Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 23:47

"And when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." — Luke 23:47 (ASV)

Now when the centurion saw what was done . . .—See Notes on Matthew 27:54-55; Mark 15:40–41. The phrase “glorified God” is, as has been noticed already (Luke 5:25), specially characteristic of St. Luke. The substitution of “this was a righteous man,” for “this was the Son of God,” may, perhaps, have originated in a wish to express the exact measure, and not more, of the sense in which the centurion had used the seemingly higher words.