Context Matters: Ask, Seek, Knock

When you hear those 3 short words—ask, seek, knock—what is the first thing to enter your mind? If you cross paths with the statement, “Ask, and it will be given to you,” you don’t even need the context, right? You know beyond a shadow of doubt that it’s talking about prayer. Can’t we just get right to application? Why bother asking the interpretive question: What does it mean?

Because context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled proverbial sayings—we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages say something slightly different from what we’ve always assumed.

The Text

What does “ask, seek, knock” mean? My answer to the question depends on which text we’re looking at. For the sake of this post, I’m focusing on Jesus’ words in Matt 7:7-11, deep within the Sermon on the Mount.

Marco Verch (2017), Creative Commons

The Problem

The problem is that the paragraph also appears, nearly verbatim, in Luke 11:9-13. And the context there clearly refers to prayer:

• “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).
• “And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say…'” (Luke 11:2-4).
• “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask for him!” (Luke 11:13).

So I would be wrong to say that “ask, seek, knock” is not about prayer. Certainly it’s about prayer…in Luke 11.

And so we take this clear teaching on prayer in Luke’s gospel, and we assume Matthew means the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. I’ve even seen commentaries on Matthew that take “the Holy Spirit” from Luke 11:13 and import it into Matt 7:11, as though “the Holy Spirit” must be the “good things” Jesus wants us to ask for in Matt 7.

Now I affirm that Scripture interprets Scripture. But we must not forget that each Scripture has a context. We have no trouble remembering this fact when we try to reconcile Paul’s teaching on justification by faith with James’s teaching on justification by works. Similarly, Matthew 7:11 meant something to the original audience of Matthew’s gospel, who probably didn’t yet have access to Luke’s gospel. So how would they have understood Matt 7:7-11 within its own context?

An Analogy

Different biblical authors can use the same event for a different purpose. We have endeavored to show this fact with respect to the feeding of the 5,000 and the resurrection of Jesus.

And if they can use the same event for a different purpose, why can’t they also use the same sayings for a different purpose?

The Sermon

I’ve already argued for reading the full Sermon on the Mount as a single speech. And I’ve explained the sermon’s big picture, along with the main theme of Matt 7:1-12: reciprocity.

Matt 7:7-11 fits squarely within this train of thought:

• Matt 7:1: First reaction to tension or conflict among kingdom citizens: Don’t judge. Let it go.
  • Matt 7:2: Your standards of sizing others up will be reciprocated against you. Implication: Be as generous as possible in your assessment, so others will be generous in their assessments of you!
• Matt 7:3-4: If you can’t let it go, your second reaction is to evaluate yourself first.
  • Matt 7:5: Otherwise, you will not be able to see your sibling’s issue clearly.
• Matt 7:6: Not everyone is a fellow kingdom citizen. Those outside the kingdom are not strong candidates for correction.
• Matt 7:7-11: [The text at hand.]
• Matt 7:12: Conclusion: Do to others what you wish they would do to you.

Catch This Train

So, when Jesus tells you to keep the principle of reciprocity in mind (doing to others what you want them to do to you), and he applies it to cases where we find ourselves in the midst of disagreement…

Wouldn’t it be marvelous if he gave us some direction about how to resolve those disagreements?

Now that I’ve discerned that my antagonist is a brother (Matt 7:3-4) and not an outsider (Matt 7:6), and I’ve confessed my part in the conflict and have taken full responsibility for it (Matt 7:5a)…how do I now help my fellow Christian to get the speck out of his or her eye (Matt 7:5b)?

Jesus’ conclusion is clear enough: I should approach this person in the way I would want him to approach me (Matt 7:12). So how would I want someone to approach me if they’ve got a problem with me they can’t overlook (Matt 7:1)?

• I would want them to ask for my perspective on the matter instead of making declarations about how terrible they believed my motives to be.
• I would want them to seek to understand my perspective and not merely dismiss it as foolish, immature, or idolatrous.
• I would want them to knock on my door, gently respecting how sensitive the issue might be to me. I would not want them to force their way in with their side of the story.

So perhaps I ought to approach others in the same way I would prefer to be approached.

What the Father has to Do With It

As a father, I understand these principles of gentle and compassionate reciprocation. If my son asks for bread, I won’t give him a stone (Matt 7:9). If my son asks for a fish, I won’t give him a serpent (Matt 7:10).

And my Father in heaven is even better than I am at giving good gifts when I ask (Matt 7:11)! So we do have, after all, an oblique reference to prayer. But this prayer in Matt 7:11 is not the paragraph’s main idea. It simply supports the larger argument that it will go better for you if you ask questions instead of making demands.

Jesus does something here that he’s already done in chapter 6 of this sermon (which Ryan carefully explained a few days ago): He links our relationship with God to our relationships with one another. In Matt 6:14-15, he explains that a failure to forgive others is evidence that we have not been forgiven by God. And now in Matt 7:11 he suggests that if we can trust God to give us good things when we ask, and we can trust our evil selves to give good gifts to the children we love, so we can trust God’s people to give us good things when we ask as well.

Conclusion

What better thing can we ask others for than peace, unity, understanding, and mutual respect, especially when we have offended one another?

In other words, the way to remove the speck of a fellow Christian is not to come at it with a shovel and dig it out. You do it by asking questions, seeking to understand the person’s point of view, and knocking on the issue respectfully until the person is willing to open the door and let you in. Isn’t this exactly how you wish people would treat you when they have a problem with you?

Context matters.

Note: I readily admit I could be wrong about this. Perhaps Jesus really is changing the subject to prayer in Matt 7:7-11, and then again to a broad principle for relationships in Matt 7:12. As one example, perhaps John Stott is right when he says, “Matthew 7 consists of a number of apparently self-contained paragraphs” (Stott, J. R. W., & Stott, J. R. W. (1985). The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 174). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.). The issue is that Stott—an otherwise keen observer of the Bible’s train of thought—does not in this case argue his point from the text; he merely assumes it and exposits the text accordingly.

So I wrote this post in an effort to allow the genre and train of thought—more than widespread assumption—to drive interpretation.

Thanks to Adewale Odedina in Nigeria for suggesting I tackle these verses.