Faith as a grain of mustard seed: Matthew 17:20 and Luke 17:6

c. 246–248 · Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 13.5

Under the inspiration of this Paul also said, “If I have all faith so as to remove mountains;” for he, who has all faith, which is as a grain of mustard seed, removes not one mountain only, but also several analogous to it; for although faith is despised by men and appears to be something very little and contemptible; yet when it meets with good ground, that is the soul, which is able fittingly to receive such seed, it becomes a great tree, so that no one of those things which have no wings, but the birds of heaven which are winged spiritually, are able to lodge in the branches of faith so great.

c. 388–390 · Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy (De officiis) 1.30.157

Faith, if it were as a grain of mustard seed, can transplant mountains—and more than a grain is not granted thee. If grace dwelt fully in thee, wouldst thou not have to fear lest thy mind should begin to be elated at so great a gift? For there are many who have fallen more terribly, from spiritual heights, than if they had never received grace at all from the Lord. And he who has little has no lack, for it is not tangible so as to be divided; and what seems little to him that has is much to him that lacks.

1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 17.14-21

If ye have ever so little of this faith in sincerity, if ye truly rely upon the powers committed to you, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove. This is a proverbial expression, denoting that which follows, and no more, Nothing shall be impossible to you. They had a full commission, among other things, to cast out devils without exception; but, this devil being more than ordinarily malicious and inveterate, they distrusted the power they had received, and so failed. To convince them of this, Christ shows them what they might have done. Note, An active faith can remove mountains, not of itself, but in the virtue of a divine power engaged by a divine promise, both which faith fastens upon.

1856–1869 · J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke 17.5-10

"A mustard seed." This is a proverbial expression for something very small and insignificant in size. "Say to the mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted.'" This is a proverbial expression, apparently common among the Jews for doing great deeds and overcoming evidently insuperable difficulties.

1870 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 16 (1870) 941

The Lord Jesus immediately rectified the mischief by casting out the devil, and when alone with the disciples He answered their question, "Why could not we cast him out?" How pityingly and encouragingly He replied, "Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove therefore to yonder place. And it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Now, where unbelief not only makes the person fearful, but causes him to be weak where he should be strong—and to expose his Master's name and fame to doubt and distrust—it is enough to provoke anger in the holiest.

1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Matthew 13.32

Which indeed is the least of all seeds—not absolutely, but popularly and proverbially, as in Lu 17:6, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed," that is, "never so little faith."

1876 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 22 (1876) 1318

The Lord said, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamore tree, be you plucked up by the root and be you planted in the sea, and it should obey you." I think He meant that to be understood as a proverbial expression, to signify that faith can accomplish anything.

1904 · S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Prayer 2

The Master says, "faith only as big as a mustard seed (you cannot measure the strength of the mustard seed by its size) will say to this mountain—'Remove.'" Mark keenly:—the direction of the faith is towards the obstacle. Its force is against the enemy.

1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Matthew 17.20

Little faith (ολιγοπιστιαν). A good translation. It was less than "a grain of mustard seed" (κοκκον σιναπεως). See 13:31 for this phrase. They had no miracle faith.

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 32.7

But do thou, I pray, consider this also, how in brief he comprehended all gifts when he named prophecy and faith: for miracles are either in words or deeds. And how doth Christ say, that the least degree of faith is the being able to remove a mountain? For as though he were speaking something very small, did He express Himself when He said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove, and it shall remove;” (S. Matt. xvii. 20.) whereas Paul saith that this is “all faith.” What then must one say? Since this was a great thing, the removing a mountain, therefore also he mentioned it, not as though “all faith” were only able to do this, but since this seemed to be great to the grosser sort because of the bulk of the outward mass, from this also he extols his subject.

c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians 29.5

And what is “the word of knowledge?” That which most of the faithful had, possessing indeed knowledge, but not thereupon able to teach nor easily to convey to another what they knew. “And to another, faith:” not meaning by this faith the faith of doctrines, but the faith of miracles; concerning which Christ saith, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove, and it shall remove.” (S. Matt. xvii. 20.) And the Apostles too concerning this besought Him, saying, “Increase our faith:” (S. Luke xvii. 5.) for this is the mother of the miracles.

391–430 · Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (Sermones 51-147) 39.2

Accordingly, when the disciples marvelled at the withering of the tree, He set forth to them the value of faith, and said to them, “If ye have faith, and doubt not;” that is, if in all things ye have trust in God; and do not say, “God can do this, this He cannot do;” but rely on the omnipotence of the Almighty; “ye shall not only do this, but also if ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

1693 · John Owen, A Discourse of Spiritual Gifts 4

Faith is added in the third place: “To another faith by the same Spirit.” That the saving grace of faith, which is common unto all true believers, is not here intended, is manifest from the context. There is a faith in Scripture which is commonly called the “faith of miracles,” mentioned by our apostle in this epistle as a principal, extraordinary, spiritual gift: 1 Cor. xiii. 2, “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,” — that is, the highest degree of a faith of miracles, or such as would effect miraculous operations of the highest nature. This I should readily admit to be here intended, but that there is mention made of working miracles in the next verse, as a gift distinct from this faith. Yet whereas this working of miracles is everywhere ascribed to faith, and could not be anywhere but where the peculiar faith from which those operations did proceed was first imparted, it is not unlikely but that by “faith” the principle of all miraculous operations may be intended, and by the other expressions the operations themselves.

1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 21.18-22

Observe, [1.] The description of this wonder-working faith; If ye have faith, and doubt not. Note, Doubting of the power and promise of God is the great thing that spoils the efficacy and success of faith. "If you have faith, and dispute not" (so some read it), "dispute not with yourselves, dispute not with the promise of God; if you stagger not at the promise" (Rom. iv. 20); for, as far as we do so, our faith is deficient; as certain as the promise is, so confident our faith should be. [2.] The power and prevalence of it expressed figuratively; If ye shall say to this mountain, meaning the mount of Olives, Be thou removed, it shall be done. There might be a particular reason for his saying so of this mountain, for there was a prophecy, that the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem, should cleave in the midst, and then remove, Zech. xiv. 4. Whatever was the intent of that word, the same must be the expectation of faith, how impossible soever it might appear to sense. But this is a proverbial expression; intimating that we are to believe that nothing is impossible with God, and therefore that what he has promised shall certainly be performed, though to us it seem impossible.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 21.21

Jesus answered and said ... - Jesus took occasion from this to establish their faith in God, Mar 11:22 He told them that any difficulty could be overcome by faith. To remove a mountain denotes the power of surmounting or removing any difficulty. The phrase was so used by the Jews. There is no doubt that this was "literally" true - that if "they had the faith of miracles," they could remove the mountain before them - the Mount of Olives - for this was as easy for God to do by them as to heal the sick or raise the dead. But the Saviour rather referred, probably, to the difficulties and trials which they would be called to endure in preaching the gospel.

1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Mark 11.23

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed … he shall have whatsoever he saith—Here is the lesson now. From the nature of the case supposed—that they might wish a mountain removed and cast into the sea, a thing far removed from anything which they could be thought actually to desire—it is plain that not physical but moral obstacles to the progress of His kingdom were in the Redeemer's view, and that what He designed to teach was the great lesson, that no obstacle should be able to stand before a confiding faith in God.

1876 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 22 (1876) 1318

Brothers and Sisters, we do not need to be moving mountains! If mountains required moving, I have no doubt faith would move them, but the mountains are in the best possible places they can be and, therefore, why should we uproot them? We do not require to transplant sycamore trees by faith, for there are plenty of workmen to be had to lift them up and carry them carefully to another place. And it would be a pity that we should use faith so as to deprive poor men of their means of livelihood! But I doubt not it would be done if it were necessary. Now, there is room enough in the moral and spiritual world for Faith and there she can work her miracles! We can say to our bad disposition, "Be plucked up by the roots," and it will be done! And if we have faith in God, we can have the right disposition, the quiet, calm spirit implanted in us. Do you believe this? If you do not, then you have not the faith and you shall not see it! But, if you believe, it is possible to you.

1878 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 24 (1878) 1444

Well now, there is the everlasting power of God up yonder and I must learn to let my faith get up into the clouds to bring down the Divine power to me! If I have faith enough I can have any quantity of power. "According to your faith be it unto you." If you are weak it is because your faith is not a good conductor between you and the eternal strength. If you had stronger faith, is it possible to judge how strong you might be? There is no telling what a man might be able to accomplish if his faith were to increase with the occasion.

1887 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 33 (1887) 1963

Just think of this—"If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." What does this mean? Brethren, are we not off the rails? Do we even know what faith means? I begin, sometimes, to question whether we believe at all. What signs follow our believing? When we think what wonders faith could have done. When we consider what marvels our Lord might have worked among us if it had not been for our unbelief—are we not humiliated? Have we ever cut ourselves clear of the hamper of self-trustfulness? Have we ever launched out into the deep in clear reliance upon the eternal God?

1905–1906 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Matthew (chapters 9 to 28) 17.19-20

Put even an adulterated and carnalised faith into the hearts of a mob of wild Arabs, and in a century they will stream from their deserts, and blaze from the mountains of Spain to the plains of Bengal. Put a living faith in Christ and a heroic confidence in the power of His Gospel to reclaim the worst sinners into a man’s heart, and he will out of weakness be made strong, and plough his way through obstacles with the compact force and crashing directness of lightning.

1905–1906 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Matthew (chapters 9 to 28) 17.19-20

Consider, too, how the same faith has a natural operation on ourselves which tends to fit us for casting out the evil spirits. Given a man full of faith, you will have a man tenacious in purpose, absorbed in one grand object, simple in his motives, in whom selfishness has been driven out by the power of a mightier love, and indolence stirred into unwearied energy. Such a man will be made wise to devise, gentle to attract, bold to rebuke, fertile in expedients, and ready to be anything that may help the aim of his life. Fear will be dead in him, for faith is the true anaesthesia of the soul; and the knife may cut into the quivering flesh, and the spirit be scarce conscious of a pang. Love, ambition, and all the swarm of distracting desires will be driven from the soul in which the lamp of faith burns bright. Ordinary human motives will appeal in vain to the ears which have heard the tones of the heavenly music, and all the pomps of life will show poor and tawdry to the sight that has gazed on the vision of the great white throne and the crystal sea.

1949 · Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology 4.8

The so-called miraculous faith is a persuasion wrought in the mind of a person that a miracle will be performed by him or in his behalf. God can give a person a work to do that transcends his natural powers and enable him to do it. Every attempt to perform a work of that kind requires faith.

1646–1690 · John Owen, Sermons of John Owen p2.1

Faith, or believing, consists in such an habitual frame of heart, and such actings of the soul, as are capable of degrees of straitening or enlargement, of strength and weakness. Hence there is mention in the Scripture of great faith, “O woman, great is thy faith;” and of little faith, “O ye of little faith;” — of strong faith, Abraham “was strong in faith;” and of weak faith, or being weak in faith, “him that is weak in the faith receive;” — of faith with doubting, “O ye of little faith, why did ye doubt?” and of faith excluding doubting, “Being strong in faith, he staggered” or “doubted not.” (2.) That faith in every respect is equal as unto sincerity, and differs only in degrees; yea, it is equal in respect of the main effects and advance of it, — in justification, perseverance, and salvation. A little faith is no less faith than a great faith; yea, a little faith will carry a man as safely to heaven, though not so comfortably, nor so fruitfully, as a great faith.

1650 · Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living 4.1.1

To pray without doubting, without weariness, without faintness; entertaining no jealousies or suspicions of God, but being confident of God’s hearing us, and of his returns to us, whatsoever the manner or the instance be, that, if we do our duty, it will be gracious and merciful. These acts of faith are, in several degrees, in the servants of Jesus; some have it but as a grain of mustard-seed; some grow up to a plant; some have the fulness of faith; but the least faith that is must be a persuasion so strong as to make us undertake the doing of all that duty which Christ built upon the foundation of believing.

1655–1662 · William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour Part 2. The Christian In Complete Armour Volume Two

There is a doubting which the Scripture opposeth to the least degree of faith. Our blessed Saviour tells them what wonder they shall do if they believe and ‘doubt not,’ Matt. 21:21; and, Luke 17:6, he tells his disciples if they have faith as a grain of mustard-seed,’ they shall do as much. That which is a faith without doubting in Matthew is faith as a grain of mustard-seed in Luke. But again, there is a doubting which the Scripture opposeth not to the truth of faith, but to the strength of faith, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’ Matt. 14:31. They are the words of Christ to sinking Peter, in which he so chides his doubting as yet to acknowledge the truth of his faith, though weak. All doubting is evil in its nature, yet some doubting, though evil in itself, doth evidence some grace that is good to be in the person so doubting; as smoke proves some fire. And peevishness and pettishness in a sick person that before lay senseless, is a good sign of some mending, though itself a thing bad enough.

1692 · Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer 2

True faith is at first small, like a grain of mustard-seed; it is full of doubts and fears; it is smoking flax: it smokes with desire, but does not flame with comfort. It is so small that a Christian can hardly discern whether he has faith or not.

1784–1785 · John Newton, Messiah: Expository Discourses on the Scripture Passages Contained in Handel's Oratorio, Volume II (Sermons XXVI-L) 39

They hope they love the Lord, but there is such a disproportion between the sensible exercise of their love, and the conviction they have of their obligations to Him, that they are often afraid that they do not love Him supremely; and if not, they know that in the Scriptural sense they do not love Him at all. They can say from their hearts that they desire to love Him, but they dare not go farther. But there is a weak, and a strong, faith; they differ, not in kind, but only in degree. Faith is compared to a grain of mustard seed (Matthew 17:20) , which, under the cultivation of the heavenly husbandman, who first sows the seed in the heart, grows up to assurance. But in its infant and weak state, it is true and acceptable faith. Far from breaking the bruised reed (Isaiah 42:3) , He will strengthen it.

1858 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 4 (1858) 205

When faith first commences in the soul, it is like a grain of mustard seed of which the Saviour said it was the least of all seeds, but as God the Holy Spirit is pleased to bedew it with the sacred moisture of his grace, it germinates and grows and begins to spread, until at last it becomes a great tree. To use another figure: when faith commences in the soul it is simply looking unto Jesus, and perhaps even then there are so many clouds of doubts and so much dimness of the eye, that we have need for the light of the Spirit to shine upon the cross before we are able even so much as to see it. When faith grows a little, it rises from looking to Christ to coming to Christ. He who stood afar off and looked to the cross by-and-bye plucks up courage, and getting heart to himself, he runneth up to the cross. or perhaps he doth not run, but hath to be drawn before he can so much as creep thither, and even then it is with a limping gait that he draweth nigh to Christ the Saviour. But that done, faith goeth a little farther: it layeth hold on Christ; it begins to see him in his excellency, and appropriates him in some degree, conceives him to be a real Christ and a real Saviour, and is convinced of his suitability.

1875 · Hannah Whitall Smith, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life 6

If you are a child of God at all, you must have at least as much faith as a grain of mustard seed, and therefore you dare not say again that you cannot trust because you have no faith. Say rather, “I can trust my Lord, and I will trust Him, and not all the powers of earth or hell shall be able to make me doubt my wonderful, glorious, faithful Redeemer!”

1878 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 24 (1878) 1421

Faith is well-pleasing to the Most High, but it is in proportion to its strength, for there are cases in which weakness of faith has evidently been followed by chastisement and other cases in which strength of faith has been abundantly honored. The more you believe, the more God blesses you. If you believe with faith as small as a grain of mustard seed you shall be saved, for where there is faith there is salvation. But if your faith is weak, you shall miss many comforts and only as your faith grows and becomes strong through Divine Grace shall you be a receiver of the greater, deeper and higher things of the Covenant of Grace. More faith is what we need and the Lord is willing to give it, Grace upon Grace! He delights, especially, to strengthen the faith which we already possess by trying it, by sustaining it under trials and thus rooting and grounding it.

1886 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, All of Grace 10

If you will trust your soul with Jesus, who died for the ungodly, even though you cannot believe all things, nor move mountains, nor do any other wonderful works, yet you are saved. It is not great faith, but true faith, that saves; and the salvation lies not in the faith, but in the Christ in whom faith trusts. Faith as a grain of mustard seed will bring salvation. It is not the measure of faith, but the sincerity of faith, which is the point to be considered.

1890 · John Monro Gibson, The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel of St. Matthew XIII. The New Departure (Founding of the Church) (Matt. XVI. 13-XVII. 21.), IV. The Descent (xvii. 9-21)

Is faith, then, all that is necessary? It is: provided it be genuine living faith. This seems to be the point of the reference to the grain of mustard seed. The little seed, small as it is, is set in true relation to the great life-force of Mother Nature, and therefore out of it by-and-by there comes a mighty tree; and in the same way even feeble faith, if it be genuine, and therefore set in true relation to the power of the Father of our spirits, becomes receptive of a force which in the end nothing can resist. But genuine living faith it must be: there must be the real opening up of the soul to the Spirit of the living God, so that the man's nature becomes a channel through which unobstructed the grace and power of God shall flow. It need scarcely be remarked that the notion which mistakes faith for mere belief of certain doctrines is utterly misleading. In nothing is the perversity of a faithless generation more conspicuous than in the persistency with which this absurd and unscriptural notion of faith holds its ground, even with those who are supposed to be leaders of thought in certain directions. If only that mountain of folly could be cleared away, there would be a decided brightening of the spiritual outlook; for then men everywhere would see that the faith which Christ expects of them, and without which nothing can be accomplished, is no mere intellectual belief, but the laying open and leaving open of the entire nature to the Spirit of Christ.