Teach Us to Pray, Part 3

Hello everyone.  

After telling a parable of the bold friend's request in Luke 13:5-8, Jesus applies it with three imperatives.  Ask, seek and knock.  In The King Jesus Translation , Dr. G. Steve Kinnard translates these imperative phrases this way, “Keep on asking", "Keep on seeking", and "Keep on knocking." 

I like Dr. Kinnard's translation and it led me to think.  I remembered learning about something in my Intermediate Greek class.  There are different uses of the present tense.  According to Daniel B. Wallace, one of these uses was called "iterative."  It means a repeated action.  Given the context of the parable, this translation makes a lot of sense.  We, as disciples of Jesus, are to be continually asking, seeking and knocking. 

Darrell Bock says that in these three imperatives we are receiving three invitations: (Bock, 1060-1061)

• Αἰτεῖτε (Aiteite) - Ask, an invitation to pray.

• Ζητεῖτε (Zayteite) - Seek, an invitation to pursue God and His will. 

• Κρούετε (Krouete) - Knock, an invitation to enter into God’s presence. 

Each action has a result that comes with it:

• In asking, we will receive. 

• In seeking, we will find.

• In knocking, the door will be opened. 

In verses 11-13 Jesus continues, telling us of his Father, who wants to answer our prayers.  He talks to those among them who are fathers, and asks them whether they would give a snake or scorpion to one of their children who asked for a fish or an egg. Think about it, what kind of father, when asked for general sustenance, would give his child a venomous animal? That would be a terrible father, and God is not a terrible father.  He is a good and kind father. Who wants to answer our prayers.  (That does not mean that He grants our every desire.  Even here, Jesus is not saying that.) 

Jesus makes the point that these men, even though they are sinful, know how to take care of their children, how much more does God know.  (The word sinful is translated from the Greek word πονηροὶ (ponēroi), which can be translated as “wicked, evil, bad, degenerate.” I don’t think Jesus was trying to be mean here, but his audience understood that compared to God, this is what they were.) 

God is a good father, who gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask. If we ask for the Holy Spirit to sustain us, would He send us a demon, instead? He wants to give the Spirit to us. Bock says this about it: “The specific good gift Luke has in mind is the Holy Spirit.  Since the prayer comes from a disciple, the request is for God’s presence, guidance and intimacy.  God will provide a specific good thing for his disciple.  The one who walks with God should be bold and diligent in asking for such benefits”. (Bock, 1062-1063.)  Think about the ‘shameless audacity’ that I wrote about in my last post.  Can we ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit with shameless audacity?  Can we seek to be in His presence, or to have His guidance like that?  This is how Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray.  Let us all, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking for the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Tom 

G. Steve Kinnard, The King Jesus Translation, Luke 13:9. 

        Daniel B. Wallace, The Basics of New Testament Syntax, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 2000. 

Darrell Bock, Luke: Volume 2: 9:51-24:53, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Academic, 1996.