Mark 9:28

Mar_9:28-29

But by prayer and fasting.

Fasting

Why could not we cast him out?-because of your unbelief. All things are possible to him that believeth. But how is such faith to be attained? It is Gods gift. God gives by means-by means of prayer. Whatever tends to increase the fervour of prayer tends to increase the energy of faith. Fasting also has this effect. In the Christian way are many hindrances; arising both from the agency of fallen spirits, and from the inveteracy of besetting sins. It appears from this narrative, that some spirits are more difficult to cast out of men than others-this kind; and it is certain, as a matter of fact, that some sins are more tenacious, more stubborn; and that for their expulsion, a more active and energetic exercise of faith is required, than for the subduing of other sins. This kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting. He will conclude, therefore, that these things were intended to strengthen faith-that by these means he should assail his unbelief, in order that by changing his unbelief into faith, he may get rid of this cleaving stain that distresses his soul. He will therefore be exceedingly anxious to ascertain what fasting means. He ascertains what prayer is-public, private, social; he will be as anxious to ascertain with the same distinctness what fasting means; to see what in his particular case it means. I suppose the case of a man, whose tendency before he was converted was to luxurious feeding. This is not confined to the rich, as is commonly supposed, who can afford to multiply varieties and pamper their appetites. It is found in all classes, though variously indulged. There is a sort of animal delight which men take in their food, and even in the anticipation of their food. There are men, not a few, who dine more than once a day, by indulging an eager, fleshly avidity in anticipation; and when the reality comes, they yield themselves to reckless animal excitement, even without any check of reason; and they persevere until animal repletion demands a pause. It is descriptive of such, and it is not too much to say, that instead of eating to live, they seem to live to eat. Now this is a disease. We suppose a man of this description converted. By his conversion the disease is not then and there-at one stroke-eradicated; but a counteracting power is supplied to him. This counteracting power is to be brought to bear on this disease; and certainly this is a case in which the action of this counteracting power might well take the direction of abstinence from food. Here he would directly mortify the deed of the old body; for that was its tendency, that was its snare, that was its disease. But now I suppose the case of another sort of man. There are such people in this world as misers. I do not refer to that love of money, which, in a greater or less degree, is common to every man-but to a disease, a sort of mania, an idolatry for the hoarded heap. There are some men who so idolize their savings, that they absolutely deny themselves the common necessaries of daily animal support. Now suppose such a man converted; this disease is not entirely cured by his conversion; but a counteracting power is supplied to him. And how is it to be exercised? How is that man to fast? To abstain from food? No; he has been doing that already, in the service of his idol. That is a part of his disease. What, then, in this case, would occupy the scriptural place of fasting? Let him take from the store; let him draw out the pound, or the hundred, from the fostered heap; let him take his check book, and order something to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. That would be fasting. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? saith the Lord; to clothe the naked and to feed the hungry? Now, suppose another case, of a man or a woman of a highly imaginative turn of mind, and of a romantic tone of affection. She has indulged in reading works of fiction; so that all her imaginations are drawn off from the realities of life, and engaged in the luxuries of fictitious scenes of pleasure or of pain. What is fasting, in her case? Not abstaining from food. What then? Putting away her novels, burning her romances, and turning to the practical walks of life; drawing out her soul to the hungry; instead of weeping, in the luxury of ease, in her armchair, over a fancied sick person, to visit a real sick person, and carry something with her; go to the stern reality of cellars and garrets, instead of luxuriating over the pages of a novel. This is a fast, in her case; and by this, she will help her prayers, and increase her faith, and so advance in overcoming the besetting sin. These illustrations will, I hope, help to show you the true scriptural nature of this duty, varying with various cases because of the object in view. We are called by the spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, not to mortify the body. This is the mistake that has been made. We are nowhere called on to mortify the body for the sake of the mortification, but to mortify the deeds of the body for the sake of the sanctification. And then, what is the object of our Church in such fasting? That you will learn by her collect for the first Sunday in Lent. Give us grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may ever obey Thy godly motions, in righteousness and true holiness, to Thy honour and glory, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. The object is sanctification. (H. McNeile, M. A.)

Prayer and fasting

Staying at Hastings a few months since I was much interested in watching the building of a breakwater just opposite my lodgings. It was done by driving massive piles of wood into the shingle. They were driven by a huge mass of metal being let fall upon them from a great height. True, the blows were not very quick one upon another, for it took some time to raise the weight to the necessary elevation; but when it did fall it accomplished something. Now suppose an onlooker had suggested that time was being wasted in hauling the Herculean hammer up, and had offered to tap the ironbound pile with a childs spade, saying he could give a hundred taps to the one blow, what would have been thought of his suggestion? It would have been laughed to scorn, and he would have been told that one of their blows would do more than a whole century of his tapping; that there was no waste of time in raising the iron thunderbolt, for the power of its blow was in proportion to the height from which it fell. So, believer, your power and mine to affect men is in exact proportion to the elevation of our soul life, and this elevation can only be obtained by secret communion with God, and abstinence from all that panders to the flesh and hinders the spirits fellowship. Oh for a higher ambition to be made meet for the Masters use; a more intense longing for that secret power with God in private, that shall make us more than conquerors over hell in public. (A. G. Brown.)

Union of faith and prayer

I am thankful that these words concerning prayer have stood the ordeal of the late Revision. One seems to crave a reference to prayer after a lesson on the importance of faith. Prayer seems to be the voice by which faith must express itself; it is almost, or even quite, impossible to conceive of faith coming into action except in connection with and by means of the utterance of prayer. (Bishop Harvey Goodwin.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 9:28-29. When he was come into the house, his disciples asked him, &c. — See notes on Mat 17:19-21. This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting — “Some doubts have been raised in regard to the meaning of the words, this kind. The most obvious interpretation is, doubtless, that which refers them to the word demon, immediately preceding. But as in the parallel passage in Mat 17:19, mention is made of faith, as the necessary qualification for dispossessing demons, Knatchbull and others have thought that this kind, refers to the faith that is requisite. But it is an insurmountable objection to this hypothesis, that we have here the same sentiment, almost the same expression, and ushered in with the same words, this kind, though, in what goes before, there is no mention of faith, or of any thing but demon, to which it can refer. It would be absurd to suppose, that the pronouns and relatives in one gospel refer to antecedents in another. Every one of the gospels does indeed give additional information, and in various ways serves to throw light upon the rest. But every gospel must be a consistent history by itself; otherwise, to attempt an explanation would be in vain. Now the argument stands thus: The story related in both gospels is manifestly the same: that the words in question may refer to demon in Matthew, no person who attentively reads the passage can deny; that they cannot refer to faith, but must refer to demon, in Mark, is equally evident. Either, then, they refer to demon in both, or the evangelists contradict one another. Some have considered it as an objection to the above explanation, that it supposes different kinds of demons; and that the expulsion of some kinds is more difficult than that of others. This objection is founded entirely on our own ignorance. Who can say that there are not different kinds of demons? or that there may not be degrees in the power of expelling? Revelation has not said that they are all of one kind, and may be expelled with equal ease.” — Campbell.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 9:28-37 (Mar_9:28-37)

JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES

"And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, saying, We could not cast it out. And He said unto them, This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer. And they went forth from thence, and passed through Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it. For He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He shall rise again. But they understood not the saying, and were afraid to ask Him. And they came to Capernaum: and when He was in the house He asked them, What were ye reasoning in the way? But they held their peace: for they had disputed one with another in the way, who was the greatest. And He sat down, and called the twelve; and He saith unto them, If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all. And He took a little child, and set him in the midst of them: and taking him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in My name, receiveth Me; and whosoever receiveth Me, receiveth not Me but Him that sent Me." Mar_9:28-37 (R.V.)

WHEN the apostles had failed to expel the demon from the child, they gave a very natural expression to their disappointment. Waiting until Jesus was in private and in the house, they said, "We for our parts were unable to cast it out." They take no blame to themselves. The tone is rather of perplexity and complaint because the commission formerly received had not held good. And it implies the question which is plainly expressed by St. Matthew, Why could we not cast it out? Their very unconsciousness of personal blame is ominous, and Jesus replies that the fault is entirely their own. They ought to have stimulated, as He did afterwards, what was flagging but not absent in the father, what their failure must have daunted further in him. Want of faith had overcome them, says the fuller account: the brief statement in St. Mark is, "This kind (of demon) can come out by nothing but by prayer"; to which fasting was added as a second condition by ancient copyists, but without authority. What is important is to observe the connection between faith and prayer; so that while the devil would only have gone out if they had prayed, or even perhaps only if they had been men of prayer, yet their failure was through unbelief. It plainly follows that prayer is the nurse of faith, and would have strengthened it so that it should prevail. Only in habitual communion with God can we learn to trust Him aright. There, as we feel His nearness, as we are reminded that He bends to hear our cry, as the sense of eternal and perfect power blends with that of immeasurable love, and His sympathy becomes a realized abiding fact, as our vainglory is rebuked by confessions of sin, and of dependence, it is made possible for man to wield the forces of the spiritual world and yet not to be intoxicated with pride. The nearness of God is inconsistent with boastfulness of man. For want of this, it was better that the apostles should fail and be humbled, than succeed and be puffed up.

There are promises still unenjoyed, dormant and unexercised powers at the disposal of the Church today. If in many Christian families the children are not practically holy, if purity and consecration are not leavening our Christian land, where after so many centuries license is but little abashed and the faith of Jesus is still disputed, if the heathen are not yet given for our Lord's inheritance nor the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession--why are we unable to cast out the devils that afflict our race? It is because our efforts are so faithless. And this again is because they are not inspired and elevated by sufficient communion with our God in prayer.

Further evidences continued to be given of the dangerous state of the mind of His followers, weighed down by earthly hopes and fears, wanting in faith and prayer, and therefore open to the sinister influences of the thief who was soon to become the traitor. They were now moving for the last time through Galilee. It was a different procession from those glad circuits, not long before, when enthusiasm everywhere rose high, and sometimes the people would have crowned Him. Now He would not that any man should know it. The word which tells of His journey seems to imply that He avoided the main thoroughfares, and went by less frequented by-ways. Partly no doubt His motives were prudential, resulting from the treachery which He discerned. Partly it was because His own spirit was heavily weighed upon, and retirement was what He needed most. And certainly most of all because crowds and tumult would have utterly unfitted the apostles to learn the hard lesson, how vain their daydreams were, and what a trial lay before their Master.

We read that "He taught them" this, which implies more than a single utterance, as also perhaps does the remarkable phrase in St. Luke, "Let these sayings sink into your ears." When the warning is examined, we find it almost a repetition of what they had heard after Peter's great confession. Then they had apparently supposed the cross of their Lord to be such a figurative one as all His followers have to bear. Even after the Transfiguration the chosen three had searched for a meaning for the resurrection from the dead. But now, when the words were repeated with a naked, crude, resolute distinctness, marvelous from the lips of Him Who should endure the reality, and evidently chosen in order to beat down their lingering evasive hopes, when He says "They shall kill Him and when He is killed, after three days He shall rise again," surely they ought to have understood.

In fact they comprehended enough to shrink from hearing more. They did not dare to lift the veil which covered a mystery so dreadful; they feared to ask Him. It is a natural impulse, not to know the worst. Insolvent tradesmen leave their books unbalanced. The course of history would have run in another channel, if the great Napoleon had looked in the face the need to fortify his own capital while plundering others. No wonder that these Galileans recoiled from searching what was the calamity which weighed so heavily upon the mighty spirit of their Master. Do not men stifle the voice of conscience, and refuse to examine themselves whether they are in the faith, in the same abject dread of knowing the facts, and looking the inevitable in the face? How few there are, who bear to think, calmly and well, of the certainties of death and judgment?

But at the appointed time, the inevitable arrived for the disciples. The only effect of their moral cowardice was that it found them unready, surprised and therefore fearful, and still worse, prepared to forsake Jesus by having already in heart drawn away from Him, by having refused to comprehend and share His sorrows. It is easy to blame them, to assume that in their place we should not have been partakers in their evil deeds, to make little of the chosen foundation stones upon which Christ would build His New Jerusalem. But in so doing we forfeit the sobering lessons of their weakness, who failed, not because they were less than we, but because they were not more than mortal. And we who censure them are perhaps indolently refusing day by day to reflect, to comprehend the meaning of our own lives and of their tendencies, to realize a thousand warnings, less terrible only because they continue to be conditional, but claiming more attention for that very reason.

Contrast with their hesitation the noble fortitude with which Christ faced His agony. It was His, and their concern in it was secondary. Yet for their sakes He bore to speak of what they could not bear to hear. Therefore to Him there came no surprise, no sudden shock; His arrest found Him calm and reassured after the conflict in the Garden, and after all the preparation which had already gone forward through all these latter days.

One only ingredient in His cup of bitterness is now added to those which had been already mentioned: "The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of men." Suffering has not reached its height until conscious malice designs the pang, and says, "So would we have it." Especially true was this of the most tender of all hearts. Yet this also Jesus foreknew, while He steadfastly set His face to go toward Jerusalem.

Faithless inability to grapple with the powers of darkness, faithless unreadiness to share the cross of Jesus, what was to be expected next? Estrangement, jealousy and ambition, the passions of the world heaving in the bosom of the Church. But while they fail to discern the spirit of Judas, the Lord discerned theirs, and asked them in the house, What were ye reasoning in the way? It was a sweet and gentle prudence, which had not corrected them publicly nor while their tempers were still ruffled, nor in the language of severe rebuke, for by the way they had not only reasoned but disputed one with another, who was the greatest.

Language of especial honor had been addressed to Peter. Three had become possessed of a remarkable secret on the Holy Mount, concerning which hints on one side, and surmises on the other, may easily have excited jealousy. The failure of the nine to cast out the devil would also, as they were not humbled, render them irritable and self-asserting.

But they held their peace. No one asserted his right to answer on behalf of all. Peter, who was so willingly their spokesman at other times, did not vindicate his boasted pre-eminence now. The claim which seemed so reasonable while they forgot Jesus, was a thing to blush for in His presence. And they, who feared to ask Him of His own sufferings, knew enough to feel the contrast between their temper, their thoughts and His. Would that we too by prayer and self-examination, more often brought our desires and ambitions into the searching light of the presence of the lowly King of kings.

The calmness of their Lord was in strange contrast with their confusion. He pressed no further His inquiry, but left them to weigh His silence in this respect against their own. But importing by His action something deliberate and grave, He sat down and called the Twelve, and pronounced the great law of Christian rank, which is lowliness and the lowliest service. "If any man would be the first, he shall be the least of all, and the servant of all." When Kaisers and Popes ostentatiously wash the feet of paupers, they do not really serve, and therefore they exhibit no genuine lowliness. Christ does not speak of the luxurious nursing of a sentiment, but of that genuine humility which effaces itself that it may really become a servant of the rest. Nor does He prescribe this as a penance, but as the appointed way to eminence. Something similar He had already spoken, bidding men sit down in the lowest room, that the Master of the house might call them higher. But it is in the next chapter, when despite this lesson the sons of Zebedee persisted in claiming the highest places, and the indignation of the rest betrayed the very passion it resented, that Jesus fully explains how lowly service, that wholesome medicine for ambition, is the essence of the very greatness in pursuit of which men spurn it.

To the precept, which will then be more conveniently examined, Jesus now added a practical lesson of amazing beauty. In the midst of twelve rugged and unsympathetic men, the same who, despite this action, presently rebuked parents for seeking the blessing of Christ upon their babes, Jesus sets a little child. What but the grace and love which shone upon the sacred face could have prevented this little one from being utterly disconcerted? But children have a strange sensibility for love. Presently this happy child was caught up in His arms, and pressed to His bosom, and there he seems to have lain while John, possibly conscience-stricken, asked a question and received an unexpected answer. And the silent pathetic trust of this His lamb found its way to the heart of Jesus, who presently spoke of "these little ones who believe in Me" (Mar_9:42).

Meanwhile the child illustrated in a double sense the rule of greatness which He had laid down. So great is lowliness that Christ Himself may be found in the person of a little child. And again, so great is service, that in receiving one, even one, of the multitude of children who claim our sympathies, we receive the very Master; and in that lowly Man, who was among them as he that serveth, is manifested the very God: whoso receiveth Me receiveth not Me but Him that sent Me.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

9:28-29 The account ends, surprisingly, by stressing the importance of prayer rather than of faith (cp. 11:22-24).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 9:28. Ὅτι) למה LXX. render ὅτι, Isa 58:3; 1Ch 17:6.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 9:28 . εἰς οἶκον : into a house, when or whose not indicated, the one point of interest to the evangelist is that Jesus is now alone with His disciples. ὅτι , recitative, here as in Mar 9:11 , introduces a suggested question: we were not able to cast it out why?

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We have need of faith, and therefore of prayer and fasting, to cast Satan out of his old possession.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

28. Why could not we cast him out?] He had given them “power and authority over all demons” (Luk_9:1), and “against unclean spirits to cast them out” (Mat_10:1); what was the reason of their failure now?

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he was come into the house,.... Perhaps into the man's house whose child he had healed, or into some other in these parts, for the sake both of retirement and refreshment:

his disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast him out? The nine disciples, who were particularly concerned in this matter, fearing they had lost the power of casting out devils, conferred upon them, inquired of Jesus, when he was alone, why they could not cast the demon out of the child, when they had ejected unclean spirits out of many others; See Gill on Mat 17:19.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

Ver. 28. See Mat 17:19-21. The history of the dispossession of the devil out of many persons together in a room in Lancashire, at the prayer of some godly ministers, is very famous. Read the book and judge. These ministers (being Nonconformists) were questioned for it in the High Commission Court, as if it had been a device to strengthen the credit of their cause. Saint’s Everl. Rest.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 28, 29. The conditions of success in spiritual work.

As might have been expected, "when he was come into the house, the disciples asked him privately," "How is it that we could not cast it out?" The reply is simple: "This kind can come out by nothing, save prayer." St. Matthew helps us to gain a clearer insight into the cause: "Because of your little faith." "Many ancient authorities add and fasting" (margin). The "little faith" must have approached closely to "unbelief," or to no faith, for the Lord adds, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed... nothing shall be impossible to you." A little thought will compel us to learn much concerning the influence of faith and of prayer, if not also of fasting, in the work assigned to the disciples and in the general and ceaseless conflict with evil. That there was some hindering cause palsying the strength of the disciples is obvious. But recently Jesus had "given them power and authority over all devils," "and to cure diseases," and they are suddenly powerless in the use of that authority. That they may have been cherishing feelings which were inconsistent with so sacred a trust, the subsequent record plainly declares. But our attention is riveted on the words of our Lord in his demand for prayer and faith; and we learn at once, that the bestowment of great authority, even with high endowments, does not set aside the necessity for cherishing suitable conditions of mind in order to the effective discharge of the duties which that authority imposes. The calling to be apostles, the investiture with power to cast out devils and to cure diseases, does not release from the necessity to be clothed with humility to live in that spirit of withdrawment from the world, and communion with the Father, which "prayer," even if not joined with "fasting," implies. The mere symbols of office are useless in the spiritual realm. Rank in these hierarchies conveys no might. Yea, though the very "power" be given, and given by Christ himself, no presumption of personal freedom from the need of the lowliest spirit may be entertained. As Christ"s own power was arrested by the "unbelief" of those amongst whom he would do "many mighty works," so the "power" entrusted to apostles is defied by "the unclean spirit" if the minds of those apostles are not freed from unbelief, and not raised to an alliance with heavenly powers by prayer. Entangled in nets that beset even their feet, exposed to temptations that rudely assail even them, they, though armed by the great power and authority of the kingdom, become weak, and are as other men. Hence we learn that in the spiritual kingdom

I THE MERE AUTHORITY OF OFFICE IS INSUFFICIENT FOR DOING GREAT WORKS IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. Apostles, prophets, preachers, teachers, rulers, are all taught that there is a condition of heart needed as well as an investiture of office.

II NO ENDOWMENT OF POWER OR GIFTS SETS ASIDE THE NECESSITY FOR LOWLY SPIRITUAL EXERCISES. For while these acknowledge and minister to lowliness of heart, they bring their possessor into a true and living sympathy with the heavenly kingdom, and make him a meet channel for the conveyance of its healing grace. No mere talent suffices.

III FAITH AND PRAYERFULNESS DESCRIBE THE TRUE CONDITION OF THE SOUL OF HIM OF WHOM IT IS TO BE SAID, "THOU HAST POWER WITH GOD AND WITH MAN, AND HAST PREVAILED." The spiritual, who wield spiritual weapons, must maintain a spiritual sensibility. This cannot be maintained without that true fasting which is a with-drawment from the spirit of the world, or without that prayerfulness which is a true communion with the Father, or without that faith which is the real might of the soul. These are steps in the spiritual progress; the final attainment being, not the feeble word on the lip, "Come out of him," but that perfect oneness with the Divine which, while it acknowledges the human impotence, makes the feeble man a true and fit instrument of the Divine power. For by that power alone, after all, is the devil cast out. G.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The perplexity of the disciples:

v. 28. And when He was come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

v. 29. And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.

The failure of the disciples to effect a cure in this case, when there had been instances of success, chapter 6:13, perplexed them very much. They had also been deeply humiliated before the people by the sneering remarks of the scribes. When Jesus therefore came into the house where He, and probably His disciples with Him, was staying, they took the opportunity to speak to Him all alone in regard to their failure to expel the devil. Christ’s answer was of a nature to cause deep humility in their hearts and to encourage them to strive for a firmer trust in Him. The question of the disciples implied: We surely had faith; we had the definite expectation to effect this cure, but we were sadly disappointed. The answer of Jesus gave them the hint which they needed: This form can be expelled in no way but by prayer and fasting. By serious, believing prayer the devil can always be routed. But prayer implies full reliance upon God and His help. There is where the mistake lay. The disciples, who formerly had driven out devils in the name and in the power of the Lord, here had attempted a cure in their own might. It was presumption, trust in their own ability, that had caused them to stumble and fall. The devil can be conquered only by a prayer rooted in faith and receiving its power from God alone, Mat 17:20-21.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28, 29. Why could we not cast him out? His answer first was, according to Matthew (17:20), “Because of your belief.” The whole difficulty centered in their want of faith. No demon could defy them if only they had faith enough. And then Jesus illustrates the power of faith by showing that even a small amount of active, living faith, like a grain of mustard-seed, could remove “this mountain,” perhaps pointing to Mount Hermon, at whose base they were, and which towered in its grandeur above them.

Can come forth by nothing, but by prayer. (Fasting is omitted in the New Version, but placed in the margin.) The faith which will be effectual must be a faith exercised in prayer. The work of the Church is still to cast out devils, the unclean spirits of worldliness, selfishness, greed, infidelity, lust, intemperance, Sabbath-breaking. These still defy the ordinary efforts and faith of God's people. We have faith enough for ordinary duties, for some giving, for prayer-meetings, for building churches; but there is a work which ordinary faith cannot do. How shall we get that higher faith? By prayer and fasting. By such an earnestness that we forget the needs of the body.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

privately

This means they were alone.

cast it out

"cast the unclean spirit out." This refers to casting the spirit out of the boy. AT: "cast the unclean spirit out of the boy" (See: Ellipsis)

This kind cannot be cast out except by prayer

The words "cannot" and "except" are both negative words. In some languages it is more natural to use a positive statement. AT: "This kind can be cast out only by prayer" (See: Double Negatives)

This kind

This describes unclean spirits. AT: "This kind of unclean spirit" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

Jesus

disciple

cast out

kind

demon

pray

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

28. εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ ([1975][1976][1977][1978][1979][1980]) rather than εἰσελθόντα αὐτόν ([1981][1982][1983]).

[1975] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[1976] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1977] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[1978] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[1979] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[1980] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[1981] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[1982] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mar 3:35 to Mar 6:20.

[1983] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mar 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

28. εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ. This gen. abs., instead of the participle agreeing with the noun or pronoun following, is in Mk’s style; Mar 5:18; Mar 5:21, Mar 10:17, Mar 11:27, Mar 13:1; Mar 13:3. See crit. note.

εἰς οἶκον. Indoors, as Mar 3:19. This subsequent questioning is freq., esp. in the privacy of a house (Mar 4:10, Mar 7:17, Mar 10:10).

Ὅτι ἡμεῖς; Interrogative, as in Mar 9:11, and ἡμεῖς is emphatic. They have been empowered to cast out demons (Mar 3:15, Mar 6:7); how is it that they have failed in this case?

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28. καὶ εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ1—And he having entered.

εἰσελθόντος αὐτοῦ, instead of the acc., Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCDL Δ 1, 13, 28, 69, 118, 209, 346 (Latt.).

ὅτι ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἠδυνήθημεν—Why could not we? On the use of ὅτι, see on v. 11. There seems to be no reason whatever here for supposing that this is a statement, instead of a question. There is a kind of challenge in the statement, that is evidently not in their minds. They mean simply to ask the question, why they could not perform this miracle, when Jesus had given them power over unclean spirits.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.