Matthew 17:20

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"Because of your unbelief; for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20 (NKJV)

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20 (NIV)

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Matthew 17:20 (KJV)

"You don't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

Matthew 17:20 (NLT)

He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20 (ESV)

And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you."

Matthew 17:20 (NASB)

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

He answered, "Because of your little faith [your lack of trust and confidence in the power of God]; for I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have [living] faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and [if it is God's will] it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Matthew 17:20 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Matthew 17:20 (AMPC)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"Because you're not yet taking God seriously," said Jesus. "The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, 'Move!' and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn't be able to tackle."

Matthew 17:20 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

The Problem Is Not Size of Faith but Kind of Faith

The disciples had just failed to cast out a demon, and they ask Jesus why (v. 19). His answer names their problem as "little faith" (oligopistia), but then He says that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. If the size of faith were the issue, the fix would be getting more faith. But Jesus points to the smallest possible seed as sufficient. The issue is not quantity but quality: a small faith that is genuine and alive and directed toward God is more effective than a large-seeming but misplaced or doubt-divided faith. The mustard seed does not work because of its size. It works because of what it is: a living seed that, when planted, grows and accomplishes its purpose.

"Nothing Will Be Impossible": The Scope of the Promise

Jesus closes the statement with a sweeping declaration: nothing will be impossible for you. This parallels Luke 1:37 ("with God nothing will be impossible") but applies it to the disciple who operates in genuine faith. The connection is significant: what is possible for the person of faith is bounded by God's will and character, not by natural limitations. The impossible that is made possible is the impossible that God is willing to accomplish through the one who trusts Him. The faith does not create reality by willpower. It aligns the person with the God who creates reality, and from that alignment, what was impossible becomes possible.

The immediate context is a failure of the disciples to cast out a demon from a boy (vv. 14-19). Verse 21 in some manuscripts adds: "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Whether or not this verse is original, the surrounding context suggests that faith of the kind Jesus describes is not a spiritual technique applied on demand. It flows from a particular quality of relationship with God, one cultivated in prayer, in dependence, and in the kind of trust that does not waver when difficulty resists. The disciples had authority. What they lacked was the quality of trusting engagement with God that activates the authority they had been given.

Application for Your Life

A Small Faith Genuinely Directed Outperforms a Large Faith Divided

The mustard seed teaching is encouraging in a specific way: you do not need to manufacture enormous quantities of faith before you can move anything. A small, genuine, undivided trust in God directed toward what He is willing to do is sufficient. The failure is not in the smallness but in the division: faith that is asking God while simultaneously resolved to its impossibility, or faith that is directing a request toward God while trusting more in the visible obstacle than in the invisible God. The simplicity of genuine trust, even small trust, is the kind Jesus points to. Start with what you have. Direct it genuinely. Do not be double-minded.

Mountains Are Not Primarily Geographical

The mountain in Jesus's illustration is a figure for any obstacle that appears immovable. In the Old Testament, mountains were symbols of kingdoms, powers, and challenges of great magnitude (Isaiah 40:4, Zechariah 4:7). Jesus is not primarily teaching geography. He is teaching that the categories of obstacle that appear permanent and unmovable in human experience are not permanent and unmovable in God's economy. Faith, genuinely placed in God, speaks to the obstacle and the obstacle yields. The faith is not directed at the mountain. It is directed at God. The mountain moves because of who God is, not because of the force of the speaking.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Lord Jesus, I hear Your diagnosis of the disciples and I receive it as my own: the problem is not the size of what I am facing. The problem is the quality of my faith. I bring You what I have, a small but genuine trust, and I direct it toward You without division. I speak to the mountains in my life: every obstacle that appears permanent and unmovable. I speak in Your name. I do not trust my own ability to move them. I trust the God for whom nothing is impossible. And I thank You that even a small, living, undivided faith is enough. In Your name. Amen.