Matthew 8:13 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ sends a message back to the centurion who is waiting on the Lord’s answer: ‘Go.’ Go your way because your prayer has been answered and you need be concerned about this matter no more. You have come with a specific request, and I have given you that request, says the Lord. But he emphasises the instrumentality of faith, and the essential part it plays. According to the faith which is evidenced by the humility, the awareness of sin, the reverence for and trust in Christ, the hope, of the centurion; according to all these ‘be it done unto thee.’ God insists on faith, even though, in itself, it is nothing. Faith can claim no merit; it is not anything to boast about. It is God’s due, and only right response to him when he speaks. He must be believed, and therefore those who will not come in faith are shut out of the kingdom of heaven. Those with small faith can pray for greater faith, and those who feel that they scarcely have faith can ask that God will take them by the hand and lead them, but those who turn away in unbelief will be shut out for ever. Again, as in the case of the nobleman’s son, the healing occurred the moment Christ spoke the word. An invisible power went out from the Lord and accomplished what he commanded to happen, because though men crucified him on earth, in heaven his authority is unquestioned.