And the apostles said to the Lord, Give more faith to us.
This prayer comes right after a command that felt impossible: never to grow tired of forgiving a brother who sins against you. The apostles ask for more faith, and the Lord's answer turns them from the size of their faith to its reality.
What had the Lord just said to make them ask?
The Lord had just been teaching how serious it is to be a cause of stumbling to one of His "little ones." To avoid this, we must watch ourselves, so that we may never grow tired of forgiving our brother if he sins against us. Rebuke him we may, and should; but if he repents, we are to forgive him at once... God never grows tired of forgiving us when we confess our sins. We show what His heart is like, so we are to be just as ready to forgive our brother's sins. The apostles failed to grasp how far-reaching this instruction was. Yet they clearly felt they needed something more than they had received so far, if they were to carry it out in practice.
They do not ask for more instruction. They ask for a gift:
"The only recorded instance of the disciples asking a spiritual gift of Christ."
The word itself points to adding. The Lord's reply then moves in two directions.
The word "increase" might here mean "add to" our faith, or "give more" faith to us. The Lord's answer seems to teach two things. First, the smallest degree of faith is enough, when it is in use, to achieve the greatest things. Second, use makes faith stronger: the feeblest display of confidence in God tends, through His grace, to produce more.
The Lord's answer does not turn on how much faith they have. It turns on what even a grain of real faith does.
Faith does what is impossible for man and for nature. It does this wherever there is a grain of reality, however small. Whether faith is little or strong, if it is real, it brings in God. And God is the same God in answer to little faith as to great. There may be a great difference in what we consciously enjoy as a result. But God answers in His grace the feeblest exercise of faith in Him.
Another writer puts it in terms of life instead of size:
The Lord's reply seems to suggest that it is not a question of the quantity of faith but of its vitality. A mustard seed is very small but it is alive! Live faith achieves results of a supernatural order. Tender sprouts from live seeds buried underneath have often forced up heavy paving stones.
They asked because the demand was beyond them. Faith is what meets that.
His disciples find these demands on their hearts to be quite beyond them. That leads them to know they must get strength out of Another. Under this awareness they say, "Increase our faith." Faith is what takes us into the resources of One who is greater than ourselves.
Darby turns this into a question about what such power is worth:
Faith lays hold of a power that is not in the person, and so it acts without limit... In every need we may draw upon God. Everything depends on looking simply to Him... Is it nothing to wield God's power? If you know what it is to have Satan against you, you will feel how blessed it is to call in the power of God. Your place and work may be very humble — no matter what: you still need God's power even to be little.
The increase they ask for arrives along a particular road:
Even after doing everything, they were still to confess that they had done nothing beyond their duty. And this is in fact how increase of faith will surely be found. We must be doers of Christ's work, and not our own — not valuing ourselves for doing it, but lowly in spirit. Then we will find the faith needed for the whole way. Faith is for God's way and will; we cannot expect it for our own.
- Cause. A call to keep on forgiving a brother drove the prayer — the demand felt beyond them, and it was.
- Cry. "Increase" means "add to" or "give more"; it is the one recorded time the disciples asked Christ for a spiritual gift.
- Correction. He does not enlarge their faith. He shows what a grain of it does — the issue is reality and life, not quantity.
- Connection. Real faith brings God in. He answers the weakest trust as truly as the strongest, because faith draws on resources outside ourselves.
- Course. The increase comes while doing Christ's work in lowliness — faith is given for God's will, not our own.
But the Lord said, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard [seed], ye had said to this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea, and it would have obeyed you.
The apostles had just been told to forgive a brother seven times in one day. Instead of agreeing, they asked for more faith. The Lord's reply does not measure faith by size. He points to a tiny seed and a deep-rooted tree.
The request in verse 5 grew out of a command the apostles felt they could not keep.
The apostles clearly failed to grasp how far-reaching this instruction was. Yet they just as clearly felt they needed more than they had been given so far, if they were to carry it out in practice. So they broke in with the prayer, "Lord, increase our faith." In answer, the Lord kindly recognises the need that turned them to Him. But He reminds them that the question is not so much increasing their faith as exercising what they already had.
Size is not the whole point of the mustard seed. What makes a seed work is that it is alive.
The Lord's reply seems to imply that it is not a question of the quantity of faith but of its vitality. A mustard seed is very small but it is alive! Living faith accomplishes results of a supernatural order. Many a time tender sprouts from live seeds buried underneath have forced up heavy paving stones. Even plant life has powers that look miraculous, and much more so faith, which is living.
The ESV above reads "if you had faith." One writer prefers "if you have," and draws two lessons from the Lord's answer.
The Lord's answer seems to teach two things. First, the smallest degree of faith is enough, when in use, to achieve the greatest things. Second, use strengthens faith: the feeblest display of confidence in God tends, through His grace, to produce more. One more thing supports this reading. Verse 6 should say if you have faith, not if you had. If "had" were right, it might suggest that the apostles had no faith at all up to that point.
If faith were a substance, more of it would mean more power. The verse works differently: the power belongs to the One faith reaches.
Faith works what is impossible to man, to nature; and this wherever there is a grain of reality, however small. Whether faith is little or strong, if it is real, it brings in God. And God is the same God in answer to little faith as to great. The difference in what we feel and enjoy may be great. But God answers in His grace the feeblest exercise of faith in Him.
Older translations call this tree the "sycamine." ESV calls it a mulberry, and it is named nowhere else in the Bible.
The sycamine is mentioned only in Luke 17:6. Since the same writer also speaks of the sycamore tree, the two are thought to be different trees. The sycamine is probably the mulberry, still called sycamenia in Greece.
The roots are what make the picture bite. One writer links them to the sin the apostles were told to keep forgiving.
The Lord answered that if their faith was only as large as a tiny mustard seed, their word could root up "this mulberry tree" and plant it in the sea. That tree is known for its deep, spreading roots. Clearly He was referring to the deep-rooted sin that reasserts itself even seven times in a day. There is such power in the grace of God, when laid hold of by faith, as to root out and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Planting a tree in the sea reverses nature. That is the point: faith is not a stronger version of human ability.
Faith realises a power that is not in the person, and so it acts without limit… In every need we may draw upon God. Everything depends on looking simply to Him. All things are possible to him who believes. For it is God who is doing His will. And He has willed to do it through man, and to honour Himself in man.
The Lord's answer shows faith doing two opposite things at once.
His apostles wanted more faith. In answer, the Lord describes faith by its two chief marks — its sovereignty, so to speak, and its self-renunciation. It is that which can command the sycamine tree into the sea, but then comes back to God and says that all is nothing. These are the qualities it must have. It takes all blessing from God, but leaves all glory with God.
- Occasion — A command to forgive again and again drove the apostles to ask for more faith. They felt it was beyond them.
- Measure — He answers their plea for more by pointing to the least. A mustard seed is tiny, but it is alive — and living faith works.
- Object — Real faith brings God in, and He is the same God in answer to weak faith as to strong.
- Reach — A deep-rooted tree planted in the sea reverses nature, showing a power that is not in the believer at all.
- Posture — Faith commands the tree, then turns and says it is nothing. It takes all blessing from God and leaves all glory with Him.