Yes, Jesus really did teach us to pray like this. His teaching was clear and simple. Let’s follow his instructions.
As noted in the related post, the title is worded in such a way to indicate that God is the one who performs the miracle, not our own words. We cooperate with him, not override his power and will.
The translation is mine. If you would like to see other translations, please go to biblegateway.com.
This post is an edited version of my translation and commentary. Please go to this link to see the fuller version and the context.
Scroll down to the right verses.
If you do not read Greek, ignore the left column.
Let’s explain things verse by verse.
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Mark 11:22-25 |
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| 23 ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὃς ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ· ἄρθητι καὶ βλήθητι εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ μὴ διακριθῇ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ πιστεύῃ ὅτι ὃ λαλεῖ γίνεται, ἔσται αὐτῷ. 24 διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν, πάντα ὅσα προσεύχεσθε καὶ αἰτεῖσθε, πιστεύετε ὅτι ἐλάβετε, καὶ ἔσται ὑμῖν. 25 Καὶ ὅταν στήκετε προσευχόμενοι, ἀφίετε εἴ τι ἔχετε κατά τινος, ἵνα καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀφῇ ὑμῖν τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν. | 22 Then in reply, Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth: whoever says to this mountain, ‘Get up and be thrown into the sea!’ and does not doubt in his heart but instead believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. 24 Therefore, I say to you: everything for which you pray and ask, believe that you received it and it shall be done for you. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive whatever you have against someone, so that your heavenly Father would forgive you your transgressions.” |
Comments:
There is great parallel in Luke 17:5-6. I think they are different pericopes (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-peas) or sections of Scriptures, which Jesus spoke at different times and different context, but their meaning overlaps.
With Faith Command Your Obstacle to Go. Then Watch God Work
22:
“have faith in God”: first, the clause tells us that our faith has a direction: God. The direction is not our own faith or in the power of our own words. The clause is a genitive, but the genitive is objective; that is, our faith is directed towards God who is the object of our faith (hence objective genitive). So the translation is right: “faith in God.” Or it could be translated as “have faith that rests in God” (Decker).
I agree with Decker who refers to other scholars: “the suggestion that the genitive is subjective—‘have the sort of faith God has’—is surely a monstrosity of exegesis.” Our faith is always directed towards God. If we have God’s faith, then to whom do we direct it? Ourselves? No. Don’t take this sort of minute grammatical detail too far and build a federal case out of it.
Word Study on Faith and Faithfulness
Having faith is trusting God. Trusting God is to rest You know you have faith when you rest. You trust him. You do not panic. You are not fearful.
You can meditate on these verses to bring your mind under the Spirit’s control and Jesus’s Lordship.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Phil. 4:6-9, NIV)
23:
Jesus says to speak out the order or command. Here the verb “speak” is the standard one.
You can command your obstacles to go away.
But note carefully. The verbs “arise” and “be thrown” are in the passive commands. Often passives like these in a context like this are called the “divine passive.” That is, God is the one who acts behind the scenes. Just because God is not mentioned does not mean he is not behind those two verbs. We pray and God works it out and removes the mountain and throws it into the sea.
Commanding the mountain is a visual image of a spiritual truth—it’s a metaphor. Jesus is speaking metaphorically and hyperbolically. Hyperbole (pronounced hy-PER-boh-lee) means a deliberate and “extravagant exaggeration” (Webster’s Dictionary) to make a strong point and startle the listener. Modern example: “The ice cream seller is really generous! He piled the ice cream on my cone a mile-high!” No, a “mile high” (1.6 km) is not to be taken literally. Followers of Jesus must learn to read the Bible on its own terms, without their wearing monochrome glasses, in which every word appears the same literal color in different contexts. Yes, most of it can be taken literally, like the histories or the commands of the Torah and Epistles. But in significant sections of Scripture, the Bible is not a “flat,” one-dimensional book, on one simplistic level. It is multi-layered. And this clause about the mountain is a case in point. This verse is not to be interpreted literally and simplistically.
In other words, don’t stand in front of a literal mountain and command it to “be gotten up” and “be thrown” into the sea. You can surely, however, command an obstacle in your personal walk with God—like a disease—to be removed and be thrown into the sea (so to speak). However, remember that those verbs are in the divine passive. God is their (hidden) subject. God causes “the mountain” to “arise” and he “throws it.”
Renewalists love verses like v. 23 because they love to confess out loud and speak out and pray out loud. This is solid teaching. Personally, my prayer life is done with an open voice, when I take my prayer walks.
“do not doubt in your heart”: the verb “doubt” is diakrinō (pronounced dee-ah-kree-noh), and it is unusual here. It’s in the middle voice, so it means an internal, self-reflexive action. Decker is right: “The use of [diakrinō] with the meaning “to doubt, waver,” rather than the more common “to separate, distinguish, evaluate,” is first found in the NT (BDAG 231.6).” But it boils down to the same thing: don’t waver or doubt God’s ability to remove the mountain in your life.
“Believes that what he says will happen”: All these verbs are in the present tense, so the latter verb could be translated as “is happening” or “is coming about.” In that translation, it is a process. However, Decker argues for the future meaning. NET translates it as future, and so do most translations. You can decide, whether it is “will happen” or “is happening.” I’ll go with the majority.
“shall be done for him”: this clause literally reads: “shall be for him.” It is almost as if the answer exists for him, but remember, once again, that God answers the prayer; your words do not create something out of nothing. And vv. 24-25 proves that this is about praying, not decreeing, because Jesus himself pinpoints it with the actual word praying and the word therefore. Remember the divine passive; “be gotten up” (or “be arisen”) and “be thrown” are God’s actions. Don’t arrogate all authority to you and your words. Be in relationship with God. Don’t think that your faith is in itself, and don’t exclude the Father. Have faith in a living person, not faith in faith.
24:
“Everything for which you pray and ask”: this is definitely an open-ended prayer. Another translation: “Everything for which you ask in prayer” (hendiadys or two words combined more closely into one as if they were one action).
Please see my posts on prayer:
What Is Biblical Intercession?
As I have written in other similar verses in this commentary, let’s never forget that faith rests on the will of God. We Renewalists must be very careful about commanding God or things in nature to happen because we want them to. Even Jesus said he does what he sees the Father doing: Jesus “can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does also” (John 5:19). Word-of-Faith teachers say they read the Word and understand what the will of God is, so they can command things. Part of that is true because of what Jesus just said in v. 24, but partly certain excessive Word-of-Faith teachers often misinterpret Scriptures which seem to indicate they can boss God around, like humans calling things into existence. (They base this on Rom. 4:17, but the verse clearly says God is the one who calls things into existence.)
Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?
More directly relevant to these verses is this post about decreeing:
We have to be careful about believing that our words create or cause things to come into existence. Yes, speak to already-existing obstacles, but to create something out of nothing is God’s jurisdiction, not yours.
Once again: Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?
“Believe that you will receive”: Okay, the verb “receive” is in the aorist (past) tense, so the clause could easily be translated as “believe that you received.” (“believe” is in the imperative present, so your believing should keep going on, and it is commanded).
This saying, together with the concept of God doing the humanly impossible in answer to prayer in v. 23, sharply raises the problem of unanswered prayer which we have noted already at 9:24. The simplistic reading of this passage which attributes all ‘unanswered’ prayer to inadequate faith on the part of the one praying can be pastorally disastrous, and must be set against the fact that the will of God is not necessarily to be equated with the desire of the person praying.
Faith is very active. You believe that you have received it (even though you have not?). This past-tense translation will make the Word of Faith people jump for joy, because they always say that you must believe that you have already received your answer, and now you have to wait for it to manifest or appear before your eyes or your body is actually healed. While you are waiting for your answer that you have already received by faith, you have to keep believing. I concede that there is a deep truth in this clause, if it is translated as the past tense. However, I just want to repeat that we have faith in God, not in faith. We pray according to God’s will, not our own will or our own interpretation of Scripture. So if we put faith in our faith, we cut God off and place too much weight on ourselves and our words. Instead, let’s realize that we have a relationship with a loving Father, not with our own words or our own thoughts or even with the Bible—or our interpretation of it. If you abide in Jesus, he will lead you to pray the right prayer.
Boiled down: the verse is about praying and asking, not about decreeing and declaring.
God is the one who gets the mountain up and throws it into the sea.
“it shall be done for you”: it literally reads, “It shall be for you.” Either translation is acceptable. You can decide. Remember: you are in a relationship with the Father. He does the answering.
25:
“And when you stand praying”: it could be translated as “When you stand to pray.” If the latter translation is right, a synagogue service or a temple context is envisioned. Either way, the context of vv. 23-25 is prayer, not decreeing and declaring. Once again, see my post:
One more time: Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?
“when”: it does not say “if” you pray. And it does not say “pray whenever you feel like it.”
The rest of the verse is about forgiving. Uh-oh. Jesus is stating clearly that unforgiveness can hinder prayer. So let’s discuss the Greek verb for forgiving.
“forgive”: it comes from the verb aphiēmi (pronounced ah-fee-ay-mee), and BDAG defines it with the basic meaning of letting go: (1) “dismiss or release someone or something from a place or one’s presence, let go, send away”; (2) “to release from legal or moral obligations or consequence, cancel, remit, pardon”; (3) “to move away with implication of causing a separation, leave, depart”; The Shorter Lexicon adds “forgive.”
In sum, God lets go, dismisses, releases, sends away, cancels, pardons, and forgives our sins. Likewise, we should forgive those who sin against us because God forgives us every day.
In this verse 25, however, Jesus is talking about one person forgiving another. Yet the principle of letting the offense go still applies here, whether from person to person or God down to the repentant human. You’re the one who has anything or something against someone else, you must forgive.
Let me quote Matt. 6:12, 14-15 from the Lord’s prayer.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we have forgiven our debtors.
14 For if you forgive people their trespasses, your Father in heaven will also forgive yours. 15 But if you do not forgive people, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matt. 6:12, 14-15)
I wrote in my comments back in Matt. 6:14-15:
These verses are strong and clear. There is no other way to read them than in their plain sense. You simply have to forgive others, or else your Father won’t forgive you. Are you ready to forgive? If not, consider all the sins of which your Father in heaven has forgiven you. Many and deep sins. Your walk with God will suffer greatly if you do not forgive. Your walk with him will thrive the moment you do forgive. Pray that you can be made willing to forgive, and then do it. Sometimes an evil spirit can attack your mind and deepen the unforgiveness and bitterness you already have. You can rebuke Satan off of your mind, as part of the process.
Now let me get a little theological. Will God forgive you if you hold bitterness even at your death? How far do we take these two stark verses? The context here is not about the afterlife and final judgment, but about life in the kingdom here and now, so I am reluctant to apply them outside of their down-to-earth context. I’m not clear what God would say to you at judgment if you had not forgiven your aunt (for example) for what she did to you. I somehow doubt he would throw you in hell for it, when you had still walked with God and confessed Jesus as Lord throughout all the other areas of life. My hunch is that he would not reward you but give you “special instruction” for your refusal to forgive. However, please don’t test the Lord about this. (I may be wrong.) Jesus is speaking extra-strong words here to throw water in your face and warn and wake you up. Forgive right now!
One big motive to forgive others is that God will forgive you your transgressions or missteps.
Personal Application
Let’s follow Jesus in discerning the will of God. Jesus clarified that he does only what he sees his Father doing (John 5:19). He lives because of the Father (John 6:57). He speaks only what the Father taught him (John 8:28). He does what he sees the Father do (John 10:37). What Jesus says is just what the Father told him to say (John 12:49-50, 57). Perhaps the most important verse about miracles: “Many good works I have shown you from My Father” (John 10:32). (In John’s Gospel, “good works” = miracles, at a minimum.)
If he lived life in union with his Father, then we need to do this, though of course much scaled down, because we are not the Anointed Ones. We do not have the title Messiah or Christ.
We Christians, therefore, must not launch out on their own and believe that God shall and must heal everyone, and if he didn’t, then they themselves or the sick person must not have had enough faith or spoken the right confession out loud. Somehow it’s their fault. No.
We must live the crucified life and surrender everything to Jesus–daily (Luke 9:23). When we do, we can hear his voice more clearly and pray according to his will. He may not intend to to remove an obstacle just yet.
We too should develop life in the Spirit (Gal. 5), so we can hear from the Father through the Spirit, in Jesus’s name and authority granted to us. We will never heal as Jesus did, because he is the Anointed One without limits (John 3:34).
In my own life, I have heard from God that a sickness in a relative was “not a sickness unto death.” She has been cancer free for a long time.
I also received a personal word that another relative was going to be taken home, so I should not pray for his healing (he died a few days later). No amount of commanding and pleading and rebuking would have altered the outcome.
And to be honest, I have seemingly heard from God about yet a third relative and believed God would heal him, but he died. I was going through a time of deception in my life, but even in this case I relented and realized in his last hours that he would not be healed. I had been deceived, but I didn’t give up on healing because of this disappointment (even after another relative lectured me about how wrong I was).
Healing is in the word. I never give up on the clear teaching of Scripture. People need to follow what Jesus said in this passage and actively do faith, not pull back or go inside their shells like a turtle and give up. Disappointments happen down here on earth. It’s the human condition.
Pray for healing fearlessly and with active faith!
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