Matthew 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.”

Mark 11:22-23

11:22 Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. 11:23 I tell you the truth, ⁴  if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

Luke 17:6-7

17:6 So ⁵  the Lord replied, ⁶  “If ⁷  you had faith the size of ⁸  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ⁹  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ¹⁰  and it would obey ¹¹  you.

17:7 “Would any one of you say ¹²  to your slave ¹³  who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? ¹⁴ 

Romans 4:19-20

4:19 Without being weak in faith, he considered ¹⁵  his own body as dead ¹⁶  (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 4:20 He ¹⁷  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.

Romans 4:1

The Illustration of Justification

4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, ¹⁸  has discovered regarding this matter? ¹⁹ 

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ²⁰  brothers and sisters ²¹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ²²  from God our Father! ²³ 

James 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.

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

² tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

⁶ tn Grk “said.”

⁷ tn This is a mixed condition, with ἄν (an) in the apodosis.

⁸ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ 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).

¹¹ tn The verb is aorist, though it looks at a future event, another rhetorical touch to communicate certainty of the effect of faith.

¹² tn Grk “Who among you, having a slave… would say to him.”

¹³ tn See the note on the word “slave” in 7:2.

¹⁴ tn Grk “and recline at table,” as 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away. See BDAG 70 s.v. ἀναπίπτω 1.

¹⁵ tc Most mss (D F G Ψ 33 1881 Ï it) read “he did not consider” by including the negative particle (οὐ, ou), but others (א A B C 6 81 365 1506 1739 pc co) lack οὐ. The reading which includes the negative particle probably represents a scribal attempt to exalt the faith of Abraham by making it appear that his faith was so strong that he did not even consider the physical facts. But “here Paul does not wish to imply that faith means closing one’s eyes to reality, but that Abraham was so strong in faith as to be undaunted by every consideration” (TCGNT 451). Both on external and internal grounds, the reading without the negative particle is preferred.

¹⁶ tc ‡ Most witnesses (א A C D Ψ 33 Ï bo) have ἤδη (hdh, “already”) at this point in v. 19. But B F G 630 1739 1881 pc lat sa lack it. Since it appears to heighten the style of the narrative and since there is no easy accounting for an accidental omission, it is best to regard the shorter text as original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.

¹⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here.

¹⁸ tn Or “according to natural descent” (BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4).

¹⁹ tn Grk “has found?”

²⁰ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

²¹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

²² tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

²³ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.