Son of God
54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
NASB Matthew 27:54
39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"
NASB Mark 15:39
A righteous man
47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent [righteous]."
NASB Luke 23:4
SAB Contradiction 92
Two options
SAB gives two options that are contradicting according to him: ‘The son of God’ or ‘a righteous man’. Let’s apply the rules of Jesus’ stenographers to answer Mr SAB’s problem.
Mark
The first reaction of the centurion is given by Mark. That is clear as it is a direct reaction to Jesus’ giving up the spirit: ‘saw the way He breathed His last, he said, …’ Mark uses a single introduction, so he gives the first reaction of the Centurion completely (rule 1, single introduction).
Luke
But the centurion said more after his first statement. Luke reports ‘saw what had happened’; that doesn’t mean immediately after Jesus’ death. The Greek perfect is used here to refer to a state of affairs after an action; it may continue for a long time.
Luke uses the introduction: ‘he began praising God saying: ……..’ This is a double introduction (two ‘speaking’ words: praising … saying) indicating that he only gave part of the quote “Certainly this man was innocent [righteous].” (rule 2, double introduction).
Matthew
Matthew reports that after the earthquake following Jesus’ death, not only the centurion but also other soldiers praised God. Only one saying of the many is quoted here as it is a plural introduction ‘they feared greatly saying’. (rule 3). It is not certain if we have a confession of the centurion here, or of one of his soldiers.
Sorry
I have done my very best to discover any contradiction, but sorry, I fail to see it. The centurion called him both ‘The son of God’ and ‘a righteous man’. SAB has used the well-known trick: ‘either … or …’, instead of: ‘both … and …’
No Bible Contradiction