Verse 45 They of the circumcision; the Jews.--Were astonished. This offer of the gospel to a Roman centurion was a great event, and it constitutes a very important era in the history of Christianity. Now, for the first time, was that seemingly impassable barrier transcended, which, since the days of Abraham, had circumscribed the Jewish people, and had so effectually separated them, in regard to the truths and institutions of religion, from all the rest of mankind.