Verse explainer
God can do what no human effort, wealth, or willpower ever could — including transforming a heart too attached to let go.
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
BSBJesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
The plain meaning
The disciples have just watched a rich young man walk away from Jesus, unwilling to part with his wealth. Jesus then says it's easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter God's kingdom (v. 24). The disciples are stunned — if even the wealthy, whom many assumed enjoyed God's special favor, can't make it, who can? (v. 25). Jesus' answer here is the turning point: salvation isn't a human achievement at all. No one enters by their own moral effort, social standing, or religious performance. The impossibility is total on the human side — and that's the point. What makes entry possible is entirely God's action. The verse sits inside a passage about detachment, not a general promise that God will fulfill any request. The 'all things' refers to God's power to save and transform — to do in a human heart what no amount of striving can produce.
The common misreading
What the commentators say
Gill emphasizes that God's almighty grace can work on a rich man's heart in ways no human power can — loosening his grip on wealth, redirecting his desires toward true riches, and carrying him safely through the snares that wealth sets. The impossibility on the human side only highlights that salvation is entirely God's work from beginning to end.
Henry reads this as a necessary comfort to the disciples: the same power that created the world out of nothing can create a new heart in a sinner. The 'all things possible' is not a blank check but a statement about the scope of divine grace — it reaches even those whom every human estimate would write off as hopeless cases.
Barnes notes that Jesus is not reversing the warning about riches — he is grounding the disciples' hope in God rather than in any human capacity. The verse answers the 'who then can be saved?' of v. 25 directly: no one, by their own resources. But God is not limited by what men can or cannot do with themselves.
The word behind it
"Possible" — from dynamis, power or ability. The contrast is absolute: adynaton (impossible) on the human side, dynaton (possible) on God's. The word doesn't soften the impossibility for humans — it lets it stand at full weight, then clears it entirely by pointing to a different kind of power altogether. It's a word of capacity, not mere permission.
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