The Centurian's Great Faith

The Roman army is a study in efficient leadership. During the time of our Lord, there were 25 legions in the Roman army. Ordinarily each legion consisted of 6,000 men. Those men were divided into 10 cohorts. Each cohort contained 3 maniples, and each maniple contained 2 centuries. In each province the governor was the commander-in-chief of all the troops within his jurisdiction.

An officer from the senatorial rank of Roman society was entrusted with the command of each legion, and under him were 6 tribunes. Over the centuries, each containing 100 men more or less, were the centurions. Under the centurions were the principales, or non-commissioned officers.

This organization functioned like a well-oiled machine.

In this study, let us focus our attention on the Capernaum centurian (Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10) here.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets