Asking, Seeking and Knocking

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

SUMMARY: Those who serve Him will get what they asked for, but those who do not serve Him will receive nothing. Ask, and it shall be given to you, is said to those who can choose for themselves what is best. Seek, and you shall find, means holding to the truly royal road and not turning aside. Our extra needs and requests belong after the Lord's Prayer. We will not get what we ask if we do not agree together in prayer. So who is the one who asks? It is the one who has obeyed Jesus when He says, "If you stand praying, believe that you receive, and you will receive." The Lord is comparing an earthly father with the eternal and generous love of God the Father, the one who loves his neighbor would pray and work so that his neighbor may have the same blessings as he does. Christians never do to others what they would not want to happen to themselves. We have a law that says the measure of righteousness is to treat our neighbor as ourselves. We should do what is right and what we love and are glad to have done to us as well. In this command, its matching opposite is also clearly included: "And as you would that men should not do to you, so should you also not do to them likewise." If someone succeeds in keeping the two commandments, he fulfills the whole law and the prophets. Hermas: He says to me, put away doubting from you and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord. Do not say to yourself, "How can I ask of the Lord and receive from Him since I have sinned so much against Him?" Do not think like that. Instead, with all your heart, turn to the Lord and ask of Him without doubting. Then you will know the great number of His tender mercies. You will know that He will never leave you but will fulfill what your soul asks for. For He is not like people who remember the wrongs done against them. He Himself does not remember wrongs, and He has compassion on His own creature. Cleanse, therefore, your heart from all the empty things of this world and from the words already mentioned. Ask of the Lord, and you will receive everything. None of your requests will be refused if you ask the Lord without doubting. But if you doubt in your heart, you will receive none of your requests. For those who doubt about God are double-souled, and they do not get even one of their requests. But those who are complete in faith ask for everything, trusting in the Lord, and they receive because they ask without doubting and are not double-souled. For every double-souled person, even if he repents, will be saved only with difficulty. Cleanse your heart, therefore, from all doubt. Put on faith, because it is strong. Trust God that you will receive from Him everything you ask. And if at any time, after you have asked of the Lord, you are slower in getting your request than you expected, do not doubt because you have not quickly received what your soul asked for. For it is always because of some temptation or some sin you do not know about that you are slower in receiving your request. So do not stop making the request of your soul, and you will receive it. But if you grow tired and waver in your request, blame yourself and not Him who does not give to you. Think about this doubting state of mind. It is wicked and senseless. It turns many completely away from the faith, even if they are very strong. For this doubting is the daughter of the devil, and it acts very wickedly toward the servants of God. So despise doubting and master it in everything. Clothe yourself with faith, which is strong and powerful. For faith promises all things and completes all things. But doubt, having no solid faith in itself, fails in every work it tries to do. You see then, he says, that faith is from above, from the Lord, and has great power. But doubt is an earthly spirit coming from the devil and has no power. Serve then what has power, namely faith. Keep away from doubt, which has no power, and you will live to God, and all will live to God whose minds have been set on these things.

HERMAS: "How then," he continued, "can someone like that ask the Lord for anything and receive it if he does not serve him? Those who serve him will receive what they ask for, but those who do not serve him will receive nothing."

TATIAN: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened to him. What father among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? And if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of the fish? And if he asks for an egg, will he hand him a scorpion? If you then, even though you are evil, know which gifts are good and give them to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Whatever you want people to do to you, do the same to them; this is the law and the prophets."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: If someone wants nothing that is not in our power and gets from God what he faithfully asks for, does he not have much, or rather, everything, since he has God as his everlasting treasure? To him that asks, it is said, "will be given," and to him that knocks it will be opened.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The word does not want someone who has believed to be idle, for he says, "Seek, and you shall find," but seeking ends in finding. It drives out empty, foolish talk. It also approves thoughtful reflection that strengthens our faith.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: ask, and it shall be given you. It is said to those who are able, by themselves, to choose what is best. And when we say that the powers of the devil and the unclean spirits plant things into the sinner's soul, I do not need to say more. I will bring one witness, the apostolic Barnabas. He was one of the seventy and a fellow worker of Paul. Barnabas speaks with these words: "Before we believed in God, the dwelling place of our heart was unstable. It was truly a temple built with hands, for it was full of idolatry, and it was a house of demons, because we did what was opposed to God."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: "Seek, and you will find, holding on to the truly royal road and not turning aside."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Faith must not be inactive and alone; it must be accompanied by investigation. I do not say that we should not ask questions at all, for "search and you shall find."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The righteous person will look for the understanding that comes from love. If he hurries to it, he will do well. For it is said, "To him that knocks, it shall be opened. Ask, and it shall be given to you." The words "the violent that storm the kingdom" do not mean people who win by arguing speeches. Instead, it means people who keep living a right life and keep praying without stopping. These are said to take it by force, wiping away the stains left by their earlier sins.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Now, giving thanks and asking for the conversion of our neighbors is the work of the Christian. The Lord also prayed this way: He gave thanks for completing His ministry. He prayed that as many people as possible might reach knowledge. He prayed that, in those who are saved by salvation through knowledge, God might be glorified. He also prayed that the One who alone is good and alone Savior might be acknowledged through the Son from age to age.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: His whole life is prayer and talking with God, and if he is clean from sins, he will certainly get what he wants. For God says to the righteous man, "Ask, and I will give to you; think, and I will do." If what he asks is helpful, he will receive it at once; and if it is harmful, he will never ask for it; therefore, he will not receive it, so it will be as he wants. But if someone says to us that some sinners also get what they ask for, we should say that this rarely happens because of God's righteous goodness, and it is granted to those who are able to do good to others. As a result, the gift is not given for the sake of the one who asked for it; instead, God's plan, seeing ahead that someone would be saved through Him, makes the favor righteous again. And to those who are worthy, things that are truly good are given, even without their asking. Whenever then someone is righteous, not because he has to be and not out of fear or hope, but by free choice—this is called the royal road—the royal race travels it, but the side paths are slippery and steep. If, then, someone takes away fear and honor, I do not know whether the famous philosophers who use such freedom of speech will keep enduring afflictions.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The human ideal of self-control, meaning what Greek philosophers teach, says that a person should fight desire and not be ruled by it, so that desire does not lead to action. But our ideal is not to feel desire at all. Our goal is not that, while a man feels desire, he should overcome it. Our goal is that he should be self-controlled even about desire itself. This purity cannot be reached in any other way except by God's grace. That is why He said, "Ask, and it shall be given you." Moses also received this grace, even though he was still in his weak human body. Because of this, for forty days he felt neither thirst nor hunger. Just as it is better to be healthy than for a sick man to talk about health, so it is better to be light than to discuss light. And true purity is better than the kind taught by the philosophers. Where there is light, there is no darkness. But where there is inner desire, even if it goes no further than desire and does not lead to any bodily action, a person still joins in thought with the thing he desires, even though that thing is not present.

TERTULLIAN: I now come to the point that is argued by both our own brothers and sisters, and by the heretics. Our brothers and sisters use it as an excuse to start curious investigations. The heretics press it in order to bring in the over-careful doubts of their unbelief. It is written, they say, "Seek, and you shall find." Let us remember when the Lord said this. I think it was at the very beginning of His teaching. At that time, everyone still had doubts about whether He was the Christ. Even Peter had not yet declared Him to be the Son of God, and John the Baptist had actually stopped feeling sure about Him. So it made good sense that it was said then, "Seek, and you shall find," when people still needed to ask questions about One who was not yet known. Besides, this was said with respect to the Jews. The whole point of this rebuke belongs to them, because they had a revelation where they could seek Christ. They have, He says, Moses and Elijah, meaning the Law and the Prophets, which preach Christ. Also, in another place, He plainly says, "Search the Scriptures, in which you expect to find salvation, for they testify of Me." That is what "Seek, and you shall find" means. It is also clear that the next words apply to the Jews: "Knock, and it shall be opened to you." The Jews had once been in covenant with God, but later they were cast off because of their sins, and they began to be without God. The Gentiles, on the other hand, had never been in covenant with God. They were only as "a drop from a bucket" and "as dust from the threshing floor," and they were always "outside the door." Now, how can someone who was always outside knock at a place where he never was? What door does he know when he has never passed through any door, either by entering or by being thrown out? Is it not more likely that the one who knows he once lived inside and was pushed out is the one who found the door and knocked there? In the same way, "Ask, and you shall receive" is properly said to someone who knew whom he should ask. It is also said to someone to whom some promise had been given, that is, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. But the Gentiles knew nothing about Him and nothing about any of His promises. Therefore He spoke to Israel when He said, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He had not yet "cast to the dogs the children's bread." He had not yet told them to "go into the way of the Gentiles." Only at the end does He instruct them to "go and teach all nations and baptize them" when they were soon to receive "the Holy Ghost, the Comforter," who should guide them into all the truth. This also leads to the same conclusion. If the apostles, who were appointed to be teachers to the Gentiles, were themselves to have the Comforter as their teacher, then it was even less necessary to say to us, "Seek, and you shall find." Our instruction was to come to us without searching, through the apostles, and to the apostles themselves through the Holy Ghost. All the Lord's sayings are presented for all people. They have come to us through the ears of the Jews. Still, most of them were spoken to Jewish people. So they were not instruction mainly meant for us, but rather an example.

TERTULLIAN: However, the Lord, who sees ahead and knows what people need, spoke separately after giving his rule of prayer. He said, "Ask, and you will receive." Also, there are requests people make based on each person's situation, so our extra needs have the right to be included. We should begin with the proper and usual prayers as a foundation, so to speak. Then we can build on that with more requests, but we must remember the Master's commands.

ORIGEN: Now connect the saying, "Seek and you shall find," with the man who is looking for fine pearls. Also connect this saying, "Everyone that seeks finds." What are you seeking, or what does everyone who seeks find? I dare to answer, pearls, and the pearl that the man has who has given up all things and counted them as loss. For which, Paul says, "I have counted all things but loss that I may win Christ." By "all things," he means the fine pearls, and by "that I may win Christ," he means the one very precious pearl.

ORIGEN: If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them. But if, whenever two of us agree on earth about anything we ask, it will be done for us by the Father of Jesus who is in heaven, then it is clear what follows. When this is not done for us by the Father in heaven about anything we ask, then those two have not really been in agreement on earth. And this is the reason why we are not heard when we pray. We do not agree with one another on earth, not in our opinions and not in our way of life.

ORIGEN: Do you then, my lord and my son, mainly pay close attention to reading the divine scriptures? Yes, pay close attention. We need great care when we read the divine writings so that we do not speak or form ideas about them in a careless way. As you pay close attention to reading the divine book with faithful expectation that pleases God, knock at its closed doors. It will be opened to you by the doorkeeper, about whom Jesus said, "To him the porter opens." As you pay close attention to the divine reading, look for the meaning of the divine writings in the right way. Do this with steady faith in God. This meaning is hidden from many people. However, do not be satisfied with only knocking and seeking. Prayer is the most necessary thing for understanding divine things. The Savior urged us to pray when He said not only, "Knock, and it shall be opened; seek, and you shall find," but also, "Ask, and it shall be given to you."

ANONYMOUS: So then, let us wake ourselves up as much as we can, beloved brothers and sisters. Let us break away from the sleep of laziness and false safety. Let us stay alert so we can obey the Lord's commands. Let us, with all our hearts, look for what we have lost so that we can find it. Because "to him that seeks," the Scripture says, "it shall be given," and "to him that knocks, it shall be opened." Cyprian: Let us ask, and we will receive. And if there is delay and slowness in our receiving, since we have seriously offended, let us knock. Because "to him that knocks also it will be opened," if only our prayers, our groanings, and our tears knock at the door. With these, we must be urgent and keep going, even though prayer is offered with one mind. This is what most led and pushed me to write this letter to you. You ought to know, since the Lord has been willing to show and reveal it, that it was said in a vision: "Ask, and you will obtain." Then, afterward, the people who were there were told to pray for certain persons who were pointed out to them. But in their requests there were clashing voices and disagreeing wills. This greatly displeased him who had said, "Ask, and you will obtain." The people's disagreement was not in harmony. There was not a simple, single agreement of the brothers and sisters and a united unity. For it is written, "God who makes men to be of one mind in a house." And we read in the Acts of the Apostles, "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." And the Lord has commanded us with His own voice, saying, "This is My command, that you love one another." And again, "I say to you, that if two of you will agree on earth as touching anything that you ask, it will be done for you of My Father, which is in heaven." But if two people with one mind can do so much, what could be done if everyone agreed? But if, according to the peace our Lord gave us, there were agreement among all brothers and sisters, we would have already received from God's mercy what we are seeking. We would not be wavering so long in this danger to our salvation and our faith. Yes, truly, these evils would not have come on the brothers and sisters if the brotherhood had been alive with one spirit. For this was also shown: the father of a family was sitting there. A young man was also sitting at his right hand. He was worried and somewhat sad with a kind of anger. He was holding his chin in his right hand. He sat there with a sorrowful look. But another person, standing on the left, carried a net. He threatened to throw it in order to catch the people standing around. When the one who saw this wondered what it meant, he was told that the young man sitting on the right was sad and grieved because his commands were not being obeyed. But the one on the left was glad because he had a chance to receive from the father of the family the power to destroy. This was shown long before the storm of this destruction began. And we have seen what was shown come true. While we despise the Lord's commands and while we do not keep the saving rules of the law that He has given, the enemy was receiving power to do harm. He was overwhelming by throwing his net those who were not fully armed and were too careless to resist. Let us pray urgently and groan with continual requests. For know, beloved brothers and sisters, that not long ago I was also corrected about this in a vision. It said that we were sleepy in our prayers and did not pray with alertness. Tertullian: Therefore, the one whom you call the Creator recognize also as Father. It is He who knows what His children need. For when they asked for bread, He gave the manna from heaven, and when they wanted meat, He sent them plenty of quails. He did not give a serpent for a fish, nor a scorpion for an egg. Against Marcion.

CYPRIAN: The Lord also, in His gospel, shows the love of God the Father. He says, "What man among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him?" Here the Lord compares an earthly father with the eternal and generous love of God the Father. Even if an evil father on earth is deeply offended by a sinful and evil son, he may still respond with love. If he later sees that same son changed for the better, and the sins of his former life are put away, and he is brought back to self-control and good character, and to the training of innocence through the sorrow of his repentance, then the Father both rejoices and gives thanks. With the eager joy of a father, he embraces the one who has been restored, even though he had thrown him out before. How much more does the one true Father, good, merciful, and loving, Himself goodness and mercy and love, rejoice in the repentance of His own sons? He does not threaten punishment for those who are now repenting or mourning and crying. Instead, He promises pardon and mercy. So, in the gospel, the Lord calls those who mourn blessed, because the one who mourns calls forth mercy. But the one who is stubborn and proud piles up wrath against himself, and also the punishment of the coming judgment. Therefore, dearest brother, we have decided this: those who do not repent, and who do not show sorrow for their sins with their whole heart, and with a clear confession of their grief, must be completely kept from the hope of communion and peace if they start to beg for them in the middle of sickness and danger. This is because it is not repentance for sin that drives them to ask, but the warning of near death, and a person is not worthy to receive comfort in death if he has not thought about the fact that he was going to die. The Didache: The way of life, then, is this: first, you shall love God who made you; second, your neighbor as yourself; and whatever you would not want to happen to you, you also do not do to another.

JUSTIN MARTYR: Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoke well when He summed up all righteousness and devotion in two commandments. They are these: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and your neighbor as yourself. A man who loves God with all his heart and with all his strength is filled with a God-fearing mind. He will not honor any other god, and since God wants it, he would honor that angel who is loved by the same Lord and God. A man who loves his neighbor as himself will want for him the same good things that he wants for himself, and no man will want evil things for himself. Therefore, the one who loves his neighbor would pray and work so that his neighbor may have the same blessings as himself.

ARISTIDES: Christians love their neighbors. They judge fairly, and they never do to others what they would not want to happen to themselves.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Here, then, is a complete rule and a call to a life that includes everything. As you would want people to do to you, do the same to them. We can understand the commandments in two, as the Lord says: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself. Then from these he concludes, On this hang the law and the prophets. Also, to the rich young ruler who asked, What good thing shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life? He answered, You know the commandments? And when the man replied, Yes, Jesus said, This do, and you shall be saved. The love of the instructor is especially clear. It is shown in many health-giving commandments, so that understanding may come more easily, because the Scriptures are so full and so well arranged. We have the Ten Commandments given by Moses. They point to a basic principle that is simple and of one kind. They name sins in a way that leads to salvation. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not worship idols. You shall not corrupt boys. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. And so on. These things must be obeyed, and also whatever else is commanded when reading the Bible.

ATHENAGORAS: Our standard is not based on human laws, which a bad person can avoid. Instead, we have a law that says true righteousness means treating our neighbor the way we treat ourselves.

BARDAISAN: people have not been commanded to do anything except what they are able to do. The commandments set before us are only two. They fit with freedom and fairness. One is that we should stay away from everything that is wrong, and that we would not want done to ourselves. The other is that we should do what is right, and what we love and are glad to have done to us as well. Who then is so weak that he cannot avoid stealing, or avoid lying, or avoid acts of sexual sin, or avoid hatred and deception? All these things are under the control of the human mind. They do not depend on the strength of the body, but on the choice of the soul. Even if a person is poor, and sick, and old, and has disabled limbs, he is able to avoid doing all these things. And just as he is able to avoid doing these things, he is also able to love, and to bless, and to speak the truth, and to pray for what is good for everyone he knows. And if he is healthy and able to work, he is also able to give from what he has. Also, he can use the strength of his body to support someone who is sick and weak. This too he can do.

TERTULLIAN: "And just as you want people to do to you, do the same to them." In this command, there is no doubt that the matching command is also included. "And just as you want people not to do to you, you should also not do the same to them."

CYPRIAN: when he taught what eternal life is, he included the sacrament of life in a broad and divine short statement. He said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know you, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Also, when he wanted to gather from the law and the prophets the first and greatest commandments, he said, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength." This is the first commandment, and the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And again, "Whatsoever good things you would that men should do to you, do even so to them." For this is the law and the prophets.

ARCHELAUS: And that fits well with the truth we have learned now: if someone succeeds in keeping the two commandments, that person fulfills the whole law and the prophets.