But this kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting.
The scene is the valley below the mountain. A father brings his tormented son, and the disciples who had been given power over demons cannot help him. Jesus names their unbelief, then adds this word about prayer and fasting. Two questions follow. Why did men with real power fail? And what is the prayer and fasting that this case demanded?
A note on the text
Before the meaning, one honest point about the wording. One writer notes that this sentence is missing from the oldest surviving copies of Matthew.
It is interesting to know that verse 21 is not found in the two oldest manuscripts, which date from the fourth century — the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus.
Our own position mirrored
The disciples' helplessness is not a curiosity from long ago. One writer lines up the parallels between their situation and ours point by point.
There are three. First, the Lord is absent in both cases. Second, we live, as they did, in the presence of Satan's power. You can see it at times among Christians, and always in the souls of those who are not converted. Third, God has given us power greater than all the strength of the enemy — as much as He gave the disciples, if not more. We should add one more thing. Too often we have to admit, to our sorrow, that we are as powerless as those disciples when the enemy shows his power.
Three roots, not one
Jesus first points to their unbelief, then adds this verse. One writer reads the two answers together as a single diagnosis with three parts.
In general He explained their failure by saying, "Because of your unbelief." But He added that the demon in this case was a special "kind." It could only be dealt with by "prayer and fasting." As so often with our failures, the reason was not simple. It was compound. Three things were missing. First, absence of faith — little or no confidence in God. Second, absence of prayer — no dependence upon God. Third, absence of fasting — no separation to God. That means holding back even from things that are perfectly right at other times.
What the two words do
The two words work in opposite directions.
Prayer brings God in. Fasting shuts out our own nature and our human resources.
Fasting, then, reaches wider than food. It touches whatever the world around us offers.
By "fasting" we should understand more than going without food. It means refusing the things of this world we are passing through — the things that appeal to us as men, such as the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride in life.
Whether an actual fast is meant
Commentators differ here. Some read fasting as a state of the soul rather than a real fast. One writer pushes back, pointing to the early Christians in the city of Antioch.
I think when it says a fast in Scripture, it means a fast. Often one hears it said, "That means a moral state." Do you think it was only a moral state at Antioch? The moral state existed, and it showed itself by an actual fast, which was not commanded, as far as we read. I fear that word moral is going to ruin us.
Nothingness that counts on God
One writer traces the failure back to something in the disciples themselves.
And why was it? What was going on in them? The power of their own nature, never judged, and confidence in self. "This kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting." "Prayer and fasting" expresses the nothingness of man — but a nothingness that expects God and counts on God.
Where This Applies Now
The same writer traces every loss of power back to one cause, and shows the way back.
You can always trace a lack of power to deal with these things, and to cast out the enemy, back to the same cause as with the disciples — unbelief, and failure in prayer and fasting… But if by grace we return to prayer and fasting, God brings us into such close communion with His mind that our spiritual sight grows sharp. Our confidence in Him grows so strong that we can act at the right moment with divine power.
Summary
- Power given. The disciples already had authority over unclean spirits. They did not fail for lack of power.
- Power unused. The Lord is absent, the enemy is present, the power is given — and still they stood helpless. One writer says our position is the same.
- Root exposed. The reason was compound: no faith, no prayer, no fasting — confidence, dependence and separation all missing at once.
- Remedy defined. Prayer brings God in; fasting shuts human resource out. Commentators differ: some mean a real fast from food, others a state of the soul.
- Result promised. Return to prayer and fasting, and God sharpens your sight and your confidence, so you can act at the right moment with His own power.