* It was rare for a master to greatly care for a servant during Roman times; however, this centurion highly-valued his servant, according to Luke 7:2"Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him" Luke 7:2 ESV..
* It was common for Roman masters to be in relationships with their male or female slave servants.1
* The centurion was embarrassed for Jesus to enter his house, probably because he did not want Jesus to come into anything that was "unclean," which could include a pederastic relationship.2
* Matt. 8:6"'Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly'" Matt. 8:6 ESV. uses the word παῖς or pais as "servant," and Luke 7:2"Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him" Luke 7:2 ESV. uses the word δοῦλος or doulos as "servant" to refer to the centurion's servant. Pais or doulos could have had a sexual connotation because they referred to young girls or boys who were servants, and masters were often in relationships with their servants..
* Masters often didn't care very much for the welfare of their servants because servants were replaceable; however, this centurion highly-valued his servant, according to Luke 7:2"Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him" Luke 7:2 ESV..1
* Roman men were often involved in relationships with their servants, but there is no indication within the Bible that a sexual relationship was going-on between the centurion and his servant.2
* The biblical centurion is different from most Roman officers because he not only cared deeply for his servant, but he supported Jews and built a synagogue for them (Luke 7:4-5And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, 'He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue'" Luke 7:4-5 ESV.). Even Jesus marvels at the centurion and his strong faith in Matt. 8:10"When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, 'Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith'" Matt. 8:10 ESV. and Luke 7:9"When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, 'I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith'" Luke 7:9 ESV.. Thus, we know that this centurion was a caring individual who was being called by God to follow Christ.
* Matt. 8:6"'Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly'" Matt. 8:6 ESV. uses the word παῖς or pais as "servant," and Luke 7:2"Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him" Luke 7:2 ESV. uses the word δοῦλος or doulos as "servant" to refer to the centurion's servant. Neither of these words have a sexual connotation in any ancient Greek dictionaries or Strong's Concordance.
* The ancient Greek word that was commonly used to refer to a boy in a pederastic relationship is kinaidos or κίναιδος, which is translated in English as "catamite."3 A catamite is a boy or youth in a sexual relationship with another man.4 Kinaidos is missing from Matt. 8:6 and Luke 7:2, which means that no sexual inference can be made based on the Bible's word for "servant."
1"Owners of slaves could prostitute them or use them for their own sexual purposes. There is reason to believe that many Roman gentlemen customarily employed a particular male slave for sexual release prior to marriage, and the testimony of Latin literature makes clear that in the households of the wealthy large numbers of slaves were frequently employed sexually" (Boswell, 1980, p. 78). Return
2"There were several reasons he might feel embarrassed to have Jesus enter his compound. For one thing, it is undoubtedly decorated with Roman military images; second, Jesus could accidentally come in contact with something that would make him unclean under Jewish purity laws" (Abogunrin, 1998, p. 1391). Return
1"The centurion's tender concern for a lowly slave was contrary to the reputation Roman army officers had acquired in Israel" (MacArthur, 2010, p. 1488, note 7:2). Return
2"Owners of slaves could prostitute them or use them for their own sexual purposes. There is reason to believe that many Roman gentlemen customarily employed a particular male slave for sexual release prior to marriage, and the testimony of Latin literature makes clear that in the households of the wealthy large numbers of slaves were frequently employed sexually" (Boswell, 1980, p. 78). Return
3"κίναιδος." A Greek-English Lexicon, 1940 Return
4"catamite." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2012 Return
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