"Verse não disponível"
Introduction
Matthew 17:21 reads in many traditional English editions, "But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." The short verse appears in some manuscripts and in translations based on the Textus Receptus (for example the King James Version) but is absent from several early Greek manuscripts and so is presented as a textual variant in most modern critical editions. Whether included or omitted, the line points readers to the spiritual seriousness of the encounter with stubborn evil and to the disciplines that sustain life in Christ.
Historical-Cultural Context and Authorship
The Gospel of Matthew is traditionally attributed to Matthew the tax collector, one of the twelve disciples. Modern scholarship often sees the gospel as the work of a Matthean community—Jewish Christians in the late first century—writing in Greek for a primarily Jewish-Christian audience and drawing on Mark, Q material, and their own traditions. Matthew 17 sits within a narrative where Jesus heals a boy possessed by a spirit after the disciples failed to cast it out; the story follows the Transfiguration.
Textually, verse 21 is a well-documented variant. Major early manuscripts such as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus omit it; later Byzantine manuscripts include it, and it figures in the Textus Receptus, which underlies the KJV. The shorter reading (omitting the verse) is followed in modern critical editions (e.g., Nestle-Aland/UBS). A close parallel appears in Mark 9:29; some Greek witnesses there read only "prayer" (προσευχῇ), while others have the fuller phrase "prayer and fasting" (προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ). Church fathers and later scribes sometimes harmonized Matthew and Mark, which likely accounts for the verse's presence in later manuscripts. The Greek form found in some manuscripts is: "οὗτος ὁ γένος οὐκ ἐξέρχεται ἔκτος ἐν προσευχῇ καὶ νηστείᾳ" (transliteration: houtos ho genos ouk exerchetai ektos en proseuchē kai nēsteia).
Classical and Jewish contexts help explain why disciplines matter here. In Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity, prayer and fasting were common practices for seeking God's intervention, humility, and spiritual readiness. Exorcism was also a recognized reality in Mediterranean and Jewish religious life; New Testament accounts contrast the authority Jesus gives his followers with their need for dependence on God.
Characters and Places
- Jesus: the Lord and teacher whose authority over demons is manifest in the larger episode. He explains and demonstrates God's power and gives instruction to his followers.
- The disciples: the group who attempted and failed to cast out the demon, prompting Jesus' teaching about faith and spiritual preparation.
- The boy (or the afflicted one): the person afflicted by the spirit, traditionally described as suffering convulsions; his healing demonstrates Jesus' compassion and authority.
- The demon (or unclean spirit): described as a particularly stubborn kind, which prompts the saying about prayer and fasting.
No specific geographic place is named in the single verse, though the surrounding chapter mentions settings such as the region around Caesarea Philippi and later Capernaum in the broader narrative.
Explanation and Meaning of the Text
The phrase "this kind" (Greek: τοῦτο τὸ γένος) points to a particularly obstinate form of demonic opposition, set against the disciples' inability to expel it. The teaching is not primarily a magical formula; rather, it emphasizes that certain spiritual realities require deep dependence on God. "Prayer and fasting" function together as spiritual disciplines that cultivate humility, repentance, focused dependence, and openness to God's power. In the synoptic parallel (Mark 9:29) most manuscripts read only "prayer," which indicates that the essential point is dependence on God through earnest, communal, or persistent petition. The fuller reading with "fasting" reflects an ancient emphasis on bodily discipline joined to prayer as a means of confronting entrenched evil.
Practically and theologically, the verse calls attention to several truths in the Matthean context: (1) authority over evil is rooted in Jesus and mediated to the community; (2) human weakness and insufficient faith may explain the disciples' failure; and (3) persistent prayer (and where the tradition preserves it, fasting) prepares the heart and community to receive and exercise God's power. The statement invites humility rather than triumphalism: spiritual success depends less on human technique than on God's gracious action in response to faith and dependence.
Devotional
When you read this verse, remember that Jesus calls his followers away from self-reliance and into dependence on the Father. Prayer is not a last resort or a ritual to be checked off; it is the lifeline through which we receive wisdom, authority, and strength. Fasting, where practised, and other disciplines help remove distractions and deepen our hunger for God, shaping us to be instruments of his compassion and power.
If you feel inadequate in ministry or in confronting the trials before you, take comfort in the promise that God meets weakness with his presence. Come to him in honest prayer, seek him with humility, and trust that his Spirit equips and sustains—sometimes through quiet disciplines, often through persistent asking—so that his will is done and his kingdom grows.