Romans 4:20-21

4:20 He ¹  did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 4:21 He was ²  fully convinced that what God ³  promised he was also able to do.

Romans 14:21

14:21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything that causes your brother to stumble. ⁴ 

Matthew 6:30

6:30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, ⁵  which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, ⁶  won’t he clothe you even more, ⁷  you people of little faith?

Matthew 8:26

8:26 But ⁸  he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked ⁹  the winds and the sea, ¹⁰  and it was dead calm.

Matthew 14:31

14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Mark 9:23-24

9:23 Then Jesus said to him, “‘If you are able?’ ¹¹  All things are possible for the one who believes.” 9:24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

John 20:27-28

20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put ¹²  your finger here, and examine ¹³  my hands. Extend ¹⁴  your hand and put it ¹⁵  into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.” ¹⁶  20:28 Thomas replied to him, ¹⁷  “My Lord and my God!” ¹⁸ 

[4:20]  ¹ 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.

[4:21]  ² tn Grk “and being.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[4:21]  ³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:21]  ⁴ tc A large number of mss, some of them quite important (Ì^46vid א² B D F G Ψ 0209 33 1881 Ï lat sa), read “or to be offended or to be made weak” after “to stumble.” The shorter reading “to stumble” is found only in Alexandrian mss (א* A C 048 81 945 1506 1739 pc bo). Although external evidence favors inclusion, internal evidence points to a scribal expansion, perhaps reminiscent of 1 Cor 8:11-13. The shorter reading is therefore preferred.

[6:30]  ⁵ tn Grk “grass of the field.”

[6:30]  ⁶ tn Grk “into the oven.” The expanded translation “into the fire to heat the oven” has been used to avoid misunderstanding; most items put into modern ovens are put there to be baked, not burned.

[6:30]  ⁷ sn The phrase even more is a typical form of rabbinic argumentation, from the lesser to the greater. If God cares for the little things, surely he will care for the more important things.

[8:26]  ⁸ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:26]  ⁹ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[8:26]  ¹⁰ sn Who has authority over the seas and winds is discussed in the OT: Ps 104:3; 135:7; 107:23-30. When Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea he was making a statement about who he was.

[9:23]  ¹¹ tc Most mss (A C³ Ψ 33 Ï) have τὸ εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι (to ei dunasai pisteusai, “if you are able to believe”), instead of τὸ εἰ δύνῃ (to ei dunh, “if you are able”; supported by א B C* L N* Δ Ë¹ 579 892 pc). Others have εἰ δύνῃ (or δυνάσαι) πιστεῦσαι (“if you are able to believe”; so D K Θ Ë¹³ 28 565 al), while still others have τοῦτο εἰ δύνῃ (touto ei dunh, “if you can [do] this”; so [Ì⁴⁵] W). The reading that best explains the rise of the others is τὸ εἰ δύνῃ. The neuter article indicates that the Lord is now quoting the boy’s father who, in v. 22, says εἴ τι δύνῃ (ei ti dunh, “if you are able to do anything”). The article is thus used anaphorically (see ExSyn 238). However, scribes could easily have overlooked this idiom and would consequently read τὸ εἰ δύνῃ as the protasis of a conditional clause of the Lord’s statement. As such, it would almost demand the infinitive πιστεῦσαι, producing the reading τὸ εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι (“if you are able to believe, all things are possible…”). But the article here seems to be meaningless, prompting other scribes to modify the text still further. Some dropped the nonsensical article, while others turned it into the demonstrative τοῦτο and dropped the infinitive. It is clear that scribes had difficulty with the original wording here, and made adjustments in various directions. What might not be so clear is the exact genealogy of the descent of all the readings. However, τὸ εἰ δύνῃ is both a hard saying, best explains the rise of the other readings, and is supported by the best witnesses. It thus rightly deserves to be considered authentic.

[20:27]  ¹² tn Or “Extend” or “Reach out.” The translation “put” or “reach out” for φέρω (ferw) here is given in BDAG 1052 s.v. 4.

[20:27]  ¹³ tn Grk “see.” The Greek verb ἴδε (ide) is often used like its cognate ἰδού (idou) in Hellenistic Greek (which is “used to emphasize the …importance of someth.” [BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 1.b.ε]).

[20:27]  ¹⁴ tn Or “reach out” or “put.”

[20:27]  ¹⁵ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[20:27]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

[20:28]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[20:28]  ¹⁸ sn Should Thomas’ exclamation be understood as two subjects with the rest of the sentence omitted (“My Lord and my God has truly risen from the dead”), as predicate nominatives (“You are my Lord and my God”), or as vocatives (“My Lord and my God!”)? Probably the most likely is something between the second and third alternatives. It seems that the second is slightly more likely here, because the context appears confessional. Thomas’ statement, while it may have been an exclamation, does in fact confess the faith which he had previously lacked, and Jesus responds to Thomas’ statement in the following verse as if it were a confession. With the proclamation by Thomas here, it is difficult to see how any more profound analysis of Jesus’ person could be given. It echoes 1:1 and 1:14 together: The Word was God, and the Word became flesh (Jesus of Nazareth). The Fourth Gospel opened with many other titles for Jesus: the Lamb of God (1:29, 36); the Son of God (1:34, 49); Rabbi (1:38); Messiah (1:41); the King of Israel (1:49); the Son of Man (1:51). Now the climax is reached with the proclamation by Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” and the reader has come full circle from 1:1, where the author had introduced him to who Jesus was, to 20:28, where the last of the disciples has come to the full realization of who Jesus was. What Jesus had predicted in John 8:28 had come to pass: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” (Grk “I am”). By being lifted up in crucifixion (which led in turn to his death, resurrection, and exaltation with the Father) Jesus has revealed his true identity as both Lord (κύριος [kurios], used by the LXX to translate Yahweh) and God (θεός [qeos], used by the LXX to translate Elohim).