Matius 17:20

17:20 He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, ¹  if you have faith the size of ²  a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing ³  will be impossible for you.”

Lukas 17:6

17:6 So ⁴  the Lord replied, ⁵  “If ⁶  you had faith the size of ⁷  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ⁸  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ⁹  and it would obey ¹⁰  you.

Lukas 17:1

Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service

17:1 Jesus ¹¹  said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe ¹²  to the one through whom they come!

1 Korintus 13:2

13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

Yakobus 1:6

1:6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.

[17:20]  ¹ tn Grk “For truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[17:20]  ² tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:20]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:6]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[17:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “said.”

[17:6]  ⁶ tn This is a mixed condition, with ἄν (an) in the apodosis.

[17:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

[17:6]  ⁸ sn A black mulberry tree is a deciduous fruit tree that grows about 20 ft (6 m) tall and has black juicy berries. This tree has an extensive root system, so to pull it up would be a major operation.

[17:6]  ⁹ tn The passives here (ἐκριζώθητι and φυτεύθητι, ekrizwqhti and futeuqhti) are probably a circumlocution for God performing the action (the so-called divine passive, see ExSyn 437-38). The issue is not the amount of faith (which in the example is only very tiny), but its presence, which can accomplish impossible things. To cause a tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea is impossible. The expression is a rhetorical idiom. It is like saying a camel can go through the eye of a needle (Luke 18:25).

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is aorist, though it looks at a future event, another rhetorical touch to communicate certainty of the effect of faith.

[17:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[17:1]  ¹² sn See Luke 6:24-26.