as a wholeMatthew 8:5–8:13 contributes “A centurion trusts Jesus' authority at a distance” to Matthew's movement from covenant ancestry and kingdom proclamation through teaching, signs, conflict, Passion, resurrection, and the commission among all nations.
A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language. Its received position is thought unit 34 of 149. The unit's reviewed main point is: A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language.
How the passage moves
The centurion belongs to imperial power, the servant's exact status and relationship are debated, and the Israel sayings address surprising faith without transferring blame to all Jews.
This unit does not sanctify military hierarchy, erase the servant, promise cure by sufficient faith, or authorize supersessionism and antisemitism.
Why this reading fits
Literary-form control
The saying or parable belongs to its immediate audience, literary sequence, Jewish scriptural setting, and Matthew's larger movement. Image, warning, final judgment, and present application remain distinct.
How this should shape us
What accountable response follows?
Advocate for the suffering person rather than centering the powerful intermediary, and distinguish trust in Jesus from admiration of military hierarchy or guaranteed cure.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
What the unit does
A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language.
How to read its form
The saying or parable belongs to its immediate audience, literary sequence, Jewish scriptural setting, and Matthew's larger movement. Image, warning, final judgment, and present application remain distinct.
What the unit cannot be made to do
This unit does not sanctify military hierarchy, erase the servant, promise cure by sufficient faith, or authorize supersessionism and antisemitism.
What the first readers would have understoodRelevant history and culture
First-century setting and recoverable limits
The centurion belongs to imperial power, the servant's exact status and relationship are debated, and the Israel sayings address surprising faith without transferring blame to all Jews.
How certain? probableEarlier Scripture and inherited backgroundSupported quotations, allusions, and inherited ideas
Israel's Scriptures and Jewish setting
Matthew presents Jesus, disciples, crowds, interpreters, institutions, practices, and disputes within Israel's scriptural story and first-century Jewish diversity. A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language.
How certain? strongHow this connects with the rest of ScriptureThe passage's own meaning remains primary
Scripture, Gospel parallels, and later reading
Interpret Matthew 8:5–8:13 first within Matthew. Synoptic and wider canonical connections may clarify repetition and difference but must not silence Matthew's wording, unit boundary, Jewish setting, or visible uncertainty.
How certain? strongWhere careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Which judgment needs visible uncertainty?
Best judgment: The centurion belongs to imperial power, the servant's exact status and relationship are debated, and the Israel sayings address surprising faith without transferring blame to all Jews.
How certain? probableTheology that emerges from this passageConclusions drawn after reading the complete section
Theological contribution
Matthew locates this unit within God's kingdom, Jesus' authority and compassion, Israel's Scriptures, accountable discipleship, and the movement toward cross and resurrection: A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language.
How certain? strongTheological contribution
God's action in Matthew 8:5–8:13 cannot be converted into control of bodies, guaranteed outcomes, ethnic superiority, coercion, political dominion, or any misuse explicitly rejected by this unit.
How certain? strongCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
This unit does not sanctify military hierarchy, erase the servant, promise cure by sufficient faith, or authorize supersessionism and antisemitism.
A memorable saying, conflict, miracle, judgment image, or fulfillment line in Matthew 8:5–8:13 can be detached from its complete unit and first-century setting.
A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language. The saying or parable belongs to its immediate audience, literary sequence, Jewish scriptural setting, and Matthew's larger movement. Image, warning, final judgment, and present application remain distinct.
Keep observation, speaker, narrator, literary image, historical reconstruction, theological synthesis, and modern application in their proper order.
A Roman centurion pleads for a suffering servant, compares Jesus' authority to command structures, and receives Jesus' praise and a distant healing alongside kingdom-table language.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.
Matthew 8:5–8:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.
SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 8:5–8:13
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for the expressions actually discussed in this thought unit.
STEP Bible Data TAGNT rows for Matthew 8:5–8:13
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, historical, Jewish-background, and Synoptic notes for this unit.
NET Bible Matthew PDF, printed pp. 1808-1867, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 8:5–8:13
Supports: Critical literary orientation with source, setting, historical, and theological judgments retained as interpretations.
Yale Bible Study, course unit 'Sermon on the Mount,' Matthew 4-8 study guide
Supports: Whole-book orientation and unit placement, including visible uncertainty about authorship, date, setting, and purpose.
Enter the Bible Matthew course, 'Summary,' 'Outline,' 'Background,' 'Introductory Issues,' 'Theological Themes,' and passage index entry for Matthew 8:5–8:13
Supports: One complete confessional reading checked against the text, critical scholarship, and Jewish-context controls.
O'Donnell, online Matthew commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Matthew 8:5–8:13
Supports: Jewish setting, Scripture, Torah debate, named groups, practices, and anti-Judaism control at the passage address.
Gale, Matthew introduction and verse-addressed annotations, first-edition print pp. 1-54, exact annotation at Matthew 8:5–8:13
Supports: Specialist control for Matthew's Jewish setting, Torah, Israel and nations, polemic, parables, Passion, resurrection, or mission as material to Matthew 8:5–8:13.
Runesson on Israel and the nations, printed pp. 103-133; Levine, concluding safeguards, pp. 449-466
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Matthew 8:5–8:13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control without treating one edition as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file data/sblgnt/text/Matt.txt, Matthew 8:5–8:13
Open the Matthew Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for the expressions actually discussed in this thought unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data TAGNT rows for Matthew 8:5–8:13
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Matthew with Translators' and Textual Notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005-2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, historical, Jewish-background, and Synoptic notes for this unit.
Exact location: NET Bible Matthew PDF, printed pp. 1808-1867, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 8:5–8:13
Open source ↗open university bible study course
The Gospel of Matthew Course and Study Guides
Harold W. Attridge and Michal Beth Dinkler
Yale Bible Study, Yale Divinity School, current 2026 online edition
Supports: Critical literary orientation with source, setting, historical, and theological judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, course unit 'Sermon on the Mount,' Matthew 4-8 study guide
Open source ↗open seminary bible study course
Matthew Course
James L. Boyce; revised by Kristofer Phan Coffman
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision
Supports: Whole-book orientation and unit placement, including visible uncertainty about authorship, date, setting, and purpose.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Matthew course, 'Summary,' 'Outline,' 'Background,' 'Introductory Issues,' 'Theological Themes,' and passage index entry for Matthew 8:5–8:13
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
Matthew
Douglas Sean O'Donnell
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, current 2026 online edition
Supports: One complete confessional reading checked against the text, critical scholarship, and Jewish-context controls.
Exact location: O'Donnell, online Matthew commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Matthew 8:5–8:13
Open source ↗scholarly annotated translation
Matthew, in The Jewish Annotated New Testament
Aaron M. Gale; edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
Aaron M. Gale, Matthew introduction and annotations, print pp. 1-54; related essays and sidebars in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, first edition.
Supports: Jewish setting, Scripture, Torah debate, named groups, practices, and anti-Judaism control at the passage address.
Exact location: Gale, Matthew introduction and verse-addressed annotations, first-edition print pp. 1-54, exact annotation at Matthew 8:5–8:13
Open source ↗open access scholarly essay collection
Matthew within Judaism: Israel and the Nations in the First Gospel
Anders Runesson and Daniel M. Gurtner, editors
SBL Press, 2020
Supports: Specialist control for Matthew's Jewish setting, Torah, Israel and nations, polemic, parables, Passion, resurrection, or mission as material to Matthew 8:5–8:13.
Exact location: Runesson on Israel and the nations, printed pp. 103-133; Levine, concluding safeguards, pp. 449-466
Open source ↗