Mark 9:23

Context

The scene comes immediately after the Transfiguration in Mark 9. When Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, and John, he found that the disciples who had stayed behind had failed to heal a demon-possessed boy and were arguing with the scribes (Mark 9:14-18). The boy was possessed by a spirit (a demon) that kept him from speaking and threw him into convulsions. His father asked for help: "if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us" (9:22). Jesus takes up this conditional clause and answers with the present verse. The father then cried out, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (9:24), and Jesus healed the boy. Afterward, when the disciples privately asked why they had failed, Jesus answered that this kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer (9:29). The same incident is also recorded in Matthew 17:14-20 and Luke 9:37-43.

Interpretation

• Emphasis on the object of faith: Many Protestant commentaries and sermons place the focus of the verse not on whether Jesus has the power but on whether the father trusts him. In this reading, faith is not a power in itself but trust in the God who acts, and "all things" is likewise understood within the will of God.
• Reading alongside the father's confession: This reading focuses on 9:24, which follows immediately. It finds a message of comfort in the fact that even an imperfect faith mixed with doubt was accepted by Jesus.
• The faith of Jesus: Some commentators hold that "him that believeth" refers to Jesus himself, or that it refers to both the faith of Jesus and the faith of the father.
• A promise of power for today: In Pentecostal and charismatic circles, the verse is read as grounds for the belief that divine healing and miracles still occur today through faith. The Word of Faith movement cites it in support of the claim that faith and positive confession bring about actual results.

Controversies and Issues

• Manuscript differences: Most manuscripts of the Byzantine tradition include the phrase "If thou canst believe." The King James Version, following these manuscripts, renders the verse as Jesus asking the father whether he can believe. Modern critical texts omit the word "believe"; on this reading, Jesus is echoing the father's "if thou canst." The Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version follow the shorter reading. Mark 9:29 also reads "prayer and fasting" in some manuscripts, so translations differ there as well.
• Quotation out of context: Critics charge that the verse is used as a guarantee of wish fulfillment or success. They argue that such uses, including those in prosperity theology, overlook the surrounding context: a suffering child, a helpless father, and the disciples' failure and the need for prayer. Those who apply the verse more broadly respond that Jesus spoke of "all things" in general terms.
• Present-day application: Denominations and theological traditions differ on whether miracles and healings continue today, and the scope of the verse's application varies accordingly (see cessationism and continuationism).

In the Korean Church

The Korean Revised Version's wording, "믿는 자에게는 능치 못할 일이 없느니라" ("to him that believeth nothing is impossible"), is widely familiar. The New Korean Revised Version renders the final phrase "능히 하지 못할 일이 없느니라." The verse is frequently used in sermons, as a church motto, and as a Scripture memory verse. It is also often cited at revival meetings and prayer meetings that emphasize divine healing.

Related Passages

• Mark 9:24 — The father's confession, "help thou mine unbelief"
• Matthew 17:20 — The parallel account of the same incident, which speaks of faith as a grain of mustard seed
• Mark 11:22-25 — The exhortation to have faith in God, and teaching on prayer
• Luke 1:37 — The statement that with God nothing shall be impossible
• Philippians 4:11-13 — A passage frequently quoted in a similar way