The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.” The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!
Luke 17:5-6
What does it mean? The use of the word apostles refers to the twelve as I have pointed out before.
There is debate over whether “faith” mentioned here is the active believing in Christ faith, as the object of saving faith. In which case [pistis] “faith” is that which every Christian possesses by virtue of their believing relationship with Christ. Or is the faith mentioned the gift of faith that Paul mentions in 1 Cor 12:9? (See Gem 432). If it’s the latter, the clause means to give them the gift of faith in addition to the other gifts they have. If it refers to the former then the meaning is to request of God to add to the faith they already possess to make their faith stronger and to equip them for handling the difficult thing that Jesus has asked of them in verse 4.
“If you had faith . . . ” in the following verse can mean one of two things:
- They do not have this much faith – implying they had faith but it was not even up the size of a mustard seed. So Jesus is reprimanding them for having such little faith.
- They do have this much faith – implying that they have the amount of faith they need already. They just have to exercise it. They don’t need more, they just need to use it.
The use of mustard seed as the example is either because of the size of the seed of the mustard tree. (It is an exceedingly small seed.) Or it is because of the vigorous growth qualities of the seed which quickly grows and develops an extensive root system.
One further issue we have to address in this verse is the kind of the tree that is in focus compared with the mustard seed. Is it a mulberry tree as in the NLT translation or is it a sycamine tree or a sycamore tree? The word used in the original Greek is [sukaminos]. Does this refer to the mulberry tree (Species: morus nigra) or does it refer to the fig-mulberry tree (Species: ficus sycamores)? Luke uses a different word here than he does in verse 19:4 [sukomorea]. It’s the fig mulberry tree species which has the extensive deep root system.
The verb for be up rooted is a reflexive which indicate the mulberry tree is to uproot itself. There is no digging it up. Rather it is a command for the tree to pull itself up by the roots and go plant itself in the sea. Not throw itself away but to be transplanted in the sea. Both of these actions are an impossibility and thus we have a double impossibility. The idea seems to infer that after the transplanting it would continue to bear fruit but that is implicit not explicit. Thus the command is given and the tree obeys. Now that is impressive.
You will need to ponder all the elements and options of these two short verses before you move on to consider the context and the meaning of what Jesus is saying here.
What is the context? Opinions are divided over these verses. There are those who say this section is connected to what went before it. There are others who maintain this segments is in no way connected to anything and is simply a stand alone thought, proving that these series of verses in Luke 17:1-10 are simply a compilation of unconnected verses. You will have to work out what you think.
I will return to this when we have finished dealing with the last four verses of this section before we attempt to work out what is being said in the section Luke 17:1-10.
Faith is like a bird that feels dawn breaking & sings while it is still dark.
Scandinavian proverb
When fear knocks at your door send faith to answer it.
Anon
It is never the strength of our faith but the object of our faith that actually saves us.
Sidney Mohede
To grow, faith must be stretched.
Anon