Bible Strands
Luke 18:27
But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the crowd immediately after they ask "Who then can be saved?" (v. 26), prompted by his teaching on the rich young ruler. Peter is next to respond (v. 28).
The words — ἀδύνατα (adunata, "impossible") and δυνατά (dunata, "possible") share the root δυν- ("power, ability"), making the contrast a single word flipped by the prefix ἀ- ("not"). The preposition παρὰ (para, "with") locates the impossibility and the possibility in proximity to persons, not in abstract capability.
The thread — Matthew 19:26 is the parallel, broadening the scope to "all things are possible" with God. Jeremiah 32:17 ("Nothing is too difficult") and Luke 1:37 ("No word from God will ever fail") frame the same claim from the prophetic and angelic registers.
Why it lands — The verse does not dissolve the impossibility; it holds it in place and then shifts the agent from man to God, leaving the human "impossible" intact and unanswered.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 32:17 “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
- Luke 1:37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
- Job 42:2 “I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
- Genesis 18:14 Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
- Ephesians 1:19 and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,
- Daniel 4:35 All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
- Ephesians 2:4 But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Zechariah 8:6 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “If this is impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be impossible in My eyes?” declares the LORD of Hosts.