Matthew 17:20

διὰ τὴν ὀλιγοπιστίαν, here only, and just on that account to be preferred to ἀπιστίαν (T. R.); a word coined to express the fact exactly: too little faith for the occasion (cf. Matthew 14:31) That was a part of the truth at least, and the part it became them to lay to heart. ἀμὴν, introducing, as usual, a weighty saying. ἐὰν ἔχητε, if ye have, a present general supposition. κόκκον σινάπεως proverbial for a small quantity (Matthew 13:31), a minimum of faith. The purpose is to exalt the power of faith, not to insinuate that the disciples have not even the minimum. Schanz says they had no miracle faith (“fides miraculorum”). τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ, the Mount of Transfiguration visible and pointed to. μετάβα (- βηθι T. R.), a poetical form of imperative like ἀνάβα in Revelation 4:1. Vide Schmiedel's Winer, p. 115. ἔνθεν ἐκεῖ for ἐντεῦθεν ἐκεῖσε. μεταβήσεται : said, done. Jesus here in effect calls faith an “uprooter of mountains,” a phrase current in the Jewish schools for a Rabbi distinguished by legal lore or personal excellence (Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., ad Matthew 21:21, Wünsche). ἀδυνατήσει used in the third person singular only in N. T. with dative = to be impossible; a reminiscence of Mark 9:23 (Weiss).