He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Parallel Translations
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He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
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Iesus sayd vnto the: Because of youre vnbelefe For I saye veryly vnto you: yf ye had faythe as a grayne of musterd seed ye shuld saye vnto this moutayne remove hence to yonder place and he shuld remove: nether shuld eny thinge be vnpossible for you to do.
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And Iesus said vnto them, Because of your vnbeliefe: for verely I say vnto you, if ye haue faith as much as is a graine of mustarde seede, ye shall say vnto this mountaine, Remooue hence to yonder place, and it shall remoue: and nothing shalbe vnpossible vnto you.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Matthew 17:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Luke 17:6 The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
- Mark 11:23 For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says.
- Luke 1:37 For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”
- Luke 18:27 But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
- Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.
- Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
- Matthew 13:31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;
- John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
- Mark 4:31 It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth,
- Matthew 14:30-31 But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
- Hebrews 3:19 We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.
- Matthew 17:17 Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
- 1 Corinthians 12:9 to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your…
20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Ver. 20. Because of your unbelief] q.d. That is the naked truth of it, never deceive yourselves: there is no shuffling will serve turn: be content (hard though it be) to hear your own. Veritas aspera est, verum amaritudo eius utilior, et integris sensibus gratior, quam meretricantis linguae distillans favus. A smart truth takes better with an honest heart than a smooth supparasitation (flattery ŒD).
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If ye have faith as a grain of, &c.] The disciples might object, if no faith but that which is entire and perfect can do such cures as this, then we may despair of ever doing any. Our Saviour answers, that the least measure of true faith (fitly compared to mustard seed, for its acrimony and vivacity), if exerted and exercised, will work wonders. Neither is justifying faith beneath miraculous in the sphere of its own activity, and where it hath warrant of God’s word, to remove mountains of guilt and grief. A weak faith is a joint possessor, though no faith can be a joint purchaser of sin’s remission. And a man may have faith enough to bring him to heaven, though he want this or that faith, as to rely upon God without failing, Luk 18:1; Luk 18:8, without feeling, Psa 22:1, &c., as resolved, that God nevertheless will hear him in that very thing he prays for.
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 And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief,....…
And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief,.... The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "because of your little faith", or "the smallness of your faith"; and so does one Greek manuscript; and which is what is doubtless meant by their unbelief; for they were not altogether destitute of faith, but their faith was very low, and their unbelief very great. Christ says, not because of the unbelief of the parent of the child, and those that were with him, though that also was a reason; but because of their unbelief, being willing to convince them of their unbelief, as he had done the father of the child, who had confessed it, and desired it might be removed from him: but lest they should think they had lost their power of doing miracles, Christ adds;
for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed; which was a very small seed, the least of all seeds, and is used very often proverbially by the Jews, to signify anything of a small quantity or weight (b), and is sometimes used of faith, as here; so speaking of the congregation of Edom, meaning the Christians, they (c) say,
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"they have not , "faith as a grain of mustard seed".''
And it is used in like sense in other eastern nations; and by Mahomet in his Alcoran (d), who says,
"We will appoint just balances in the day of resurrection, neither shall any soul be injured at all, although the merit or guilt of an action be of the weight of "a grain of mustard seed".''
So that it has no reference to the quality of mustard seed, being hot and acrimonious; which has led some interpreters wrong, to compare faith unto it, for its liveliness and fervency: when our Lord only means, that if his apostles had ever so small a degree of faith in exercise, which might be compared for its smallness to this least of seeds, such an effect as he after mentions would follow; and which therefore is to be understood, not of an historical faith, by which men assent to all that is in the Bible as true; nor of a special, spiritual faith, by which souls believe in Christ, as their Saviour and Redeemer; for of neither of these can the following things in common be said; but of a faith of miracles, peculiar to certain persons in those early times, for certain reasons; which such as had but ever so small a degree of, as the apostles here spoken to might say, as Christ observes to them,
ye shall say to this mountain; pointing perhaps to that he was just come down from, which might be in sight of the house where he was,
remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove: meaning, not that it would be ordinarily or ever done in a literal sense by the apostles, that they should remove mountains; but that they should be able to do things equally difficult, and as seemingly impossible, if they had but faith, when the glory of God, and the good of men, required it. So that it does not follow, because the apostles did not do it in a literal sense, therefore they could not, as the Jew insultingly says (e); since it was meant that they should, and besides, have done, things equally as great as this, and which is the sense of the words. So the apostle expresses the faith of miracles, by "removing mountains", Co1 13:2 i.e. by doing things which are difficult, seem impossible to be done: wherefore Christ adds,
and nothing shall be impossible to you; you shall not only be able to perform such a wonderful action as this, were it necessary, but any, and everything else, that will make for the glory of God, the enlargement of my kingdom and interest, the confirmation of truth, and the good of mankind.
(b) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 3l. 1. Megilla, fol. 28. 2. Nidda, fol. 66. 1. Maimon. lssure Biah, c. 11. sect. 4. Maacolot Asurot, c. 2. sect. 21. &c. 14. sect. 8. Tumaot Okelim, c. 4. sect. 2. & 7. 6. (c) Vet. Nizzachon, p. 148. (d) C. 21. p. 268. & c. 31. p. 336. Ed. Sale. (e) Vet. Nizzachon, p. 237.
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 Because of your unbelief - Because in this particular…
Because of your unbelief - Because in this particular they had not faith. If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed - That is, the least measure of it. But it is certain, the faith which is here spoken of does not always imply saving faith. Many have had it who thereby cast out devils, and yet will at last have their portion with them. It is only a supernatural persuasion given a man, that God will work thus by him at that hour. Now, though I have all this faith so as to remove mountains, yet if I have not the faith which worketh by love, I am nothing. To remove mountains was a proverbial phrase among the Jews, and is still retained in their writings, to express a thing which is very difficult, and to appearance impossible. Matt. xxi, 21; Luke xvii, 6.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. Because of your unbelief] Are we preachers…
Verse 20. Because of your unbelief] Are we preachers of the Gospel? Do the things of God rest upon our minds with a deep and steady conviction? Can we expect that a doctrine which we do not, from conviction, credit ourselves, can be instrumental in our hands of begetting faith in others? So we preached, end so ye believed. The word preached generally begets in the people the same spirit which the preacher possesses. Instead of απιστιαν, unbelief, the famous Vatican MS. and Cod. Cyprius, six others, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, and Arabic, Origen, and Chrysostom, read ολιγοπιστιαν, littleness of faith. The disciples had some faith, but not enough-they believed, but not fully.
As a grain of mustard seed] Some eminent critics think this a proverbial expression, intimating a GREAT DEGREE of faith, because removing mountains, which St. Paul, 1Co 13:2, attributes to ALL FAITH; i.e. the greatest possible degree of faith, is attributed here, by our Lord, to that faith which is as a grain of mustard seed. However this may be, there can be no doubt that our Lord means, as BISHOP PEARCE well remarks, a thriving and increasing faith; which like the grain of mustard seed, from being the least of seeds, becomes the greatest of all herbs; even a tree in whose branches the fowls of the air take shelter. See WAKEFIELD'S Comment, and See Clarke on Mt 13:32.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain As a grain of mustard-seed - See the notes…
As a grain of mustard-seed - See the notes at Mat 13:31-32. The mustard-seed was the smallest of all seeds. It has been supposed by some, therefore, that he meant to say, If you have the smallest or feeblest faith that is genuine, you can do all things. The mustard-seed produced the largest of all herbs. It has been supposed by others, therefore, to mean, If you have increasing, expanding, enlarged faith, growing and strengthening from small beginnings, you can perform the most difficult undertaking. There is a principle of vitality in the grain of seed stretching forward to great results, which illustrates the nature of faith. Your faith should be like that. This is probably the true meaning.
Ye shall say unto this mountain ... - Probably he pointed to a mountain near, to assure them that if they had such faith they might accomplish the most difficult undertakings - things that at first would appear impossible.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain See here the efficacy of prayer and fasting! What…
See here the efficacy of prayer and fasting! What the apostles could not do, prayer accompanied with fasting can effect. How then can that be genuine religion, which makes fasting an object of ridicule? We see also here that the true Church in her exorcisms follows Scripture, when she uses besides the name of Jesus, many prayers and much fasting to drive out the devils, because these, as well as faith, are here required. (Bristow)
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 20. Because of your unbelief — During the absence…
20. Because of your unbelief — During the absence of their Lord, the disciples seem to have become as it were secularized. See introduction to the section. Faith as a grain of mustard seed — That is, in size; in contrast with the size of the mountain it is able to remove. This mountain — This faith, be it remembered, supposes a concurrence between God and man.
On the part of God a mission or duty assigned to the man, for which the power of faith is granted; and without this, the true faith is impossible. On the part of man there must be exercised all the granted faith-power, by which he puts forth the act, or pursues the course which is opened in the way of duty before him. When these two things combine, it is literally true that anything is possible. If the man’s mission be to remove the Andes into the Pacific it can be done. If there be no duty to it, there can be no true faith for it; and the attempt to do it would not be faith but rash self-will. God gives no man faith wherewith to play miraculous pranks. On the other hand, if there be the duty and the God-given power of faith, and yet it be not exercised with the full strength of heart and the firm trust in God which knows the impossibility will be done, no miracle shall follow. This the disciples had not, even to a mustard seed’s amount; and a mustard seed’s amount could have as easily accomplished its mission as my hand moves a pen. There doubtless lives many a Christian now with faith sufficient to remove real material mountains, if God had any such work for him to do. Yet it may be safely presumed that our Lord used the word mountain as well as the mustard seed by way of figure. He may have used it as Isa_40:4, prophesies that “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain shall be brought low.” Or as Zec_4:7, declares that the “great mountain shall disappear before Zerubbabel.”
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 20. ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence]…
20. ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence] Such expressions are characteristic of the vivid imagery of Eastern speech generally. To “remove mountains” is to make difficulties vanish. The Jews used to say of an eminent teacher, he is “a rooter up of mountains.” See Lightfoot ad loc.
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 (20) Because of your unbelief.—The various reading, “Because of…
(20) Because of your unbelief.—The various reading, “Because of your little faith,” found in many, but not the most authoritative MSS., is interesting as an example of a tendency to tone down the apparent severity of our Lord’s words. They show conclusively that the disciples themselves came under the range of His rebuke to the “faithless and perverse generation.”
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed.—The hyperbolical form of our Lord’s words, repeated afterwards in Mat_21:21, excluded from the thoughts of the disciples, as from our own, the possibility of a literal interpretation. The “grain of mustard seed” was, as in Mat_13:31, the proverbial type of the infinitely little. To “remove mountains” was, as we see in 1Co_13:2 (this may, however, have been an echo of our Lord’s teaching), the proverbial type of overcoming difficulties that seemed insurmountable. The words were, we may believe, dramatised by a gesture pointing to the mountain from which our Lord and the three disciples had descended, as afterwards by a like act in reference to the Mount of Olives (Mat_21:21).
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Nothing shall be impossible unto you.—The words, absolute as they sound, are yet, ipso facto, conditional. Nothing that comes within the range of faith in the wisdom and love of God, and therefore of submission to His will, is beyond the range of prayer.
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 Because of your unbelief. The Revised Version adopts the…
Because of your unbelief. The Revised Version adopts the reading, little faith, in accordance with the best authorities; but it looks like a softening of the original term "unbelief," which corresponds better with Christ"s own censure, "faithless generation." Jesus gives two reasons for the apostles" failure, one connected with their own moral condition, and one (ver. 21) derived from the nature of the demons exorcised. They had, indeed, shown some faith by making even the attempt at the expulsion of the devil, and were not to be classed with the unbelieving scribes; but they had acted in a half-hearted manner, and had not displayed that perfect confidence and trust which alone can win success and make all things possible. Verily I say unto you. The Lord proceeds to give that lesson concerning perfect faith and its results, which he afterwards repeated in connection with the withered fig tree (Mat_21:21, where see note) and elsewhere. (Luk_17:6) If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, which, as he says, (Mat_13:32) "is less than all seeds." He means a faith real and trustful, though it be small and weak. The phrase is proverbial, expressive of littleness and insignificance. The mustard seed is quite little, but, grown in favourable soil and under sunny skies, it becomes, as it were, a tree among herbs, so that birds may nestle in its branches. To it faith is compared, because, small at first, it contains within itself power of large development and increase; from minute grains copious results are produced. Ye shall say unto this mountain. He points to the hill of Hermon, where the Transfiguration had taken place. Remove hence. It is usual to consider the expression here as an Eastern hyperbole, not to be taken literally, but meaning merely that the greatest difficulties may be overcome by faith. This may be true, but it seems hardly adequate to the explanation of our Lord"s emphatic words. St. Paul writes in a similar strain, (1Co_13:2) "If I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains;" where there is nothing necessarily hyperbolical in the supposition. It seems rather that Jesus meant his words to be received literally, implying that if such a removal as he mentioned was ever expedient and in accordance with God"s will, it would be effected by the power of faith; not that he hereby sanctioned an arbitrary and wanton display of miraculous power, but he gives an assurance that, were such a measure rendered necessary for the cause of religion, it would be performable at the call of one whose whole trust was centred on God, and whose will was one with God"s will. Mediaeval writers, followed by later Roman Catholic commentators, give instances of such stupendous effects of faith. The evidence of such miracles is, of course, defective, and would not satisfy modern criticism, but the existence of such legends proves that a literal view was taken of our Lord"s saying. Nothing shall be impossible unto you. The man of faith is practically omnipotent; moral and material difficulties vanish before him.
The power of faith.
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This was the comment of our Lord on the failure of the disciples to cure the lunatic boy, and on his own subsequent success. The difference was accounted for by the fact that the disciples had not faith, while Christ possessed it. On another occasion, when there was no question of any attempt of his disciples, our Lord answered the amazement caused by one of his miracles by pointing in a similar way to the power of faith. (Mat_21:21)
I THE FAITH.
1. Its existence. "If ye have faith." These words imply uncertainty. Many people have much religion, but no faith. They have a creed, but not faith. They do not really and actively trust God. Faith begins in us when we put our belief into action.
2. Its smallness. It may be but as a grain of mustard seed. It is sad to think of its being so minute; certainly there is no virtue in its meagreness. Yet even a small faith may do great things if it is indeed a real faith. The great question is not How many things do we believe? but How firm is our grasp upon the objects of faith? The area of belief may be vast as a windswept desert, and faith may be small as a shepherd"s cot. Then it is that little hut of faith that saves us, while the storm passes overhead.
3. Its life. The mustard seed is better than a grain of sand. It is alive, and therefore it can grow. The living faith will not be always small. But even while it is small it is capable of wonderful. possibilities.
II THE WORK OF FAITH.
1. An active work. Christ here speaks of what faith does, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews recites achievements of faith (Hebrews 11). Faith not only affords shelter in trouble, it is an inspiration for service. The man of faith is the man of action, for he has within him a fountain of energy. It is, therefore, an utter mistake to suppose that "believing" is to be instead of "doing." Faith is given to enable us to do great things which we could not accomplish without it.
2. A great work. This small faith is to accomplish grand results. The mustard seed is to remove a mountain. Only a foolish literalism can occasion any perplexity in the reading of Christ"s words. His disciples were too familiar with Oriental metaphors to fall into the absurd mistake of supposing that Jesus really expected them to toss mountains of rock and earth from one place to another. It was customary for the Jews to refer to a great rabbi as a remover of mountains, and therefore Christ was employing proverbial language which would be well understood by his hearers. But this does not mean that his words contained no statement of importance. What it teaches is that faith can accomplish stupendous achievements, such as the strongest men" would fail in attempting without it.
3. A work of removing difficulties. The forerunner of Christ was to lower mountains in order to prepare the way for the King. (Isa_40:4) There are many hindrances in the path of Christian work. Some of these seem to be insuperable. Sultans frown on the gospel; empires bar their gates against it. But faith, working by prayer, has removed many such a mountain of difficulty, and it will do so again. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 17:20 Here, the expression don’t have enough faith is…
17:20 Here, the expression don’t have enough faith is virtually synonymous with no faith. • faith even as small as a mustard seed: This could mean that if the disciples had even very little faith they would be able to accomplish great things (21:21; cp. 1 Cor 13:2). It could also mean that if they would allow their faith to grow (see Matt 13:31-32), they could act with courageous belief. • Moving mountains is an adage for overcoming obstacles and fulfilling God’s purposes (Isa 40:4; 49:11; 54:10; 1 Cor 13:2).
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