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.”

Matthew 21:21

21:21 Jesus ⁴  answered them, “I tell you the truth, ⁵  if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

Luke 17:6

17:6 So ⁶  the Lord replied, ⁷  “If ⁸  you had faith the size of ⁹  a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry ¹⁰  tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ ¹¹  and it would obey ¹²  you.

Luke 17:1

Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service

17:1 Jesus ¹³  said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe ¹⁴  to the one through whom they come!

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹⁵  brothers and sisters ¹⁶  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹⁷  from God our Father! ¹⁸ 

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 “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

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

⁷ tn Grk “said.”

⁸ tn This is a mixed condition, with ἄν (an) in the apodosis.

⁹ tn Grk “faith as,” “faith like.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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).

¹² tn The verb is aorist, though it looks at a future event, another rhetorical touch to communicate certainty of the effect of faith.

¹³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁴ sn See Luke 6:24-26.

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ 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).

¹⁷ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

¹⁸ 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.