| Geneva Study Bible Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, {h} all things are possible to him that believeth. (h) Christ can and will do anything for those that believe in him. People's New Testament 9:23 If thou canst believe. The question is not whether Jesus can, but whether the afflicted father can. Can he have the needful faith in Christ? Faith is the great need. Wesley's Notes 9:23 If thou canst believe - As if he had said, The thing does not turn on my power, but on thy faith. I can do all things: canst thou believe? Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 23. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe-The man had said, "If Thou canst do anything." Jesus replies. all things are possible to him that believeth-"My doing all depends on thy believing." To impress this still more, He redoubles upon the believing: "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." Thus the Lord helps the birth of faith in that struggling soul; and now, though with pain and sore travail, it comes to the birth, as Trench, borrowing from Olshausen, expresses it. Seeing the case stood still, waiting not upon the Lord's power but his own faith, the man becomes immediately conscious of conflicting principles, and rises into one of the noblest utterances on record. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 9:14-29 The father of the suffering youth reflected on the want of power in the disciples; but Christ will have him reckon the disappointment to the want of faith. Very much is promised to our believing. If thou canst believe, it is possible that thy hard heart may be softened, thy spiritual diseases may be cured; and, weak as thou art, thou mayest be able to hold out to the end. Those that complain of unbelief, must look up to Christ for grace to help them against it, and his grace will be sufficient for them. Whom Christ cures, he cures effectually. But Satan is unwilling to be driven from those that have been long his slaves, and, when he cannot deceive or destroy the sinner, he will cause him all the terror that he can. The disciples must not think to do their work always with the same ease; some services call for more than ordinary pains. | 
