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MATTHEW 17:21 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 17:20Matt 17:22
“Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”
But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. The addition about this kind — some manuscripts omit this verse — communicates that some demonic oppression requires a more intensive spiritual engagement than the disciples had brought to the encounter. The prayer and fasting that addresses this kind of demonic resistance is the spiritual preparation that undergirds effective ministry.

Church Fathers on Matthew 17:21

The disciples had received from the Lord the power over unclean spirits, and when they could not heal the daemoniac thus brought to them, they seem to have had misgivings lest they had forfeited the grace once given to them; hence their question. And they ask it apart, not out of shame, but because of the unspeakable matter of which they were to ask.

Chrysostom · 4th century

The Apostles had believed, yet their faith was imperfect; while the Lord tarried in the mount, and they abode below with the multitude, their faith had become stagnant.

Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century

This is what the Lord says in another place, 'Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name believing, ye shall receive.' [Matt 21:22, John 16:23] Therefore when we receive not, it is not the weakness of Him that gives, but the fault of them that ask.

Jerome · 4th century
Read all 19 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 17:21 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy