Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”
After crying out and convulsing him greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead, so much that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv23, 26 There is nothing but Christ can and will do…
There is nothing but Christ can and will do it, for them that believe in him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv23–27 23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe,…
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Ver. 23. All things are possible, &c.] Questionless (saith a reverend man, Mr. S. Ward) justifying faith is not beneath miraculous in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word. The prayer of faith is after a sort omnipotent, saith Luther.
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But if thou canst do anything] This woeful father had no further patience to parley; but through weakness of faith, and strength of affection to his distressed child, breaks off his tale, and begs present help. "He that believeth, maketh not haste," Isa 28:16.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv23–27 Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe,.... As…
Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe,.... As the man put an "if" on the power of Christ, Christ puts an "if" on the faith of the man; and tacitly suggests, that power was not wanting in himself, but faith in him; and should that cure not be performed, it would not be owing to any inability in him, but to his own incredulity. The Arabic version renders it, "what is this thy: saying, if thou canst do any thing?" What dost thou mean by it? Thou oughtest not to doubt of my power; there is no reason for it, after so many miracles wrought; upbraiding the man with his unbelief; and the Ethiopic version renders it thus, "because thou sayest, if thou canst": wherefore to show that power was not wanting in him, provided he had but faith, it follows,
all things are possible to him that believeth; that is, "to be done" to him, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions supply: for all things are not possible to be done by the believer himself, but all things are possible to be done for him, by God, or Christ, or the Spirit of God: thus our Lord, as he elsewhere does, ascribes that to faith, which is done by a divine power.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv23–26 If thou canst believe - As if he had…
If thou canst believe - As if he had said, The thing does not turn on my power, but on thy faith. I can do all things: canst thou believe?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv23–25 Verse 23. If THOU canst BELIEVE] This was an…
Verse 23. If THOU canst BELIEVE] This was an answer to the inquiry above. I can furnish a sufficiency of power, if thou canst but bring faith to receive it. Why are not our souls completely healed? Why is not every demon cast out? Why are not pride, self-will, love of the world, lust, anger, peevishness, with all the other bad tempers and dispositions which constitute the mind of Satan, entirely destroyed? Alas! it is because we do not believe; Jesus is able; more, Jesus is willing; but we are not willing to give up our idols; we give not credence to his word; therefore hath sin a being in us, and dominion over us.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v23 Mar 9:23-27. Jesus said, If thou canst believe, &c.…
Mar 9:23-27. Jesus said, If thou canst believe, &c. — As if he had said, The question is not respecting my power, but thy faith. I can do all things: canst thou believe? If thou canst believe — Canst rely with confidence on my power, love, and faithfulness, and be persuaded that I can and will grant thy request, the deliverance which thou desirest will surely be effected; for all things are possible — To God, and all things of this kind, such as the deliverance of a person’s soul or body from the power of Satan, or the recovery of a person from sickness, or from any calamity or trouble, are possible to him that believeth — In the power and goodness of God, and makes application to him in prayer, lifting up holy hands, as without wrath, and every unkind temper, so without doubting. And straightway the father — Touched to the very heart to think that his dear son might possibly lose the cure through the weakness of his faith; cried out with tears, Lord, I believe — That thy power and goodness are unlimited; yet such is my frailty, that when I look on my child, and consider the miserable condition he is in, my faith is ready to fail me again: therefore, help thou mine unbelief — That is, help me against my unbelief, by mitigating the circumstances of the trial, or communicating suitable strength to my soul. The Greek is, βοηθει μη τη απιστια, which Dr. Campbell renders, Supply thou the defects of my faith, observing, “It is evident from the preceding clause, that απιστια denotes here a deficient faith, not a total want of faith. I have used the word supply, as hitting more exactly what I take to be the sense of the passage.” Grotius justly expresses it, Quod fiduciæ meæ deest, bonitate tua supple: “What is wanting to my faith, supply by thy goodness.” When Jesus saw the people running together — The vehemence with which the father of the child spake, occasioned by the greatness of his grief, brought the crowd about them. Jesus, therefore, to prevent further disturbance, immediately commanded the unclean spirit to depart from the youth, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit — So termed because he made the child deaf and dumb: when Jesus spake, the devil heard, though the child could not: I charge thee — I myself, now; not my disciples; come out of him, and enter no more into him — Leave him instantly, and presume not any more to trouble or disquiet him as long as he lives. And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, &c. — Scarcely had Jesus uttered the word when the devil came out of the child, making a hideous howling, and convulsing him to such a degree, that he lay senseless and without motion, as one dead, till Jesus took him by the hand, instantly brought him to life, and then delivered him to his father perfectly recovered.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv23, 26 If the man believed, as he said, why does…
If the man believed, as he said, why does he add, help my unbelief? It may be answered: because faith is manifold; their is a faith of beginners, and a faith of the perfect. The incipient faith this man already possessed, and he besought our Saviour to help him to the higher degrees of this virtue. No one becomes great and perfect all at once, but must first set off with small beginnings, and thus gradually ascend to the height of perfection. Thus the man, who, by the inspiration of grace has received imperfect faith, may be said at the same time to believe, and still to be incredulous. (Ven. Bede) --- Here we are taught that our faith is weak, and has need of support and increase from God’s assistance. When tears accompany our faith, they obtain for us the grant of our petitions. (St. Jerome)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv23–27 23. If thou canst believe — An echo of…
23. If thou canst believe — An echo of the man’s expression, If thou canst do anything. The man had evidence which required him to have and to use a proper amount of faith. As God does not require our first faith without giving us a first evidence, so our Lord first gave prior evidence of his divinity in order to create a first faith. But when that was done, the condition of the exercise of faith was an inexorable demand. Our Lord thus performed, as we may say, two classes of miracles.
All things are possible to him that believeth — When our Lord says “all things,” we are to understand what classes of things he is speaking of, in which he includes all. And the condition (“to him that believeth”) belongs not to every rash and presumptuous belief, that the mind, not in communion with God, may conjure up. The belief and the grant to prayer of which Jesus speaks belong perhaps to the world in which he speaks, namely, the religious and spiritual world. And the belief of which he speaks is that faith of which God grants the power. All things within its sphere are possible to that faith; for God will not grant power to faith for things which he will not make possible.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv23, 25, 26 23. If thou canst] According to the best reading…
23. If thou canst] According to the best reading here the translation would be, Jesus said unto him, As for thy if thou canst, all things are possible to him that believeth. For the use of the article compare Mat_19:18; Luk_9:46. “Thou hast said,” replies our Lord, “if I can do anything. But as for thy if Thou canst, the question is if thou canst believe; that is the hinge upon which all must turn.” Then He pauses, and utters the further words, “all things are possible to him that believeth.” “Hoc, si potes credere, res est; hoc agitur.” Bengel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv23–26 (23) If thou canst believe.—The better MSS. omit the…
(23) If thou canst believe.—The better MSS. omit the word “believe,” and the sentence without it is taken as expressing the sadness of surprise. Our Lord repeats the half-believing, half-despairing words of the father in a tone of sadness, If thou canst. . . . Was this the way in which a man should speak who came to Him as a Healer? Such a one had to learn the great primary lesson that “all things were possible to him that believeth,” that the secret of previous failure lay, in part at least, in his own want of faith, as well as in that of the scribes and disciples who had tried their arts of exorcism in vain.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv23, 25 Vers. 23, 24. The most approved reading here is,…
Vers. 23, 24. The most approved reading here is, not Ei dunasai pisteusai , but simply Ei dunasai , So that the English rendering is, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth. Our Lord takes up the father"s words. It is as though he said, "Thou sayest to me, "If thou canst do anything!" Ah, that "If thou canst!" All things are possible to him that believeth." In other words, our Lord said to him, "Believe in me, and your child shall be healed." It was right that Christ should demand faith in himself; for it was not fitting that he should confer his special benefits on those who disbelieved or doubted about him that he should thrust his blessings on those who were unworthy of them. The answer of the father is touching and beautiful. Greatly agitated, he cried out and said (we might well suppose (meta dakruwn "with tears," although the weight of evidence is against this addition being retained in the text), I believe; help thou mine unbelief. It is as though he said," I do believe; but my faith is weak. Do thou, therefore, increase and strengthen it; so that whatever there is in me of doubt or remaining unbelief may be taken away, and I may be counted worthy to obtain from thee this blessing for my son." Nor can we doubt that Christ heard a prayer so humble and so fervent, and took away from him the last remains of doubt and unbelief.
The omnipotence of faith.
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This is a case in which the revisers have introduced a dramatic play of expression into what has seemed a merely conditional statement; and apparently with the authority of the best manuscripts. The words of Christ are seen to be those of surprise and expostulation. He sends back the qualification which the man had uttered, and asserts the virtual omnipotence of faith, and, at the same time, the dauntlessness of its spirit.
I The SPIRIT WHICH CHARACTERIZES THE BELIEVER.
1. Confidence and fearlessness. The true believer will never say, "If thou canst." The greatest difficulties will not seem insuperable, and the testimony of sight and ordinary experience will be distrusted. Inward weakness and uncertainty will be conquered. The one thing of consequence will be, "Is this promised?" "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" (Job_13:15; cf. Hab_2:17).
2. It is to be distinguished from self-confidence. There is no immediate reference to self in such a conviction; it bases itself upon the unseen and eternal, the laws and promises of God. Hence we may speak of the humility of faith.
3. It is exceptional and divinely produced. Most men are guided by their ordinary experience. When that experience is deliberately set aside or ignored, it must be because of some fact or truth not visible to the natural mind. But such a discovery would be equivalent to a Divine communication. The faith which proceeds upon this must, therefore, be supernaturally inspired. It cannot exist save in one conscious of God, and of a peculiar relation to him.
II THE POSSIBILITIES OF FAITH. If not wholly dependent upon the actual experience of the power of faith, the confidence of the believer is nevertheless greatly sustained and strengthened by it. Resting in the first instance upon the consciousness of One mighty to save, whose help is promised and assured, and concerning whom it may be said, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" the man of faith will also prize every indication that God has been with man. For he is assured from within and from without that the possibilities of faith are:
1. Unlimited because it identifies itself with the power of God. Faith is the union of the spirit of the believer with him in whom he trusts. It ensures nothing less than his interest and help. The weakest child of God can secure his aid. If God be for us, who can be against us?
2. Unlimited save that it subjects itself to the will of God. Just as God is omnipotent and yet incapable of unrighteousness, so the faith of the believer will only avail for things pleasing to his heavenly Father. But, then, it never desires any other. The promises of God, however, declare the direction in which Divine help may be certainly expected; and there are countless instances in which the believer can plainly discern the lawfulness and propriety of the objects for which he pleads.
(1) The work of faith is ever blessed.
(2) The prayer of faith is never denied; for if the answer do not assume the form expected, it will nevertheless prove to be substantially, and under the best form, the blessing that is required. And fervent, earnest, repeated prayer is unmistakably encouraged by the teaching of Christ. It is for Christians not to pray less, but more and more importunately, only leaving the particular mode in which the answer is to come to the wisdom and love of God.
3. Unlimited as illustrated ia Scripture and the biographies of godly men. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a magnificent confirmation of the promises of the Lord; and them can be no better exercise than the study of the answers to prayer recorded in the Word of God and the lives of saints. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv23–24 If thou canst believe, all things are possible to…
Mar_9:23
If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
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Omnipotence of faith
I. The nature of faith. Taking God at His Word, is perhaps one of the best definitions ever given. The truths connected with salvation, which require to be cordially believed, may be stated in the following manner.
1. That all have sinned.
2. I am a guilty sinner, and exposed to the just punishment of sin.
3. That Jesus having died for all, is the Saviour of all that truly believe on Him.
II. The provisions for faith. You are authorized to believe. God has made rich provision that you might believe. That you cannot believe in Christ without being saved is evident-
1. From the character of God.
2. From the Word of God.
3. From the assurance God has given to attest His word.
4. From the promises of God.
5. From the covenant of God (Heb_6:13; Heb_6:18).
6. From the experience of His people in all ages.
III. The exercise of faith. Includes-
1. Attention to the great objects of faith.
2. Knowledge (Mat_13:16; Act_27:27).
3. Reason.
4. Memory (1Co_15:1; 1Co_15:4).
5. The affections.
6. The will-the determined exercise of the affections, aided by the understanding. What shall hinder the exercise of faith? Answer objections.
IV. The mighty power of faith. Examples-Abraham, three Hebrew children, Daniel, the man with the withered hand, the dying thief, etc.
1. Let every impenitent sinner believe that he is on the very brink of ruin, etc.
2. Let every penitent believe the record God has given of His Son, and apply it to himself.
3. Let every child of God in distress, etc., trust, not be afraid.
4. Let the Christian who is seeking full salvation, believe, The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth from all sin. Be it unto thee according to thy faith. Believe now. Continue to believe. (A. Weston.)
I. All real goodness is to be attained by the exercise of faith in Christ. This implies the absence of
(1) distrust;
(2) presumption;
(3) indifference.
II. Faith must always be limited by the promises of God.
III. Faith must have reference to the particular blessing sought. We must therefore be well versed in
(1) the particular promises God has given, and in
(2) the method in which God bestows them. (B. Noel.)
All things possible to faith
I. You will observe the expression, If thou canst believe!-not, if thou dost believe;-If thou canst believe. Cannot, then, everyone believe? Is or is not a man responsible for the character of his faith, and its degree? I want to examine that a little carefully. I lay down two broad first principles. Every man-at least, every man who has not, by his own wilfulness, destroyed it-every man who has not made himself lower than a man, and so lost the position of our common humanity-every man has some faith. And secondly, every man who uses the faith he has, will increase its power, and acquire more. If you deny either of those two premises, I do not see how a man can be brought in accountable for his faith. But admit them, and observe what follows. Can everyone, at every moment, believe everything which he ought to believe? I think not; I think not at any moment. But then, had that man lived altogether as he ought to have lived, then he would, at that moment, have been able to believe a great deal more than he can believe now. The faith would have been in a stronger and clearer exercise. Probably, he would have been able to believe everything which at that particular time he was called upon to believe. And now, if that man will be true to his convictions, his faith will be sure to rise up to the level of believing what at that time he is unable to believe. For faith is progressive: faith must go to school, as patience must, or holiness must. Our Lords words imply attainment-the difficulty of the attainment-and they sympathize with the difficulty of the attainment. But the power of believing is a moral thing, which a man holds in his own hands. We all know indeed, that there cannot be a believing thought, nor one true conception, or any spiritual thing, without the inworking of the Holy Ghost. But then, the Holy Ghost is always inworking. All that is contingent is our reception of the Holy Ghost.
II. The outside boundary line of the province of faith, properly so called, is promises. Faith is laying hold: I do not say of what God is, for God may be and is much which we cannot understand enough even to believe-but it is laying hold of what God has covenanted Himself to us-what God is to His people. The promises are what God is to His Church-therefore faith confines itself to promises.
III. I must not, and I need not, stop now, to show that within that circumference, the range of Gods undertakings for us, is left enough, because it is left still infinite. But how to get this faith? What is the road to it? First, be sure that you are living a good, moral life. Secondly, do Gods will, whatever, in your conscience, you feel Gods will is. Thirdly, cherish convictions, and obey the still small voices. Fourth, act out the faith you have, and let it be a constant prayer, More faith, Lord; more faith. Fifth, go up and down among the promises, and be conversant with the character and the attributes of God. Sixth, wrestle with some one promise in spirit every day, till you get it. Seventh, take large, loving views of Jesus, make experiments of His love,-and always sit and wait, with an open heart, to take in all that He most assuredly waits to give. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Faith omnipotent
I. Some of the achievements of faith.
1. We will consider faith in its relationship to guilt.
2. Let us also observe faith in the midst of those constant attacks of which the heir of heaven is the subject.
3. The obtaining of eminence in grace.
4. The power of faith in the service of God.
II. Where lies, then, the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is-an emanation of Divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God. Faith thinketh Who gave this promise. She remembereth why the promise was given. She also considers the amazing work of Christ. She then looks back upon the past. She remembers that God never has failed her. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The power of faith
Faith is not only a grace of itself, but is steward and purveyor of all other graces, and its office is to make provision for them, while they are working; and therefore as a mans faith grows either stronger or weaker, so his work goes on more or less vigorously. There is no grace, nor supply, nor mercy, laid up in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is all in the hands of a believers faith; and he may take from thence whatsoever he needs, to supply the present wants and necessities of his soul. (Bishop Hopkins.)
The sphere of faiths power
The expression does not mean, in this connection, It is possible for the believer to do all things, but It is possible for the believer to get all things. Omnipotence is, in a sense, at his disposal. But the universality of things contemplated by our Lord was not, as the nature of the case makes evident, the most absolute conceivable. We must descend in thought to the limited universality of things that would be of benefit to the believer. We must, indeed, descend still farther. We must consider the benefit of the believer not absolutely, or unconditionally, but relatively to his circumstances, thus relatively to the circumstances of the other beings with whom he is connected. With these limitations-inherent in the nature of the case-all things are possible for him that believeth. But why only for him that believeth? Because faith in the fact of Christs Divine power or authority, or, at all events, in the propitiousness which is involved in that fact, is, in the nature of things, absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of the highest spiritual blessings. By making it a prerequisite for the obtaining of material blessings, Christ made His visible life a parable of high invisible realities, and flashed light on the inner by the reflective power of the outer. It was the perfection of symbolism. (J. Morison, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv23, 24, 26 23. If thou canst. The question is not whether…
23. If thou canst. The question is not whether Jesus can, but whether the afflicted father can. Can he have the needful faith in Christ? Faith is the great need.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv23–24
Mark
THE OMNIPOTENCE OF FAITH
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Mar 9:23.
The necessity and power of faith is the prominent lesson of this narrative of the healing of a demoniac boy, especially as it is told by the Evangelist Mark, The lesson is enforced by the actions of all the persons in the group, except the central figure, Christ. The disciples could not cast out the demon, and incur Christ’s plaintive rebuke, which is quite as much sorrow as blame: ‘O faithless generation I how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?’ And then, in the second part of the story, the poor father, heart-sick with hope deferred, comes into the foreground. The whole interest is shifted to him, and more prominence is given to the process by which his doubting spirit is led to trust, than to that by which his son is healed.
There is something very beautiful and tender in Christ’s way of dealing with him, so as to draw him to faith. He begins with the question, ‘How long is it ago since this came unto him?’ and so induces him to tell all the story of the long sorrow, that his burdened heart might get some ease in speaking, and also that the feeling of the extremity of the necessity, deepened by the very dwelling on all his boy’s cruel sufferings, might help him to the exercise of faith. Truly ‘He knew what was in man,’ and with tenderness born of perfect knowledge and perfect love, He dealt with sore and sorrowful hearts. This loving artifice of consolation, which drew all the story from willing lips, is one more little token of His gentle mode of healing. And it is profoundly wise, as well as most tender. Get a man thoroughly to know his need, and vividly to feel his helpless misery, and you have carried him a long way towards laying hold of the refuge from it.
How wise and how tender the question is, is proved by the long circumstantial answer, in which the pent-up trouble of a father’s heart pours itself out at the tiny opening which Christ has made for it. He does not content himself with the simple answer, ‘Of a child,’ but with the garrulousness of sorrow that has found a listener that sympathises, goes on to tell all the misery, partly that he may move his hearer’s pity, but more in sheer absorption with the bitterness that had poisoned the happiness of his home all these years. And then his graphic picture of his child’s state leads him to the plaintive cry, in which his love makes common cause with his son, and unites both in one wretchedness. ‘If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’
Our Lord answers that appeal in the words of our text. There are some difficulties in the rendering and exact force of these words with which I do not mean to trouble you. We may accept the rendering as in our Bible, with a slight variation in the punctuation. If we take the first clause as an incomplete sentence, and put a break between it and the last words, the meaning will stand out more clearly: ‘If thou canst believe-all things are possible to him that believeth.’ We might paraphrase it somewhat thus: Did you say ‘If thou canst do anything’? That is the wrong ‘if.’ There is no doubt about that. The only ‘if’ in the question is another one, not about me, but about you. ‘If thou canst believe-’ and then the incomplete sentence might be supposed to be ended with some such phrase as ‘That is the only question. If thou canst believe-all depends on that. If thou canst believe, thy son will be healed,’ or the like. Then, in order to explain and establish what He had meant in the half-finished saying, He adds the grand, broad statement, on which the demand for the man’s faith as the only condition of his wish being answered reposes: ‘All things are possible to him that believeth.’
That wide statement is meant, I suppose, for the disciples as well as for the father. ‘All things are possible’ both in reference to benefits to be received, and in reference to power to be exercised. ‘If thou canst believe, poor suppliant father, thou shalt have thy desire. If thou canst believe, poor devil-ridden son, thou shalt be set free. If ye can believe, poor baffled disciples, you will be masters of the powers of evil.’
Do you remember another ‘if’ with which Christ was once besought? ‘There came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.’ In some respects that man had advanced beyond the father in our story, for he had no doubt at all about Christ’s power, and he spoke to Him as ‘Lord.’ But he was somehow not quite sure about Christ’s heart of pity. On the other hand, the man in our narrative has no doubt about Christ’s compassion. He may have seen something of His previous miracles, or there may still have been lying on our Lord’s countenance some of the lingering glory of the Transfiguration-as indeed the narrative seems to hint, in its emphatic statement of the astonishment and reverential salutations of the crowd when He approached-or the tenderness of our Lord’s listening sympathy may have made him feel sure of His willingness to help. At any rate, the leper’s ‘if’ has answered itself for him. His own lingering doubt, Christ waives aside as settled. His ‘if’ is answered for ever. So these two ‘ifs’ in reference to Christ are beyond all controversy; His power is certain, and His love. The third ‘if’ remains, the one that refers to us-’If thou canst believe’; all hinges on that, for ‘all things are possible to him that believeth.’
Here, then, we have our Lord telling us that faith is omnipotent. That is a bold word; He puts no limitations; ‘all things are possible.’ I think that to get the true force of these words we should put alongside of them the other saying of our Lord’s, ‘With God all things are possible.’ That is the foundation of the grand prerogative in our text. The power of faith is the consequence of the power of God. All things are possible to Him; therefore, all things are possible to me, believing in Him. If we translate that into more abstract words, it just comes to the principle that the power of faith consists in its taking hold of the power of God. It is omnipotent because it knits us to Omnipotence. Faith is nothing in itself, but it is that which attaches us to God, and then His power flows into us. Screw a pipe on to a water main and turn a handle, and out flows the water through the pipe and fills the empty vessel. Faith is as impotent in itself as the hollow water pipe is, only it is the way by which the connection is established between the fulness of God and the emptiness of man. By it divinity flows into humanity, and we have a share even in the divine Omnipotence. ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ In itself nothing, it yet grasps God, and therefore by it we are strong, because by it we lay hold of His strength. Great and wonderful is the grace thus given to us, poor, struggling, sinful men, that, looking up to the solemn throne, where He sits in His power, we have a right to be sure that a true participation in His greatness is granted to us, if once our hearts are fastened to Him.
And there is nothing arbitrary nor mysterious in this flowing of divine power into our hearts on condition of our faith. It is the condition of possessing Christ, and in Christ, salvation, righteousness, and strength, not by any artificial appointment, but in the very nature of things. There is no other way possible by which God could give men what they receive through their faith, except only their faith.
In all trust in God there are two elements: a sense of need and of evil and weakness, and a confidence more or less unshaken and strong in Him, His love and power and all-sufficiency; and unless both of these two be in the heart, it is, in the nature of things, impossible, and will be impossible to all eternity, that purity and strength and peace and joy, and all the blessings which Christ delights to give to faith, should ever be ours.
Unbelief, distrust of Him, which separates us from Him and closes the heart fast against His grace, must cut us off from that which it does not feel that it needs, nor cares to receive; and must interpose a non-conducting medium between us and the electric influences of His might. When Christ was on earth, man’s want of faith dammed back His miracle-working power, and paralysed His healing energy. How strange that paradox sounds at first hearing, which brings together Omnipotence and impotence, and makes men able to counter-work the loving power of Christ. ‘He could there do no mighty work.’ The Evangelist intends a paradox, for he uses two kindred words to express the inability and the mighty work; and we might paraphrase the saying so as to bring out the seeming contradiction: ‘He there had no power to do any work of power.’ The same awful, and in some sense mysterious, power of limiting and restraining the influx of His love belongs to unbelief still, whether it take the shape of active rejection, or only of careless, passive non-reception. For faith makes us partakers of divine power by the very necessity of the case, and that power can attach itself to nothing else. So, ‘if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’
Still further, we may observe that there is involved here the principle that our faith determines the amount of our power. That is true in reference to our own individual religious life, and it is true in reference to special capacities for Christ’s service. Let me say a word or two about each of these. They run into each other, of course, for the truest power of service is found in the depth and purity of our own personal religion, and on the other hand our individual Christian character will never be deep or pure unless we are working for the Master. Still, for our present purpose, these two inseparable aspects of the one Christian life may be separated in thought.
As to the former, then, the measure of my trust in Christ is the measure of all the rest of my Christian character. I shall have just as much purity, just as much peace, just as much wisdom or gentleness or love or courage or hope, as my faith is capable of taking up, and, so to speak, holding in solution. The ‘point of saturation’ in a man’s soul, the quantity of God’s grace which he is capable of absorbing, is accurately measured by his faith. How much do I trust God? That will settle how much I can take in of God.
So much as we believe, so much can we contain. So much as we can contain, so much shall we receive. And in the very act of receiving the ‘portion of our Father’s goods that falleth’ to us, we shall feel that there is a boundless additional portion ready to come as soon as we are ready for it, and thereby we shall be driven to larger desires and a wider opening of the lap of faith, which will ever be answered by ‘good measure, pressed together and running over, measured into our bosoms.’ But there will be no waste by the bestowment of what we cannot take. ‘According to your faith, be it unto you.’ That is the accurate thermometer which measures the temperature of our spiritual state. It is like the steam-gauge outside the boiler, which tells to a fraction the pressure of steam within, and so the power which can at the moment be exerted.
May I make a very simple, close personal application of this thought? We have as much religious life as we desire; that is, we have as much as our faith can take. There is the reason why such hosts of so-called Christians have such poor, feeble Christianity. We dare not say of any, ‘They have a name to live, and are dead.’ There is only one Eye who can tell when the heart has ceased to beat. But we may say that there are a mournful number of people who call themselves Christians, who look so like dead that no eye but Christ’s can tell the difference. They are in a syncope that will be death soon, unless some mighty power rouse them.
And then, how many more of us there are, not so bad as that, but still feeble and languid, whose Christian history is a history of weakness, while God’s power is open before us, of starving in the midst of abundance, broken only by moments of firmer faith, and so of larger, happier possession, that make the poverty-stricken ordinary days appear ten times more poverty-stricken. The channel lies dry, a waste chaos of white stones and driftwood for long months, and only for an hour or two after the clouds have burst on the mountains does the stream fill it from bank to bank. Do not many of us remember moments of a far deeper and more earnest trust in Christ than marks our ordinary days? If such moments were continuous, should not we be the happy possessors of beauties of character and spiritual power, such as would put our present selves utterly to shame? And why are they not continuous? Why are our possessions in God so small, our power so weak? Dear friends! ‘ye are not straitened in yourselves.’ The only reason for defective spiritual progress and character is defective faith.
Then look at this same principle as it affects our faculties for Christian service. There, too, it is true that all things are possible to him that believeth. The saying had an application to the disciples who stood by, half-ashamed and half-surprised at their failure to cast out the demon, as well as to the father in his agony of desire and doubt. For them it meant that the measure of Christian service was mainly determined by the measure of their faith. It would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that in Christ’s service a man can do pretty nearly what he believes he can do, if his confidence is built, not on himself, but on Christ.
If those nine Apostles, waiting there for their Master, had thought they could cast out the devil from the boy, do you not think that they could have done it? I do not mean to say that rash presumption, undertaking in levity and self-confidence unsuitable kinds of work, will be honoured with success. But I do mean to say that, in the line of our manifest duty, the extent to which we can do Christ’s work is very much the extent to which we believe, in dependence on Him, that we can do it. If we once make up our minds that we shall do a certain thing by Christ’s help and for His sake, in ninety cases out of a hundred the expectation will fulfil itself, and we shall do it. ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ They need not have asked the question. ‘Why could not you cast him out? Why, because you did not think you could, and with your timid attempt, making an experiment which you were not sure would succeed, provoked the failure which you feared.’ The Church has never believed enough in its Christ-given power to cast out demons. We have never been confident enough that the victory was in our hands if we knew how to use our powers.
The same thing is true of each one of us. Audacity and presumption are humility and moderation, if only we feel that ‘our sufficiency is of God.’ ‘I can do all things’ is the language of simple soberness, if we go on to say ‘through Christ which strengthened me.’
There is one more point, drawn from these words, viz., our faith can only take hold on the divine promises. Such language as this of my text and other kindred sayings of our Lord’s has often been extended beyond its real force, and pressed into the service of a mistaken enthusiasm, for want of observing that very plain principle. The principle of our text has reference to outward things as well as to the spiritual life. But there are great exaggerations and misconceptions as to the province of faith in reference to these temporal things, and consequently there are misconceptions and exaggerations on the part of many very good people as to the province of prayer in regard to them.
It seems to me that we shall be saved from these, if we distinctly recognise a very obvious principle, namely, that ‘faith’ can never go further than God’s clear promises, and that whatever goes beyond God’s word is not faith, but something else assuming its appearance.
For instance, suppose a father nowadays were to say: ‘My child is sore vexed with sickness. I long for his recovery. I believe that Christ can heal him. I believe that He will. I pray in faith, and I know that I shall be answered.’ Such a prayer goes beyond the record. Has Christ told you that it is His will that your child shall be healed? If not, how can you pray in faith that it is? You may pray in confidence that he will be healed, but such confident persuasion is not faith. Faith lays hold of Christ’s distinct declaration of His will, but such confidence is only grasping a shadow, your own wishes. The father in this story was entitled to trust, because Christ told him that his trust was the condition of his son’s being healed. So in response to the great word of our text, the man’s faith leaped up and grasped our Lord’s promise, with ‘Lord, I believe.’ But before Christ spoke, his desires, his wistful longing, his imploring cry for help, had no warrant to pass into faith, and did not so pass.
Christ’s word must go before our faith, and must supply the object for our faith, and where Christ has not spoken, there is no room for the exercise of any faith, except the faith, ‘It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth to Him good.’ That is the true prayer of faith in regard to all matters of outward providence where we have no distinct word of God’s which gives unmistakable indication of His will. The ‘if’ of the leper, which has no place in the spiritual region, where we know that ‘this is the will of God, even our sanctification,’ has full force in the temporal region, where we do not know before the event what the will of the Lord is, ‘If Thou wilt, Thou canst,’ is there our best prayer.
Wherever a distinct and unmistakable promise of God’s goes, it is safe for faith to follow; but to outrun His word is not faith, but self-will, and meets the deserved rebuke, ‘Should it be according to thy mind?’ There are unmistakable promises about outward things on which we may safely build. Let us confine our expectations within the limits of these, and turn them into the prayer of faith, so shooting back whence they came His winged words, ‘This is the confidence that we have, that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us.’ Thus coming to Him, submitting all our wishes in regard to this world to His most loving will, and widening our confidence to the breadth of His great and loving purpose in regard to our own inward life, as well as in regard to our practical service, His answer will ever be, ‘Great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v27 But But Jesus, grasping his hand, raised him, and…
Marg
But But Jesus, grasping his hand, raised him, and he stood erect. Cf. Act 3:7
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv23, 26 'If you are able'?
'If you are able'?
Jesus repeated what the man had said to him. AT: "Do you say to me 'If you are able'?" or "Why do you say 'If you are able'?" (See: Ellipsis)
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'If you are able'?
Jesus used this question to rebuke the man's doubt. It can be expressed as a statement. AT: "You should not say to me, 'If you are able.'" or "You ask me if I am able. Of course I am able." (See: Rhetorical Question)
All things are possible for the one who believes
"God can do anything for people who believe in him"
for the one
"for the person" or "for anyone"
believes
This refers to belief in God. AT: "believes in God"
Help my unbelief
The man is asking Jesus to help him overcome his unbelief and increase his faith. AT: "Help me when I do not believe" or "Help me have more faith"
the crowd running to them
This means that more people were running toward where Jesus was and that the crowd there was growing larger.
You mute and deaf spirit
The words "mute" and "deaf" can be explained. AT: "You unclean spirit, you who are causing the boy to be unable to speak and unable to hear"
translationWords
Jesus
believe
cry
believe
rebuke
demon
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv23–26 9:23 Jesus challenged the man to believe in the…
9:23 Jesus challenged the man to believe in the power of God—Anything is possible if a person believes (see 11:22-24), while lack of faith can hinder God’s saving activity (see 6:5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.