Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, Seek, Knock

7:7 “Ask ¹  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ²  will be opened for you. 7:8 For everyone who asks ³  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 7:9 Is ⁴  there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ⁵  7:11 If you then, although you are evil, ⁶  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts ⁷  to those who ask him!

Matthew 18:19

18:19 Again, I tell you the truth, ⁸  if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. ⁹ 

Matthew 10:35-36

10:35 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 10:36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 11:24

11:24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom ¹¹  on the day of judgment than for you!”

Luke 11:9-10

11:9 “So ¹²  I tell you: Ask, ¹³  and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door ¹⁴  will be opened for you. 11:10 For everyone who asks ¹⁵  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door ¹⁶  will be opened.

John 14:13-14

14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, ¹⁷  so that the Father may be glorified ¹⁸  in the Son. 14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

John 15:16

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ¹⁹  and appointed you to go and bear ²⁰  fruit, fruit that remains, ²¹  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

[7:7]  ¹ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[7:7]  ² tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

[7:8]  ³ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.

[7:9]  ⁴ tn Grk “Or is there.”

[7:10]  ⁵ sn The two questions of vv. 9-10 expect the answer, “No parent would do this!”

[7:11]  ⁶ tn The participle ὄντες (ontes) has been translated concessively.

[7:11]  ⁷ sn The provision of the good gifts is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. The teaching as a whole stresses not that we get everything we want, but that God gives the good that we need.

[18:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[18:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “if two of you…agree about whatever they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style, and the pronouns, which change from second person plural to third person plural in the Greek text, have been consistently translated as second person plural.

[10:36]  ¹⁰ tn Matt 10:35-36 are an allusion to Mic 7:6.

[11:24]  ¹¹ sn The allusion to Sodom, the most wicked of OT cities from Gen 19:1-29, shows that to reject the current message is even more serious, and will result in more severe punishment, than the worst sins of the old era. The phrase region of Sodom is in emphatic position in the Greek text.

[11:9]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai, from καγώ [kagw]) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion drawn from the preceding parable.

[11:9]  ¹³ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[11:9]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:10]  ¹⁵ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 9 with the encouragement that God does respond.

[11:10]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”

[14:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “may be praised” or “may be honored.”

[15:16]  ¹⁹ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ²¹ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.