The captain of one hundred men
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The Greek noun hekatontarches names a centurion, a Roman military officer conventionally associated with command over a company of soldiers. Gospel and Acts narratives use the title for several different men, not one uniform moral portrait.
Reader summary
Full entry for ἑκατοντάρχης (G1543) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek noun hekatontarches names a centurion, a Roman military officer conventionally associated with command over a company of soldiers. Gospel and Acts narratives use the title for several different men, not one uniform moral portrait.
The BSB source-word alignment has 20 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include centurion (12), centurions (3), a centurion (2), [the] centurion [ has sent us ] (1), of a centurion (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 8:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (13), Matthew (4), Luke (3).
The Greek noun hekatontarches names a centurion, a Roman military officer conventionally associated with command over a company of soldiers. Gospel and Acts narratives use the title for several different men, not one uniform moral portrait. A centurion recognizes the authority of Jesus's word while pleading for a suffering servant. Cornelius is described as righteous and God-fearing and receives the gospel across a major Jew-Gentile boundary.
An officer halts an unlawful flogging when he learns that Paul is a Roman citizen. Julius first accepts the ship experts' advice over Paul's warning, then later prevents soldiers from killing prisoners in order to spare Paul. At the cross, a centurion responds to what he witnesses with confession and praise. The title identifies delegated imperial power, but the narratives evaluate concrete acts of faith, listening, restraint, and responsibility.
Positive portrayals of individuals do not baptize the Roman Empire or erase the coercive system in which centurions served.
Centurions appear as imperial officers who command soldiers and guard prisoners, yet individual narratives emphasize faith, receptivity, procedural restraint, changed judgment, mercy, and testimony at Jesus's death.
The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
The centurion draws on his experience of command while confessing his unworthiness and trusting the effective authority of Jesus's word.
“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”
Cornelius's messengers describe the centurion as righteous and God-fearing while requesting Peter's presence to hear God's message.
On hearing this, the centurion went and reported it to the commander. “What are you going to do?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
The centurion reports Paul's Roman citizenship to the commander, interrupting an intended flogging without trial.
But contrary to Paul’s advice, the centurion was persuaded by the pilot and by the owner of the ship.
Julius initially follows the pilot and shipowner instead of Paul's warning, showing that the officer's judgment is neither infallible nor isolated from influence.
But the centurion, wanting to spare Paul’s life, thwarted their plan. He commanded those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.
The same centurion later blocks the soldiers' plan to kill the prisoners because he wants to spare Paul's life.
When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
After witnessing Jesus's death, the centurion gives glory to God and declares that Jesus was righteous.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Roman military officer commanding 100 soldiers; often portrayed positively as exemplars of faith and justice in NT.
Roman military officer commanding 100 soldiers; often portrayed positively as exemplars of faith and justice in NT.
(ἑκατόν, ἄρχω,), [in LXX for מֵאָה שַׂר ;] a centurion: Mat.8:13, Luk.7:6 23:47, Act.10:1, 22 21:32 22:26 23:17, 23 24:23 27:1, 6 27:11, 31 27:43 (cf. κεντυρίως).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 21 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a centurion
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 6 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 17 lexical occurrence verses.
ἑκατοντάρχης is built from these roots:
Represents Roman authority overseeing Paul’s transport.Acts 27:1-12
His decision preserves the prisoners’ lives.Acts 27:39-44
Hekatontarches lets the Gospel writers and Acts portray moral agency inside an imperial chain of command. The Capernaum officer understands orders, yet approaches Jesus with humility and trusts a word he cannot control. Cornelius receives instruction and opens his household to Peter, becoming central to the church's recognition that God shows no partiality. In Jerusalem, a centurion responds to Paul's citizenship claim and prevents an unlawful flogging from proceeding unquestioned.
Julius can make a poor decision under expert influence and later make a life-preserving one when soldiers propose killing prisoners. At Jesus's death, another centurion interprets what he sees in a way that honors God. None of these scenes makes Rome righteous or force harmless. They show that people in institutions remain responsible listeners and actors. Delegated authority can be exercised with humility, correction, restraint, and mercy, and it can also participate in custody and violence.
Faithful application evaluates choices without either erasing institutional harm or denying the possibility of repentance and courageous action within a system.
Matt.8.8
Hekatontarches is a masculine Greek office noun commonly rendered centurion. Its formation evokes command connected with one hundred, but the narrative title does not establish the exact headcount of every unit. Case and number vary as the officer commands, receives reports, guards, or is addressed.
Scripture repeatedly places military and royal agents under God's judgment while also recounting outsiders who act faithfully or protect life. The centurion narratives bring that pattern into Roman settings and center Jesus's superior authority. They do not erase prophetic critiques of violence or create a blanket endorsement of empire.