Matthew wrote: "When Jesus arrived in Capernaum, a Roman army captain came and pled with him to come to his home and heal his servant boy who was in bed paralyzed and racked with pain" (Matthew 8:5-6).
Then Matthew had Jesus say: I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel?.go home. What you have believed has happened" (Matthew 8:10-13).
Such a lovely story as told in English. But what does is say in Greek?
The Greek reading of these verses describe how a Roman soldier asked Jesus to cure his "pais" who lay paralyzed and in great pain. The centurion told Jesus that all he had to do was to say the right words to cure his "pais" and Jesus, praising the centurion did just that. A simple story.
If the boy in the story had been the centurion's son, then the author would have used the Greek word "uios" for son. If the author of this story wanted to imply that the boy was a slave or servant, than he would have used the Greek word "duolos" (slave). But neither word was used. Instead of "uios" or "duolos", the author of this story used the Greek word "pais", which in this situation implies a young boy kept for sexual pleasures by his adult owner.
The English word "pederasty" comes from this Greek word "pais". Webster defines pederasty sodomy between males as practiced by a man with a boy.
In as much as Matthew did not witness the event, he had to rely on hearsay to write this story. Matthew only became a disciple in Chapter 9, not in Chapter 8. But hey, who?s counting?
Luke, who wasn't there either, tells another story. This centurion had a servant, who "was dear" to him. Dear to him? And instead of being paralyzed and in great agony, as Matthew tells it, the boy was described as being only very sick and near death. Two completely different stories.
Various translations of the Christian Scriptures have suppressed the sexual component of the term and translated the word simply as: a "servant boy" - "young servant" - "my son" - and "my boy".
One has to question why the translators had to soften the sexual implications when such activities were common in the Roman and Greek culture. No big deal unless you ask the question, if the author really wanted you to know that the Roman centurion had a "pais" why would the gospel writers change it?
Why change the truth?
Simply put, they did not want anyone to realize that Jesus did not condemn the practice of an adult male having sex with a minor boy, just overlooked it.