"Truly this man was the Son of God"

  • Thread starter Thread starter CatholicZ09
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CatholicZ09

Guest
I love that line!

However, I have the urge to scream “DUH!”
 
I always find it odd that it was a Gentile who uttered these words. I mean, the Jews have been waiting some 1400 years (since Moses) for the Messiah and they don’t even recognize Him.
 
I’ve always wondered what happened to this guard, I wish I knew more about this man.

I kinda wish they’d make a movie about the after effects on the jews after our Lord’s death 🙂 Just things like what did Herod and Pilate think when they heard about the big miracles afterward, and what did those who were laughing and taunting him while Jesus was dying go home thinking? Stuff like that.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I love that line!

However, I have the urge to scream “DUH!”
Click to expand...
Y’know what the interesting part is? The wording of the Greek is actually ambiguous here: Alethos, theou yios en outos “Truly, of-god son was this”, and, Alethos, outos o anthropos yios theou en “Truly, this [the] man son of-god was.” It lacks the definite article. Plus, we can’t exactly determine how the centurion meant that phrase historically.

Hence, there’s this one proposal that the centurion’s words could thus also be understood as ‘a son of [a] god’, which might fit in more with his polytheistic worldview, where there are many gods and demigods. The centurion could have just meant the phrase in pretty much the same way the title divi filius, ‘son of god’ is applied to the Caesars: Jesus was an extraordinary divine man, but He’s not the only ‘son of god’ there is.

There’s a counter-argument however that in Koine Greek, a definite predicate nominative omits the definite article when it precedes the verb, so the traditional translation ‘the Son of God’ is perfectly okay. Also, there’s not really anything to suggest that the centurion was incapable of using the title in more or less its Christian sense: the former opinion stems out of the idea that the pagan centurion could not have grasped the Christian idea of the title ‘son of God’.

There’s no denying however that the centurion is one of the few human characters in the Gospels who actually confess Jesus using this title - and he’s a gentile at that! He did what most of the disciples didn’t.
 
Loboto-Me said:
I’ve always wondered what happened to this guard, I wish I knew more about this man.

I kinda wish they’d make a movie about the after effects on the jews after our Lord’s death 🙂 Just things like what did Herod and Pilate think when they heard about the big miracles afterward, and what did those who were laughing and taunting him while Jesus was dying go home thinking? Stuff like that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the Gospels don’t really talk about what happened to the other guys. Count me also in! 👍
I was also wondering: how did those whom Jesus cured fare in life afterwards? Were they eternally grateful, or did they eventually go on to dislike Jesus for taking away their source of income (y’know, like the beggar in Life of Brian)? 🤷

BTW, I must tell you: contrary to those films which show apparently half of the population of Jerusalem following Jesus and gathering around at Golgotha, I’m thinking that the crowd who actually watched Jesus die was far fewer. Personally, I think the reason why iconographers and directors love their cast of thousands on Calvary is perhaps to show (1) how Jesus is so special, and (2) for filmmakers, to show how big their budget was. 😃

As a rule, crucifixions were done near public roads and gateways. Many of the guys who walked down that street nearby would have just passed by with cold indifference, thinking, “Oh great. The Romans are at it again.” I mean, they’re so used to seeing a guy get crucified every other day that they take it for granted. Jesus’ execution was merely part of the normal sea of civilization; for many, He just went down the same fate as many of the other ‘messiahs’ roaming down the countryside. There was probably no ‘cast of thousands’ gathered around the execution site; most probably, it was just a few taunters, the women disciples + St. John, and the execution squad.

Not to mention that most of the Temple priests who were involved in the death of Jesus would have just thought that everything’s finally over (thanks be to God :rolleyes:) and went back to their daily schedule of performing sacrifices and rituals. Passover was a busy season when pilgrims would flock to the holy city and swell the population of Jerusalem. If even the high priest Caiaphas was in Golgotha just like those films show it, then who the heck’s running the Temple? 😛
 
Loboto-Me said:
I’ve always wondered what happened to this guard, I wish I knew more about this man.

I kinda wish they’d make a movie about the after effects on the jews after our Lord’s death 🙂 Just things like what did Herod and Pilate think when they heard about the big miracles afterward, and what did those who were laughing and taunting him while Jesus was dying go home thinking? Stuff like that.
Click to expand...
I would like to know that too. I would probably be disturbed, lose sleep, feel like I committed a GREAT sin and ask myself “How could God ever forgive me?” I would be traumatized for days.

I would like to know what happened with Herod and Pilate. I wonder what exactly they would feel like.
 
patrick457 said:
Y’know what the interesting part is? The wording of the Greek is actually ambiguous here: Alethos, theou yios en outos “Truly, of-god son was this”, and, Alethos, outos o anthropos yios theou en “Truly, this [the] man son of-god was.” It lacks the definite article. Plus, we can’t exactly determine how the centurion meant that phrase historically.

Hence, there’s this one proposal that the centurion’s words could thus also be understood as ‘a son of [a] god’, which might fit in more with his polytheistic worldview, where there are many gods and demigods. The centurion could have just meant the phrase in pretty much the same way the title divi filius, ‘son of god’ is applied to the Caesars: Jesus was an extraordinary divine man, but He’s not the only ‘son of god’ there is.

There’s a counter-argument however that in Koine Greek, a definite predicate nominative omits the definite article when it precedes the verb, so the traditional translation ‘the Son of God’ is perfectly okay. Also, there’s not really anything to suggest that the centurion was incapable of using the title in more or less its Christian sense: the former opinion stems out of the idea that the pagan centurion could not have grasped the Christian idea of the title ‘son of God’.

There’s no denying however that the centurion is one of the few human characters in the Gospels who actually confess Jesus using this title - and he’s a gentile at that! He did what most of the disciples didn’t.
Click to expand...
Personally, I think if the centurion meant ‘a son of [a] god’, then it wouldn’t have made it into the Bible. Just my thoughts!
 
NotWorthy said:
Personally, I think if the centurion meant ‘a son of [a] god’, then it wouldn’t have made it into the Bible. Just my thoughts!
Click to expand...
Let’s assume that the first theory is correct. IMHO, if the centurion did mean for ‘son of god’ to mean pretty much the same way divi filius was applied to Caesar, then the Evangelists may have recorded it because the centurion unwittingly said something that is quite true, something we Christians now fully understand: Jesus was indeed the Son of God; but He’s not just a son of a certain deity contrary to how he might have understood it, but the only Son of the one God. Within the statement lies a core of the truth; there’s a double meaning in there.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I would like to know that too. I would probably be disturbed, lose sleep, feel like I committed a GREAT sin and ask myself “How could God ever forgive me?” I would be traumatized for days.

I would like to know what happened with Herod and Pilate. I wonder what exactly they would feel like.
Click to expand...
That just reminded me. There are some people who have been so blinded and so blinded that even if they do the worst sin they’d feel no great remorse (admittedly, this poor sinner is one 😦 please pray for me). I hate to be pessimistic, but who knows? Perhaps Pilate thought, as I’ve said before, that with Jesus out of the scene, everything’s going to be fine. Yet another potential threat to the pax Romana has been snuffed out and Rome has displayed yet another instance that it is superior (when will the Jews ever learn?): that preacher has just joined the ranks of countless thousands who were sacrificed to show the might of the Empire. Pilate has just passed through another day by keeping the status quo
safe. Herod maybe even was glad that this pretender was dead. How dare He snatch the title ‘King of the Jews’ from him.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top