Tag Archives: Mark 9:23

Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· τὸ εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι, πάντα δυνατὰ τῷ πιστεύοντι. (Mark 9:23)

And Jesus said to him: “If you are able to believe, all things are possible for the one who believes.”

The Conditional That Shifts the World

In Mark 9:23, Jesus responds to a father’s desperate plea with a phrase that balances on a grammatical edge: τὸ εἰ δύνασαι πιστεῦσαι. The ambiguity here—intensified by the abrupt syntax and word placement—has sparked centuries of discussion. Is Jesus quoting the father’s doubtful words with irony, or offering a conditional statement full of promise? The answer lies in the Greek structure.… Learn Koine Greek