Luke 18:27 Meaning and Explanation
“And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Short verses get quoted loosely, and this one is often used to promise that any goal can be reached with enough prayer. Luke's setting is more specific and more comforting. The impossibility under discussion is salvation itself, raised by listeners who had just watched a devout and wealthy man walk away. The answer names where hope actually rests.
Answering a stunned crowd who wondered who could possibly be saved, Jesus locates salvation entirely within God's power. What lies beyond human capacity remains fully within his.
The Context of Luke 18:27
Luke 18 moves through the persistent widow, the Pharisee and the publican, and the blessing of infants before reaching a ruler who asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus reviews the commandments, which the man says he has kept from youth, then tells him to sell everything and follow. Verse 23 records his sorrow, since he was very rich. Jesus comments on how hard entry is for the wealthy, using the image of a camel and a needle's eye. The hearers respond in verse 26, Who then can be saved? Verse 27 is the reply.
What Does Luke 18:27 Mean?
The sentence has a simple frame with a decisive hinge. Impossible with men states a real limit, and Jesus does not soften it. Possible with God states a real capacity, and he does not qualify it. The phrase the things which keeps the subject broad enough to include the specific case at hand, the salvation of a rich man, along with anything else that falls in the same category. Luke's wording puts the two prepositions side by side, with men and with God, contrasting spheres rather than degrees. Nothing in the reply promises an easier road. Everything in it promises a stronger hand than the one that failed.
The chapter has been building toward this line since its opening parable. A widow with no leverage receives justice. A publican with no defense goes home justified. Infants with no achievements are welcomed. Then a ruler with every advantage leaves grieving. Luke arranges the scenes so that human resources steadily lose their power to explain who ends up inside. Verse 27 states the principle behind the arrangement. The same conviction runs through Israel's Scriptures, where Sarah laughs at a promise and is told that nothing is too hard for the Lord, and where God tells Jeremiah the same thing while Jerusalem is under siege. Luke expects his readers to feel the pattern before they hear the principle.
Jesus speaks these words on the road to Jerusalem, and Luke records his passion prediction only four verses later. The possibility he announces has an address in his own coming death and resurrection. Peter's reply about leaving everything shows disciples who have already been drawn into that possibility, and the blind man at the chapter's close receives sight by calling on the Son of David as he passes. God's power to save is on display in the very journey during which the promise is made. Luke ties the words to events his readers can name and date, so the reply rests on more than a general confidence in divine ability.
Luke 18:27 in the Original Language
adynatos (ἀδύνατος), 'impossible' -- lacking power, unable; used of what cannot be done by the one attempting it. Luke pairs it with dynatos, possible or powerful, so the sentence turns on a single root, moving from powerlessness in one sphere to power in another.
Bible Verses Related to Luke 18:27
“And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?”
- Luke 18:26
“Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
- Genesis 18:14
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?”
- Jeremiah 32:27
“For with God nothing shall be impossible.”
- Luke 1:37
Where Luke 18:27 Echoes in Scripture
Genesis 18:14 first raises the matter as a question put to Sarah: is anything too hard for the Lord? Jeremiah 32:27 answers it in the form of a claim, spoken to a prophet buying a field in a doomed city. Luke 1:37 places the same conviction on the lips of Gabriel at the annunciation, near the start of this Gospel. When Jesus says it in chapter 18, the thread from Sarah to Mary to the crowd on the Jerusalem road is complete.
How to Apply Luke 18:27 Today
Two kinds of people carry this verse differently. Those who have been trying to earn a place with God can lay down the ledger, since the entry was never within our means to arrange. Those praying for someone who seems unreachable can keep praying, since the category of hopeless cases is smaller than it looks. Practically, it changes how we speak about ourselves and others. We can stop describing a friend, a marriage, or an addiction as beyond help, and we can bring the specific impossibility to God by name this week rather than carrying it silently.
Reflection & Prayer
Where have we quietly decided that God has run out of options? Name that situation honestly, and hold it beside the sentence Jesus spoke. A prayer: Lord, I have measured my hope by what I can manage, and it has come up short. Teach me to reckon with your power instead. I place in your hands the thing I have written off, and I will watch for what you do. Amen.