Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Sent unto him elders of the Jews (apesteilen prov auton presbouterouv twn Ioudaiwn). Matthew 8:5 says "the centurion came unto him." For discussion of this famous case of apparent discrepancy see discussion on Matthew. One possible solution is that Luke tells the story as it happened with the details, whereas Matthew simply presents a summary statement without the details. What one does through another he does himself.
Asking him (erwtwn auton). Present active participle, masculine singular nominative, of the verb erwtaw common for asking a question as in the old Greek (Luke 22:68). But more frequently in the N.T. the verb has the idea of making a request as here. This is not a Hebraism or an Aramaism, but is a common meaning of the verb in the papyri (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 168). It is to be noted here that Luke represents the centurion himself as "asking" through the elders of the Jews (leading citizens). In Matthew 8:6 the verb is parakalwn (beseeching).
That he would come and save (opwv elqwn diaswsh). ina is the more common final or sub-final (as here) conjunction, but opwv still occurs. Diaswsh is effective aorist active subjunctive, to bring safe through as in a storm (Acts 28:1, Acts 28:4). Common word.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Luke 7:3:
Luke 7:1
Acts 23:24
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