Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 11:23
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
23. verily I say unto you ] With great solemnity He seeks to impress upon them a truth which would be of the greatest import to them, when they went forth, as His Apostles, to establish and spread His kingdom that an unfaltering faith in God would overcome all difficulties, even the most insuperable to the eye of sense.
shall say unto this mountain ] Language like this was familiar in the schools of the Jews. They used to set out those teachers among them, that were more eminent for the profoundness of their learning, or the splendour of their virtues, by such expressions as these, “He is a rooter up or remover of mountains.” “They called Rabbah Bar Nachmani, A rooter up of mountains, because he had a piercing judgment.” Lightfoot, Hor. Heb.
shall not doubt in his heart ] The word here translated “doubt” ( a) in the active voice means to discriminate, distinguish, discern, as Mat 16:3, “ye can discern the face of the heaven;” Act 15:9, “He put no difference between us and them;” 1Co 11:29, “not discerning the Lord’s Body.” ( b) In the passive and middle voice, it means (i) to get a decision, to go to law, to dispute, as Act 11:2, “they of the circumcision contended with him;” Jas 2:4, “are ye not partial (become litigants or partisans) in yourselves?” (ii) to dispute with oneself, to doubt, waver, as Act 10:20, “go with them, doubting nothing; ” Rom 4:20, “ he staggered not at (i. e. with regard to) the promise through unbelief;” Jas 1:6, “but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering; for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mar 11:23
That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed.
This mountain
This mountain, which Christ promised His disciples power to remove, and which in after years they did most effectually remove, was the holy mount on which the Hebrew temple once stood, but which is now crowned with churches and a mosque. He saw that even the Jewish religion was waxing old and ready to vanish away. And yet how impossible it seemed that they, a few simple and unlettered men, with no force but their faith in Him, should achieve this mighty task. The whole world, heathen and Hebrew, was against them: the unbroken power of Rome, the unsurpassed wisdom of the Greeks, the ancient philosophies and hereditary customs of the unchanging East, the fierce barbarism of the North, the jealous and tenacious bigotry of the Jews; the lusts of the flesh and of the mind, the pride and splendour of life; all to which men leaned with all the weight of habit, tradition, and inclination. And yet, in a few years, all these mighty forces went down before the power of faith; and, where they still survive, their doom is written on them in characters which it takes no prophet to read. All this the disciples had to believe before, as yet, any jot of it had come to pass. Their faith in God, and in the redeeming purpose of His love, was to be their sole warrant and evidence that the temple, with all which it symbolized, was to pass away; that this mountain, with all its pile of sacred fabrics, all its weight of sacred memories, was to be cast into the sea; and that the world, banded in an apparently impregnable unity against them, was nevertheless to be overcome. And in this faith they both destroyed the temple and conquered the world. (S. Cox, D. D.)
This mountain-Difficulties in the Christians path
Our Lord here presupposes that believers will be called by God to the undertaking and doing of great and difficult works, such as are above and beyond the power of nature, and as hard and difficult to flesh and blood as the removing of a mountain. Such great and difficult works may a Christian be called by God to perform: yea, every Christian is actually called by God to the performance of such hard and difficult works, so soon as he is called to believe and to be a Christian-e.g., a Christian is called to deny himself, and to take up his cross and follow Christ: which are most difficult works, impossible to nature and contrary to it. A Christian is also called to the practice of repentance, i.e., to die unto sin, to mortify his sinful lusts, etc., a most hard, difficult, and painful work. Again, we are called to obey God in all things which He requires: in all parts of His will, though never so hard and contrary to our nature. We are called to despise the world, and to use it as if we used it not; yea, to be crucified and dead to it; and to forsake all we have for Christ and the gospel. All these are most hard and difficult duties, which every Christian and true believer is called to undertake and perform; and he must indeed perform them, in some measure at least; otherwise, he cannot be a good Christian. If we wish to be good Christians indeed, we must not promise ourselves a life of ease; we must think seriously and often what we are called to; and we must daily pray and labour for supernatural strength and grace. Not of ourselves can we accomplish this arduous task; but God, who calls us to it, will enable us to perform it, if we seek from Him that which we have not in ourselves. (G. Petter.)
Mountain removed
When William Carey went to India, many a wise man would have said to him, You may lust as well walk up to the Himalaya mountains, and order them to be removed and cast into the sea. I would have said, That is perfectly true; this Hinduism is as vast and as solid as those mountains; but we have faith-not much, yet we have faith as a grain of mustard seed; and William Carey said, I will go up to the mountain. Lonely and weak he walked up towards the mountain, which in the eye of man seemed verily one of the summits of human things, far above all power to touch or shako it; and with his own feeble voice he began saying, Be thou removed! be thou removed! And the world looked on and laughed, a celebrated clergyman, looking down from his high place in the Edinburgh Review, was much amused with the spectacle of that poor man down in Bengal, thinking in his simple heart that he was going to disturb Hinduism; and from his high place he cast down a scalding word, which he meant to fall just as of old boiling lead used to fall upon a poor man from the height of a tower. He called him a consecrated cobbler. All the wise world laughed, and said he was treated as he ought to be treated. However, he went on saying to the mountain, Be thou removed! be thou removed! And one joined him, and another joined him; the voice grew stronger; it was repeated in more languages than one: Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the depths of the sea! and now there is a large company who are uttering that one word, Be thou removed! I ask the living representatives of the very men who first smiled at this folly, What say ye now? Well, they answer, you have not got into the sea yet. That is true; but do you say that the mountain during the last forty years has not moved? No man can say that it is in the same position as it was when William Carey first went up to it. It is moving fast; and I call upon you to swell that voice, the voice of Gods Church, which seems to say, Be thou removed, be thou removed, and be thou east into the depths of the sea! Cast into those depths it will be; and a day will come when the nations of a regenerated East will write in letters of gold upon the first pages of their Christian history the name of the consecrated cobbler. (William Arthur.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
23. For verily I say unto you, Thatwhosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed . . . heshall have whatsoever he saithHere is the lesson now. From thenature of the case supposedthat they might wish a mountain removedand cast into the sea, a thing far removed from anything which theycould be thought actually to desireit is plain that not physicalbut moral obstacles to the progress of His kingdom were in theRedeemer’s view, and that what He designed to teach was the greatlesson, that no obstacle should be able to stand before aconfiding faith in God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain,…. The Mount of Olives, at, or near which they now were,
be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; that is, of Galilee, which was nearest, and yet many miles off:
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; not only as to removing a mountain, and casting it into the sea, but any thing equally difficult;
he shall have whatsoever he saith: whatever he commands shall be done; [See comments on Mt 21:21].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Shall not doubt in his heart ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive with . The verb means a divided judgment ( from , two, and , to judge). Wavering doubt. Not a single act of doubt (), but continued faith ().
Cometh to pass (). Futuristic present middle indicative.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shall come to pass [] . Rather cometh to pass, as Rev.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For verily I say unto you,” (amen lego humin) “Truly I tell you all,” the yet doubting, “weak in faith disciples.”
2) “That whosoever shall say unto this mountain,” (hoti has an eipe to orei touto) “That whoever may say to this mountain,” this insurmountable obstacle, this obstruction, with positive God-given faith, as also recounted and compared with a mustard see, in kind of productive faith, Mat 17:20.
3) “Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; (artheti kai bletheti eis tes thalassan) “Be thou taken up and cast into the sea,” or unto “yonder place,” an unoffending place, Mat 17:20-21.
4) “And shall not doubt in his heart,” (kai me diakrithe en te kardia autou) “And he has no doubt in his heart,” as men are to ask in faith, nothing doubting, Mat 21:21.
5) ”But shall believe that those things,” (alla posteue hoti ho lalei ginetai) “But believes that what he says occurs,” is positive in faith, praying, doing what he can, as the farmer, the pilot, or physician, Mat 21:22.
6) “Which he saith shall come to pass;” (estai auto) “He will have it,” what he requests, as and to the extent that he asks “in the name,” and “according to the will of the Lord,” Joh 14:13-14.
7) “He shall have whatsoever he saith.” (according to the will of the Lord. 1Jn 3:22.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(23) Those things . . . he shall have whatsoever he saith.The better MSS. give, that the thing which he saith cometh to pass, and he shall have it. The promise is specific rather than general in its form, and so prepares the way for the wider generalisation of the next verse.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Ver. 23. See Trapp on “ Mat 21:21 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 11:23 in Mat 17:20 , Luk 17:6 ; Mar 11:24 in Mat 7:7 , Luk 11:9 ; Mar 11:25 in Mat 18:35 ; of course in somewhat altered form. Mk. seems here to make room for some important words of our Lord, as if to compensate for neglect of the didache which he knew to be an important feature in His ministry, doing this, however, as Meyer remarks, by way of thoughtful redaction, not by mere random insertion. , faith in God, genitive objective as in Rom 3:22 and Heb 6:2 ( ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
verily. See note on Mat 5:18.
this mountain. Referring, and probably pointing to Olivet. Compare Mat 17:20; Mat 21:21; and see note on Luk 17:6.
not, Greek me. App-105. Not the same word as in verses: Mar 11:13, Mar 11:16, Mar 11:17, Mar 11:26, Mar 11:31, Mar 11:33.
doubt. Greek. diakrino. App-122.
he shall have, &c. = there shall be to him.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
whosoever
See, Mat 17:20; Luk 11:1 (See Scofield “Luk 11:1”); Luk 17:6; Joh 14:13; Joh 14:14
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
whosoever: Mat 17:20, Mat 21:21, Luk 17:6, 1Co 13:2
and shall: Mat 14:13, Rom 4:18-25, Heb 11:17-19, Jam 1:5, Jam 1:6
whatsoever: Psa 37:4, Joh 14:13, Joh 15:7
Reciprocal: Zec 14:4 – cleave Mat 5:18 – verily Mat 14:29 – he walked Mat 14:31 – O thou Mar 9:18 – and they Mar 9:23 – If Act 3:16 – through 1Co 12:9 – faith 1Ti 2:8 – and Heb 10:22 – in full Rev 8:8 – and as
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
No miracles were performed by Jesus or his apostles for the mere gratification of curiosity, or just to make a show of power. If any good reason appeared for removing a mountain in this way it could be done, for one miracle is as easy as another as far as power is concerned. Verse 24. Even miracles that are right and needed cannot be performed without the proper degree of faith. (See Mat 17:19-21.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 11:23-24. See on Mat 21:21-22.
This mountain. Probably pointing to Mount Moriah, where stood the temple, the centre of the Jewish worship and the bulwark of the hypocritical hierarchy.
What he saith cometh to pass. The present tense of certainty.
Therefore Mar 11:24 connects the promise with the faith of miracles (Mar 11:23), and hence the primary application is to the Twelve.
All things. All is emphatic.
Pray and ask for. The correct reading is more striking.
Believe that ye have received. The original implies, that when you asked you received, God at once granted your request, so that the answer comes before the fulfilment, which is spoken of as future: ye shall have them, lit., it shall be to you.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
There are two qualifications requisite in prayer, if we expect to find acceptance with God, namely, faith and love; to the first Christ had spoken in the former verse, to the latter in this. When ye shall stand praying, forgive. It was ordinary for the Jews to pray standing, yet in their solemn days of fasting they did kneel, and prostrate themselves before the Lord; but the Christians usually kneeled down and prayed, Act 9:40.
Now the command here to forgive those that offend us before we pray, shews,
1. That no resentments of what our brother doth, should stick long upon our spirits, because they indispose us for that duty we are to be continually prepared for.
2. That there is some sort and kind of forgiveness to be exercised towards an offending brother before he asks it, and though he doth not shew any token of repentance and sorrow for it; because I am to pray for him out of love to him, and must lift up pure hands, without wrath.
Learn hence, That they who are sueing for, and expecting forgiveness from, God, must exercise forgiveness towards others, or else their prayers are a sort of imprecations on themselves.
2. Observe, Christ speaks indefinitely; When ye pray, forgive. He doth not say, your brethren, but men: If we forgive men their trespasses Mat 6:14; that is, all men, good and bad, friends and enemies; if we forgive one another freely, our heavenly Father will forgive us fully. Our forgiving one another is the indispensible condition of God’s forgiving us, and of hearing the prayers which are put up by us.