You apparently did not read but a couple sentences. The authors stated that it did apply to many centurions, but that it MAY have depended on rank and income.
It can be and was used in different contexts to mean child, child servant (or just a person younger than the speaker), beloved servant and younger partner in a homosexual relationship. In this context it is quite clear that it at the very least meant beloved servant.
Luke used the words "entimos doulos" to describe the pais. Entimos doulos means beloved servant.
Further, in Matthew the centurion uses the word doulos to describe his other servants and only uses pais to describe the sick servant. This contrast indicates that the servant was, likely, his lover or, at the least, that the pais was of special importance.
You are a stubborn ass. I used your source which was not definitive and in fact stated it likely they were allowed to marry. This does not even deal with the fact that most centurians (who being centurians had a high rank) had common law wives. Yet here you are trying to force a view onto the text not even knowing what the hell you are talking about. Jumping from a high ranking officer in the Roman army seeking Christ's healing for a beloved young servant to he must be gay.
Moving on; Pais is literally child servant. To use this term merely describes the age of the servant/slave. It was often used to show affection to a young servant that is true, because it carried with it the idea of a beloved son.
Luke actually used the term doulos about the slave in question dork. He did so because he was a doctor and in fact his entire book renders a much less emotional account than Mathew's, because of his profession, and unlike Mathew he was not a Jew, but a Gentile. So here, as in other parts of Luke's narrative, he states the literal. This servant was a doulos, meaning bond slave. This child was born into slavery.
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