Mark 17:19 Why could we not cast him out 20 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.
Luke 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6
And the
Lord said,
If ye
had faith as a
grain of mustard
seed, ye
might say unto
this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the
root,
and be thou
planted in the
sea; and it
should obey you.
First rule of thumb is that you must take things in context lest one interprets it in a wrong application thus what it says before and after becomes as important as the verse one is reading.
Second rule of thumb is that it must be consistent with the rest of the Bible.
In both cases of faith as a mustard seed, we find that it had nothing to do with physical mountains but rather it is a parable to understand how faith works and, in its application, those things that they thought would be impossible and beyond their capacity to fulfill God’s will, becomes possible. In these two cases, it was forgiving and casting out devils.
1) “IF you have faith”. This isn’t mental assent that you believe but rather a spiritual force coming from the heart that believes. In Mark the disciples thought they had faith but it was still classified as unbelief.
2) A mustard seed is planted, watered and weeded, it is a process of time. Faith has patience. If someone says, “I don’t see something happening”, then they are not exercising true faith because when you plant a seed, you don’t see something happening even though something is.
3) “You would say”. Faith has a corresponding watering of words. If someone says “I believe” one moment and the next they are saying “It isn’t working”, then faith wasn’t working in the first place because from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Did you have another question on these versus?