“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Parallel Translations
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“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
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Yf the sonne shall axe breed of eny of you that is a father: wyll he geve him a stone? Or yf he axe fisshe wyll he for a fysshe geve him a serpent?
Or yf he axe an egge: wyll he offer him a scorpion?
Yf ye then which are evyll canne geve good giftes vnto youre chyldren how moche more shall the father of heaven geve an holy sprete to them that desyre it of him?
Show all 3 translations
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If a sonne shall aske bread of any of you that is a father, will he giue him a stone? or if hee aske a fish, will he for a fish giue him a serpent?
Or if hee aske an egge, will hee giue him a scorpion?
If yee then which are euill, can giue good giftes vnto your children, howe much more shall your heauenly Father giue the holy Ghost to them, that desire him?
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (33)
- Matthew 7:11 (v13) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to…
- Isaiah 44:3-4 (v13) For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on…
- Romans 8:32 (v13) He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- John 4:10 (v13) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would…
- Proverbs 1:23 (v13) Turn at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make known my words to you.
Show all 32 cross-references
- Acts 2:38 (v13) Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will…
- John 7:37-39 (v13) Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who…
- Joel 2:28 (v13) “It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will…
- Ezekiel 36:27 (v13) I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.
- Matthew 7:9 (v11) Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
- Isaiah 49:15 (vv11, 13) “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not…
- Matthew 6:14 (v13) “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
- John 3:5-6 (v13) Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born…
- Romans 5:9-10 (v13) Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. For if while we were enemies, we were…
- Matthew 6:32 (v13) For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
- Psalms 51:5 (v13) Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.
- Luke 11:2 (v13) He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on…
- Luke 15:30-32 (v13) But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “He said to him, ‘Son,…
- 2 Corinthians 3:9-11 (v13) For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For most certainly that which has…
- Matthew 5:16 (v13) Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 5:45 (v13) that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just…
- Romans 7:18 (v13) For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is…
- Hebrews 12:9-10 (v13) Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the…
- Matthew 6:30 (v13) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you…
- Romans 5:17 (v13) For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the…
- Genesis 8:21 (v13) Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the…
- Job 15:14-16 (v13) What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he puts no trust in his holy…
- Ezekiel 2:6 (v12) You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among…
- Luke 10:19 (v12) Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
- Revelation 9:10 (v12) They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails they have power to harm men for five months.
- Genesis 6:5-6 (v13) Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually…
- Titus 3:3 (v13) For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating…
32 distinct cross-references across this passage (33 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11 If a son shall ask bread of any…
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Ver. 11. For every one, &c.] Sozomen saith of Apollonius, that he never asked anything of God that he obtained not. Hic homo potuit apud Deum quod voluit, said one concerning Luther; he could have what he would of God.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v11 The second parable which our Saviour makes use of,…
The second parable which our Saviour makes use of, is that of a father to his children; Christ represents the care and kindness of God towards us by the affections which earthly parents bear to their natural children, who though they be many times evil themselves, yet are not wont to deny their children necessary good things, when they dutifully and decently beg them at their hands: If ye being evil - how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit; that is, the continual presence and influence of his Holy Spirit to all the purposes of guidance and direction, of grace and assistance, of comfort and support, in our Christian course.
Learn hence, that the presence and assistance of God’s Holy Spirit, to enable us to do what God requires, shall never be wanting to those that desire it, and endeavor after it. But we must always remember that the assistance of God’s Holy Spirit, though it be offered and tendered to us, yet it is not forced upon us; for if we beg the Holy Spirit and his assistance, but refuse to make use of it; or if we cry to him for his help to mortify our lusts, but do not put forth our own endeavors; we forfeit the divine assistance, and God will certainly withdraw his Holy Spirit from us.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he…
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion.... Of which there are three sorts; some are terrestrial, or land scorpions, scorpions of the earth, a kind of serpents, very venomous and mischievous, to whom the wicked Jews are compared, Eze 2:6 and the locusts in Rev 9:3 others are airy, or flying scorpions, a sort of fowl; and others are sea scorpions; of the fish kind: it is not easy to say which of them is here meant. There is an herb which is called (n), "the scorpion": it leaves are like unto a scorpion, as the Jewish commentators say (o). This is observed with the same view as the former. By it may be meant here, either the fish that is so called, since a fish is mentioned before; or rather, the land scorpion, which is of the serpent kind; this brings forth little worms, in the form of eggs, as (p) Pliny says: and it is said, that a scorpion put into an empty eggshell, has been used to be given to persons, whose death has been desired; which it bursting from, at once strikes and kills: but what father would do so to a child!
(n) Misn. Erubin, c. 2. sect. 6. (o) Maimon. & Bartonora in lb, (p) Lib. 11. c. 25.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v13 How much more shall your heavenly Father - How…
How much more shall your heavenly Father - How beautiful is the gradation! A friend: a father: God! Give the Holy Spirit - The best of gifts, and that which includes every good gift.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12–13 Verse 12. Offer him a scorpion?] σκορπιον. The Greek…
Verse 12. Offer him a scorpion?] σκορπιον. The Greek etymologists derive the name from σκορπιζειν τον ιον, scattering the poison. But is there any similitude between a scorpion and an egg, that the one might be given and taken in place of the other? We know there is the utmost similitude between some fish, especially those of the eel kind, and serpents: and that there are stones exactly similar to bread in their appearance; from which we may conjecture that our Lord intended to convey the same idea of similitude between an egg and a scorpion. Perhaps the word scorpion here may be used for any kind of serpent that proceeds from an egg, or the word egg may be understood: the common snake is oviparous; it brings forth a number of eggs, out of which the young ones are hatched. If he asks an egg, will he, for one that might nourish him, give him that of a serpent. But Bochart states, that the body of a scorpion is like to an egg, especially if it be a white scorpion; which sort Nicander, AElian, Avicenna, and others, maintain to be the first species. Nor do scorpions differ much in size from an egg in Judea, if we may credit what the monks of Messua say, that there are about Jerusalem, and through all Syria, great scorpions, c. Hieroz. l. iv. cap. xxix. col. 641, edit. 1692. To this it may be said, there may be such a similitude, between a white scorpion and an egg, if the legs and tail of the former be taken away but how there can be a resemblance any other way, I know not. It is, however, a fact, that the alligator and crocodile come from eggs; two of those lie now before me, scarcely so large as the egg of the goose, longer, but not so thick. Now, suppose reference be made to one such egg, in which the young crocodile is hatched, and is ready to burst from its enclosure, would any father give such an egg to a hungry child? No. If the child asked an egg, he would not, instead of a proper one, give him that of the crocodile or the alligator, in which the young serpent was hatched, and from which it was just ready to be separated.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 Luk 11:11-12. If a son shall ask bread of…
Luk 11:11-12. If a son shall ask bread of any of you — Further to assist your faith on these occasions, reflect upon the workings of your own hearts toward your offspring. Let any of you, that is a father, and knows the heart of a father, a father’s affection to, and care for, a child, say, if his son ask bread to satisfy his hunger, will he give him a stone — In the shape of a loaf? or, If he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent — Which has some resemblance of a fish; or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion — Which, instead of nourishing him, might sting him to death?
Naturalists tell us, that the body of a scorpion is very like an egg, especially if the scorpion be of the white kind, which is the first species mentioned by Ælian, Avicenna, and others. Bochart has produced testimonies to prove that the scorpions in Judea were about the bigness of an egg; and therefore there, a white scorpion being very like an egg, might to children, who were not capable of distinguishing the one from the other, be offered in place thereof, if the person so doing meant that it should sting and destroy them. These different instances are mentioned by Jesus, in order that the doctrine which he is here inculcating might make the stronger impression upon his hearers. See on Mat 7:9-11.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v13 the Holy Spirit--in Matthew (Mat 7:11), "good gifts"; the…
the Holy Spirit--in Matthew (Mat 7:11), "good gifts"; the former, the Gift of gifts descending on the Church through Christ, and comprehending the latter.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12–13 12. A scorpion—Most scorpions in Palestine are black and…
12. A scorpion—Most scorpions in Palestine are black and long, looking like a lobster and not like an egg. But Burckhardt and other old writers say that there was a white scorpion which when folded up had the latter resemblance.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On v13 13. give the Holy Spirit] St Matthew has the…
13. give the Holy Spirit] St Matthew has the much more general expression “good things” (Luk_7:11). The Good Father will give to His children neither what is deadly, nor what is unfit for food.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v13 (13) How much more shall your heavenly Father .…
(13) How much more shall your heavenly Father . . .?—We note a change here also, the one highest gift of the “Holy Spirit” taking the place of the wider and less definite “good things” in Mat_7:11. The variation is significant, as belonging to a later stage of our Lord’s teaching, and especially as spoken probably to some of the Seventy, who were thus taught to ask boldly for the Spirit which was to make them in very deed a company of prophets. (See Note on Luk_10:1.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 If a son shall ask bread of any of…
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? The Master keeps on adducing instances of the loving Fatherhood of God. All the while men were thinking hard things of him and his sovereignty. "Children," urged the Savior, "such things, such a cruel part as you would in your dark sad thoughts ascribe to the loving heavenly Father, is simply unthinkable in the case of earthly parents. They never really turn a deaf ear to their children"s pleading; think you that your Father which is in heaven will refuse to listen to you when you indeed call on him?
Vers. 11-13. The argument from the human fatherhood to the Divine.
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Jesus Christ revealed the Father to men, and he revealed him as the Father of men. He taught us to address him as such (ver. 2), and to feel toward him as such. He would have us realize that God sustains to us a relationship very closely indeed corresponding to that which a human father sustains to his child. In the text he teaches us that this analogy is so close and so real that we may draw practical inferences from the lower to the higher one. The particular conclusion which our Lord draws is
I FROM OUR GIVING TO HIS. No human father would give his son a stone when appeal was made to him for bread, etc.; would put him off with a response which would only be a bitter disappointment. Such a one would be not only an exception to his kind, but would be guilty of an act that would be simply monstrous in general regard. If, then, we, "being evil," cannot withhold "good gifts" from our children, how much less will the heavenly Father deny his blessings to us, his sons and daughters! What we, with our finite and limited love, could not refuse, it is certain that he, in his infinite goodness and boundless pity, will readily bestow. There are two blessings which we particularly want of God our heavenly Father. provision for our temporal well-being, and succor for our soul. We cannot live without these. Our bodily nature craves the one, our spiritual nature needs the other. Bread we must have, and all that "bread" stands for, that we may live happily and serviceably as those that tread the path of mortal life. But "man cannot live on bread alone;" he needs those higher and holier gifts which nourish the soul, which feed the flame of piety and zeal, which strengthen him for spiritual conflict, and give him the victory over his worst enemies. For these two great blessings we may confidently ask God, and he will assuredly grant them. It is much more certain that God our Father will provide for our real necessities, and will strengthen our souls with all needful Divine influences, than it is certain that the kindest human father will not mock his beloved children when they appeal for his bounty. With holy boldness, then, may we go to the throne of grace, and pray for all those things that are requisite alike for the body as for the soul. But we may carry this argument with which our Lord has supplied us into other spheres, and may thus "assure our hearts" concerning him.
II FROM OUR FORGING TO HIS. We may have a difficulty in realizing the great truth that God is willing to forgive us all our sin and to reinstate us fully in his favor. But if as sons we have been forgiven by our parents, or if as parents we have forgiven our children and taken them back into the fullness of our favor, we may argue safely from the human fatherhood to the Divine. If we, "being evil," with such small and scanty magnanimity as we possess, can forgive freely, how much more can he he whose ways of mercy are as much higher than ours as the heaven is higher than the earth!
III FROM OUR GUIDANCE TO HIS. How impossible it is for any of us that is a father to refuse guidance to one of our children when he comes to ask it of us! Only the most heartless, the most unfatherly, could think of declining it. And since that is so with us, in all our human imperfection, how positive it is that the Divine Father will guide us by the shaping of his providence, or by the prompting of his Spirit, when we see not our way, but make known our request unto him to "lead us all our journey through"!
IV FROM OUR SOLICITUDE TO HIS. One of the very greatest questions we propose to ourselves is this Does God care enough for each one of us to renew our life in another realm when we leave this world? Jesus Christ"s declaration is the answer to this question. (Joh_5:24-29) But we find strong, reassuring help here. How much do we care for the continuance of the life of our children? How much do we not care? What words will express our parental solicitude that death should not strike them down, that they should live, and that their life should be large, free, blessed? If that is our concern for them, what will not God our Father desire for us? What will he not care that we do not perish in the arms of death, but have everlasting life in the embrace of his own heavenly love? C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v13 How much more shall your heavenly Father give the…
Luk_11:13
How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit
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The gift of the Holy Spirit
I.
WHAT IS MEANT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
1. He is a person, and may be grieved.
2. He intercedes for believers.
3. He guides, hears, speaks, and shows things to come.
4. He is a Divine person, and truly God.
(1) Sin against Him is unpardonable.
(2) Lying to Him is lying to God.
(3) Temples of the Holy Ghost are temples of God.
5. The Holy Ghost is enjoyed by all believers.
(1) Proved from the apostles declaration (Rom_8:9).
(2) Evident from our Lords promise (Joh_7:37-39).
(3) And from the method of communicating salvation (Tit_3:5-6).
II. FOR WHAT PURPOSE THE HOLY GHOST IS GIVEN.
1. As a Spirit of penitence and prayer.
2. As a Spirit of power.
3. As a Spirit of consolation.
4. As a Spirit of purity.
5. As a Spirit of wisdom.
6. As a Spirit of fruitfulness.
III. THE MANNER OF ASKING FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT.
1. They must ask in sincerity.
2. They must ask evangelically.
3. Ask importunately.
4. Ask in faith.
IV. THE WORDS OF OUR TEXT ARE ENCOURAGING TO HOPE. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.
1. Here we notice that mankind are evil. Yet, they know how to give good gifts unto their children.
2. God is His peoples Father.
(1) He is their heavenly Father.
(2) Covenant Father.
(3) Good.
(4) Wise.
(5) Gracious. (T. B. Baker.)
The efficacy of prayer for obtaining the Holy Spirit
The force of which argument depends upon a double comparison, of the quality of the persons giving, and of the nature of the gift.
I. I shall show what is comprehended in this gift of the Holy Spirit, and how great a blessing and benefit it is. St. Matthew expresseth this somewhat differently: How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? (Mat_7:11). Which, compared with the expression here in St. Luke, doth intimate to us, that the Spirit of God is the chief of blessings, or rather the sum of all good things.
II. We shall in the next place consider what kind of asking, in order to the obtaining of this great blessing, is here required by our Saviour, when He says, God will give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. It must have these three qualifications:
1. It must be hearty and sincere, in opposition to formal and hypocritical asking.
2. It must be earnest and fervent, and importunate, in opposition to cold, and faint, and careless asking.
3. It must be in faith, and a confident assurance that God will hear us, in opposition to doubting and distrust.
III. To confirm and illustrate the truth of this proposition, that God is very ready to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.
1. From Gods free promise and declaration. And besides that here in the text, I might produce several others, but I shall mention only one, which is very plain and express, and conceived in terms as large and universal as can well be devised (Jam_1:5).
2. From the comparison here used.
It is a plain and undeniable argument, fitted to all capacities, because it proceeds upon two suppositions which every man must acknowledge to be true.
1. That earthly parents have generally such a natural affection for their children, as does strongly incline them to give them such good things as are necessary and convenient for them, and which will not suffer them, instead of good things, to give them such things as either are no wise useful, or any wise hurtful to them. This is a matter of common, and certain, and sensible experience, which no man can deny.
2. The other supposition, which is as evident in reason as the former is in experience, is this: that God is better than men, and that there is infinitely more goodness in Him than in the best man in the world; because goodness in its most exalted degree and highest perfection is essential to that notion which all men have of God; and this being a common principle, in which men are universally agreed, no man can gainsay it.
But, for the farther illustration of this argument, we will consider a little more particularly the terms of the comparison which our Saviour here useth; our earthly and our heavenly Father; temporal and spiritual good things.
1. Our earthly and our heavenly Father; in which terms the givers are compared together. Now there are three considerations in a giver, which makes him capable of being bountiful, and dispose him to it.
(1) That he have where withal to be liberal, and can part with it without damage and prejudice to himself.
(2) That he be good-natured, and have a mind to give.
(3) That he be related to those to whom he gives, and be concerned in their welfare. Now all these considerations are more eminently in God, and with far greater advantage, than in any father upon earth.
2. Let us compare likewise temporal and spiritual good things; in which terms you have the gifts compared together. So that the whole force of the argument comes to this: that if we believe that earthly parents have any good inclinations towards their children, and are willing to bestow upon them the necessaries of life, we have much more reason to believe that God our heavenly Father is much more ready to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him; whether we consider the quality of the giver, or the nature of the gift.
Application:
1. This is a matter of great encouragement to us under the sense of our own weakness and impotency.
2. Let us earnestly beg of God His Holy Spirit, seeing it is so necessary to us, and God is so ready to bestow this best of gifts upon us.
3. Let us take heed of grieving the Spirit of God, and provoking Him to withdraw Himself from us.
4. Gods readiness to afford the grace and assistance of His Holy Spirit to us, to enable us to the performance of our duty, and the obedience of His laws, makes all wilful sin and disobedience inexcusable. (Archbishop Tillotson.)
Right replies to right requests
In this chapter there is an evident progress. It opens by the disciples asking the Lord to teach them to pray. To that He gave a full and sufficient reply; He prepared them an outline of what complete prayer should be. Then the chapter proceeds a little further to answer a question: we are shown how to pray, but will God really answer us? Is prayer only meant to do good to the suppliant? Does it end with the benefit which it works in us, or does it really affect the heart of God? The answer is given by our Lord with great clearness. We have a parable to show that as importunity does evidently affect men, so importunity will also gain an answer from God, that He will be pleased to give us what we need if we do but know how, with incessant earnestness, to come again and again to Him in prayer. We are assured that asking is attended with receiving, that seeking is attended with finding, that knocking will lead to opening, that it is not a vain thing to pray. The truth here taught is not that God will refuse us evil things if in our mistake we ask for them; that is a truth, but it is not alluded to here; the one statement of this verse is, that prayers for good things will be answered, and that they will not be answered with gifts wearing the mere appearance of good, but with the actual good things desired. That simple thought I shall endeavour to enlarge upon in this mornings discourse.
I. RIGHT PRAYERS, RIGHT ANSWERS. The child asks bread, his father does not give him a stone. We shall have when we pray for needful things, the really needful things themselves, not the imitation of them, but the actual blessings. And if our faith grows a little stronger, and having obtained bread we ask for fish, not absolutely a necessary, but a comfort and a relish; if we make bold to ask for spiritual comforts, consoling gifts and ennobling graces, something over and above what is absolutely needful to save us, our heavenly Father will not mock us by giving us superficial comforts which might be injurious as a serpent; He will give us so much of comfort as we can bear; and it shall be pure, holy, healthy comfort. And if, gathering more confidence still, we ask for an egg, which I take it was in Christs day a rarer luxury, we shall not be deluded by its counterfeit. That is our first point--prayer for good things meets a good answer.
II. Then the question will arise in every heart: It seems then that I have only to ascertain that my prayer is for a really good thing, and I shall have it? Just so, and hence, secondly, THE PRAYER FOR THE BEST THING IS SUREST OF AN ANSWER, for, saith the text, How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?
1. There is no doubt about the Holy Spirit being a good thing; when we therefore ask for Him, for His Divine presence and influence, we may rest assured that God will give it. Make that our first point under this head--God will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask for Him.
2. From the connection in which the text stands, I gather the following remark, namely, that it will truly be the Holy Spirit. Go back again to that first thought. The child asks bread, and does not get a stone; you ask the Holy Spirit, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit.
3. But it appears plainly enough from the text that this Holy Spirit is to be given in answer to prayer. He will give you the real Spirit: no enthusiasm that might mislead you, no fanaticism that might injure you, no self-conceit that might become like a deadly scorpion to you, but His own gentle, truthful, infallible, Holy Spirit He will give to them that ask Him.
III. Now for our last point. THE BEST OF PRAYERS, WHICH IS SURE TO BE HEARD, IS ALSO A MOST COMPREHENSIVE ONE. Turn to the parallel passage in the gospel of Matthew (Mat_7:11). Now what does our text say, How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Is it not clear then that the Holy Spirit is the equivalent for good things, and that, in fact, when the Lord gives us the Holy Spirit He gives us all good things? What a comprehensive prayer then is the prayer for the Spirit of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The good gift
I. THE FACT HERE TAKEN FOR GRANTED--that earthly parents, though evil, know how to give good gifts unto their children. It is not said that parents know how to choose always what is best for their children. Neither would our Lord assert that parental affection is never overpowered by other principles. Long misbehaviour has sometimes induced a father to disinherit his son. Such, and so strong, is natural affection: a principle, necessary indeed for the preservation of the species; and so deeply implanted by our all-wise Creator, that it still survives the wreck of everything else that once was good in man.
II. THE DOCTRINE, FOR THE ILLUSTRATION OF WHICH THIS FACT IS ALLUDED TO. The doctrine is, that your heavenly Father is much more likely to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Now, by following up the comparison which our Lord makes in the text, we shall see abundant reason for concluding, that God is not only as affectionate, but infinitely more so, than any human benefactor. For I may ask, in the first place, with Moses--
1. Is not He thy Father, that hath bought thee? hath He not made thee and established thee? Has not Creation made you His children? and did He make you to destroy you? But you think of your sins! You do well; but think also of the unfathomable mines of love, which those sins have brought to light.
2. What can this heavenly Father bestow on His children more worthy the name of a good gift than His Holy Spirit? He has given His Son; yet even that gift avails us not, till the Spirit be added.
3. Is the spiritual bounty of our heavenly Father limited, like the affection of earthly parents, to those who can prove that they are His children? No--it is far more wide and expansive. It is offered to all that are Hischildren by Creation; without stopping to consider whether they are such by regeneration or no. For here again our Lord makes a change in His language. It is not--How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to His children; but--to them that ask Him. (J. Jowett, M. D.)
The best gift
I. The Holy Spirit is spoken of, in the text, as the best gift which God in His rich bounty can bestow on man. And, if we consider who the Holy Spirit is, and what He does for those who truly believe in Christ, we need not wonder that our Lord should thus speak of this unspeakable gift. He is our Guide, our Comforter, our Sanctifier.
II. It is a plain and easy way which God has appointed for us, to obtain this precious gift: He will give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. We are told in everything by prayer to let our requests be made known mite God. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
The gift of the Holy Spirit
I. OUR PRIVILEGE as the followers of Christ.
1. What is meant by the Holy Spirit.
2. The Holy Ghost is enjoyed by all real Christians.
3. For what purposes He is received by them.
(1) As a Spirit of penitence and prayer.
(2) As a Spirit of power.
(3) As a Spirit of comfort.
(4) As a Spirit of purity.
(5) As a Spirit of wisdom.
(6) As a Spirit of fruitfulness.
II. OUR DUTY. To ask as God requires.
1. Sincerely.
2. Evangelically.
3. Importunately.
4. Believingly.
III. These words also ENCOURAGE OUR HOPE. Application:
1. Recollect your privilege with suitable acts of piety. Such as--self-examination. Do you enjoy this gift as a Spirit of penitence, &c. (2Co_12:5). Humiliation: on account of your enjoying no more of it Jam_4:2; Jam_4:8-10). Holy care: to cherish and improve what Divine influence you enjoy. By obeying Christ (Rev_3:2); and imitating St. Paul (Php_3:13-14).
2. Recollect your duty with perseverance in it (Col_4:2).
3. Recollect your encouragement with steadfast hope--of receiving the Holy Spirit in all His influences; as a Spirit of prayer, penitence, power, &c. (Theological Sketch-book.)
The availability of the Holy Spirit
For every moral virtue, for the first germ of spiritual life, for growth, development, usefulness and increase we are dependent on the Holy Spirit. The great want of the times.
I. Is THE HOLY SPIRIT AVAILABLE? Can His presence be secured? Surely.
1. If we consider the character of God, His universal beneficence, His desire to make His sentient and intelligent creatures happy, we need have no doubt.
2. This argument gains force in the light of Gods great love in giving His Son for the reclamation of His lost race. If willing to make the greater sacrifice, will He not be willing to make the less?
3. Our argument as to the availability of the Holy Spirit becomes absolutely conclusive when we consider that He is the promised and special gift both of the Father and of the Son.
II. HOW SHALL WE CONSCIOUSLY REALIZE THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
1. Common interest and sympathy, and united prayer.
2. Avoidance of all known sins.
3. A sense of need, of dependence, of meekness, of unworthiness, of penitence, and an earnest heart-cry for help. (S. D. Burchard, D. D.)
The gift of the Spirit
Four central principles underlie this passage--in fact, underlie the Bible and all religion in the world.
1. Man has a capacity for God as truly as the stomach for food. God is as imperative a necessity to our spiritual nature as is bread for the body.
2. Man has a distinct need of God impressed upon him. The body is disquiet, if food be withheld. The soul is restless without God.
3. The Fatherhood of God is a pledge and guarantee that these deepest yearnings of mans nature will be gratified. A judicious parent prefers for his son character rather than fame, genius, or wealth. God also desires, above all things, our sanctification.
4. God gives the Holy Spirit to the eager, ardent, persistent, importunate soul. Do you really want it? Honestly and earnestly asking, you shall receive. You must long for the Holy Spirit more than the hungry and thirsty long for food and water; more anxiously than the storm-tossed sailor longs for the port. With this spirit you may be sure of an answer, and as much more sure as God is better than the best human parent. (H. L.Thompson.)
How God feels towards mankind
Here is what the Redeemer says to you, and me; and all: If you want to know how God feels towards you, and how ready God is to give you everything that is really good: here is something to go by. You know how much you would do for your children: you know how anxious you are to care for them in every way. You know how a father will work, and how a mother will watch, all for the good of their little ones. You know how much of the work that is done by men in this world, and how much of the care that is felt, is not for themselves at all, but for their children: all for them. After the dream of fame is past--after ambition is outgrown--the man toils on as steadfastly and earnestly as in his most hopeful and most aspiring days, that he may provide for his little ones; that he may see them in comfort and happiness; that he may push them on (as he trusts and prays) to be far better and happier than ever he was himself. The human heart is always the same: you do that now, my friends; and so you may be sure that people did that long ago, in the days when Christ was here. Well, says Christ you know all that. You know all that, says His blessed voice: and now hear Me and believe Me when I tell you, that the great Father above is just like that; only a thousand-fold better. If even you, sinful and evil, would wear your fingers to the bone, would lose your rest, would cut off every selfish indulgence, that you might see your childrens wants supplied, that you might see the little things happy and good--then take this blessed truth to your heart, that in all you feel toward your children, you have a faint and far reflection of how the great God above feels toward you. He feels for us just like that: cares for us, loves us, wishes us well, works for us. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)
Prayer for the Spirit answered
1. Our privilege here exhibited.
2. Our duty prescribed.
3. our hope encouraged. (Anon.)
Gods care for His children far greater than mans
Let us now consider the truth that God differs from an earthly father by being far kinder, wiser, and better. O brethren, there is an immense deal suggested by that how much more! It would be an unspeakable comfort to us--it would be a glorious and comfortable truth--that God was just as willing to give us all we need as you kind-hearted people are to give what is needful to your little child. I think I know men and women who have hearts so good and kind; who are so ready to do what they can to make their own children happy, or to add to the happiness of any little child; that I should feel safe enough and sure enough in going, sinful, weary, to Almighty God, to ask for His mercy and His Blessed Spirit, even if I knew no more than this, that I should find such a welcome at His throne of grace as these good men and women would give to any suffering, helpless child, even if it were not their own. But how much more! What a silent reference to an inconceivable depth of love and pity in the heart of God! It is as if Christ had said to those whom He addressed, You cannot understand the difference--words cannot explain the difference--here is the kind of thing, in yourselves; but in God how much more! Yet not a different kind of thing--the same kind of feeling you bear towards your children--only heightened up to a pitch you can never know.
1. God knows what is good for us, as no human parent can know what is good for his child. With the kindest intentions, we all know how injudicious parents often are; how often they err on the side of over-severity or of over-tenderness; how completely they sometimes mistake what is to conduce to the true good or happiness of their children; indeed it is not too much to say that a very great proportion of all the sorrow that is in this world arises from the mismanagement of parents in youth, or from the consequences of that mismanagement in after years. Now God knows us; knows what we are, and what we can do; knows what we are fit for, and how things affect us; knows all our peculiarities of temperament and disposition. He knows what we really need; He knows when to give us what we wish, and when to deny it; He knows how to make all things work together for good to such as love Him.
2. Another point in which appears the superiority of the great Father to whom Christ points us above all earthly parents, is His power. He is able to do all He wishes. He has all power to give us all good things; to help and save. You know how different it is with us; how well we often know what we should like to do for our children, to make them wise and good and happy; yet how very little we can do.
3. Then God is always kind. There are unnatural parents--let us hope, very few. There are people who repel their childrens confidence; who from mistaken principle or from a bad heart do all they can to make their children miserable; who point out with pride in the misery of a child, that things have come just as they said they would; who so act as to make us wonder that a trace of natural affection should be left in their childrens heart. I shall not dwell on a subject so miserable, save to remind you that our heavenly Father has anticipated such a case--Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee!
4. And now the last matter I shall name, as to which our heavenly Father excels the best earthly one, is that He is always near. Always within hearing; always within reach; never leaving, never forsaking; Father of the fatherless, Friend of the friendless; yea, When father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up! O Father of mercies, remember this word unto Thy servants, upon which Thou hast caused us to hope! (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)
The gift of the Spirit
Cotton Mather, whose endeavours as a parent were highly blessed, says: Let my prayers for my children be daily, with constancy. Yea, by name let me mention each one of them every day before the Lord. I would importunately beg for all suitable blessings to be bestowed on them; that God would give them grace and give them glory, and withhold no good thing from them; that God would smile on their education and give His good angels charge over them and keep them from evil, that it may not grieve them; that when their father and mother forsake them, the Lord may take them up. With importunity I would plead that promise on their behalf: The heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, Oh, happy children, if by asking I may obtain the Holy Spirit for them! which every natural man, every man who lets himself alone and lives practically without God, apart from Christ, in the world, has in him a dumb spirit, and can only lose that spirit under the healing touch of Christ.
1. I might speak--but it would not affect or be true of all who hear me--of that calamity, that curse, which we designate as a bad temper. Has any one here present a bad temper? Have you not been reminded sometimes, in that experience, of the dumb spirit spoken of in the text? That sullen silence; that overcast brow; that gloomy, morose, most irritating reserve; that gathering, threatening, overhanging cloud of dull, dark, speechless displeasure, by which a long evening has been rendered miserable, and upon which night and sleep have come without mitigation and without relief; that obstinate nursing and cherishing of an untold grudge, which wakens again in the morning to its last nights sullenness, and seems almost to pride itself upon its tenacity and its perseverence; was not this indeed an example of possession by a dumb spirit?
2. Mark that man--his name indeed is Legion--who lives what is called an entirely preoccupied and self-engrossed life; who has his business and follows it, has his interests and pursues them, has even his pleasures and enjoys them, but in all these has in reality no partner and no associate; looks to himself as to all that most intimately touches him, and himself only; excludes from his true confidence alike friend and brother, alike child and wife; gives out in social converse the merest superficialities of his thoughts, and in domestic intercourse the veriest dregs and refuse of his being; locks up in his own bosom the affections which God gave him for blessing, pro-supposes selfishness in others because he feels it in himself, and will trust no other soul with that confidence which he knows could have no reception and no reciprocity in his own.
3. It is made in Scripture both the duty and also the test of a Christian, that his speech be not only innocent, but beneficial; not only kind and frank, but consistent also and edifying. Now, if this be so, by what name can we designate that use of speech which altogether overlooks or refuses this high object? Let us all look back, my brethren, this morning upon our past employment of the gift of language. What shall we say of it? Is not the review most disheartening? To whom can we point as having been benefited by our possession of this marvellous thing? Nay--for effects are Gods, not ours--when did we ever set ourselves seriously to do good by our conversation. Is it not true, alas! that as to any value, any worth, contained in the gift of speech, we might as well have been bereft of it. In the judgment of Him who heareth as well as seeth in secret, the spirit which has possessed us has been no better than a dumb spirit.
4. It has been so towards man. We have done no good with our speech. And how has it been towards God? The text stands in immediate connection with a passage of Holy Scripture about prayer. Strong encouragement has been given to our halting, failing faith, in reference to the duty of seeking God in prayer. A form of prayer has been given, in answer to the request of the disciples, Lord, teach us to pray; and words have been added, which show beyond all question that it is not in God but in ourselves that the work of prayer is straitened. Then follows immediately the brief narrative of the text: Jesus was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. If the possession of the evil one makes us dumb (as to all that is valuable) towards man, so also does it towards God. (Dean Vaughan.)
Dumb
Look at the Greek word here translated dumb; for, if it be considered that the mind of God is in any way breathed forth to us through the words of Scripture, those words will bear a careful investigation into their meaning. That Greek word means, in its first use, blunt, obtuse; and so a blunted or lamed man in tongue. Mark here, then, the first lesson enshrined in the little word. The power of speech was in that tongue, but that power was not presently available. The machinery of articulation was perfect, had once been used, but an intruding hand had grasped the driving-wheel, and the machinery was still. The power was there, I say, yet it was held in suspense; it needed some third stronger power to drive out the intruder and set moving the smoothly-going wheel again. Yet mark, what direction would the power take when the unloosed tongue told forth the thoughts within? Would the tongue burst forth into the direct ravings of impotent blasphemy, or speak praise from out of a convinced heart? It depended upon this, whether the intruding spirit within initiated the movement, or whether God again evoked the dormant power. Which should it be? (Canon Wilberforce.)
The downward course
I can never forget a picture I once saw of Satan tempting Judas to betray his Master, a picture in which the painter had pourtrayed the face of the tempter as a hideous caricature of the tempted; as if the man, if only he could suddenly turn round and look over his shoulder, would be able to see in the face and the form of Satan what he himself would one day become if he gave way to temptation, and threw in his lot with devils. The painter had caught the lesson, I believe, that this miracle teaches. Are we alive to it? It is well sometimes to view ones self from the outside as well as from the inside--to climb a hill, as it were, and thence look down at yourself; just as we look at some great cathedral from a neighbouring hill, and from that elevation see a wholly different aspect from that which we gain by merely looking at it from the inside. Look, then, my brethren, very briefly at some of the causes which induce this terrible change, and at the remedies which God provides. The change is threefold: a blunted tongue, a defective hearing, a dulled mind--all these are implied in that one Greek word. A tongue that cannot speak to God, an ear that cannot hear His word, a mind too dull to receive Him--how do these come to you? How is it that the dumb spirit broods so heavily over many now? Brethren, it is because there is a great deception still kept up by the father of lies, because he finds an ally in our breasts in that infection of nature which doth remain; yea, in them that are regenerate. There is much outside business in religion in the present day; there is much need for those who are thus busy to ask themselves, Is my heart silencing or silent towards God? There is nowadays much outside conformity to the Cross of Christ; there is surely much need for the conformers to ascertain whether their hearts and their lives are telling the story that their lips so often repeat. I speak to those who are struggling, however feebly; who are praying, however dumbly; who are turning to God, however uncertainly. Mark then, first, the silencing process employed by Satan, whereby he quenches the answering power of the spirit to the drawings of God. First, it is a gradual process--a slight impeding of the freedom of action--a little poison of sin which gently impedes the circulation of the spiritual life. So surely as the unused muscle or the long-bandaged limb loses strength, so does the impeded soul lose its power of communing with God. A neglected faculty becomes a withering faculty. A religion that becomes mechanical stops of itself. The power of faith towards God unused, unexercised, dwindles, decays, perishes, till at last one sometimes hears on a death-bed that awful self-pronounced sentence:--I cannot pray--I have forgotten how: I cannot believe--it is so long since I thought of God. Again, all indulgence of tastes that lead us from God weakens the spiritual apprehension and warps the understanding, or there comes the loss of the power of all sound judgment which we see so remarkably in sinners. The old words of Solomon are fulfilled. They err who devise evil. They look upon all questions of morality from their own standpoints which is an ever-lowering point. They now see no harm in that which would have once shocked them--no sin in that which once would have appalled them. They are satisfied; and satisfaction with a low moral standard is one of the surest signs of a dumb spirit. They have no gratitude to God, and inability to thank our God is an unfailing symptom of a silenced tongue. And if so, brethren, in conclusion, what is the cure? The old heathen philosophy honestly confessed that it could find no cure. Plato, said Socrates (we read), perhaps the gods can forgive deliberate sin, but I do not see how. In the life and death of Christ the Saviour the mystery is solved, and the cure is made plain. The difficulty in this case is that the deaf cannot hear the words of Christ, the dumb cannot pray to Him, the blunted spirit cannot lift itself up towards Him. And yet, O my brethren, there is one sense that can be used even in the most extreme cases. Look once more at Christ as He is about to work the miracle of which I have spoken this evening. Mark how He has caught the mute appealing look in the eye of the voiceless man, as he turns instinctively to Christ for protection from the fearsome dweller within, from the tenant over whom he has long lost the power of control or the possibility of ejection. We, my brethren, can look up to Christ even when our spirits are most dull, even when our prayers are most heavy, even when the whole soul seems weighed down, oppressed, silenced by the sin in our nature. We can look up to Him when He began to struggle for the mastery with the bad habit of a lifetime, with the coldness of years, with the carelessness of a long duration. We can bring ourselves before Him (Oh, be His name ever blessed for it!), relying on His pregnant words of faithful promise. Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. If there be the will to be set free Christ will know it. He knows all the Buffering, for the pangs that affect the member reach ever to the Head. By virtue of the mysterious sympathy which binds us to the incarnate God He knows it; but, my brethren, as you are wrestling with your sin Christ your God knows it. He only wants you to place yourself completely under His charge; He only asks you to obey His every direction, and He will complete the cure in His own good time. He can do it, He can make this dumb spirit eloquent with praise; He can make this deaf ear thrill with the sweetest sound; He can make this obtuse spirit quick and attentive to the Word of God; He can set us once more free, so that we may understand by how much things Divine transcend things earthly; He can set us free, so that with St. Augustine we may understand that it is because God has created the human soul for Himself that that soul cannot rest until it finds its boundless rest in the bosom of God; set us free, so that with St. Bernard we may understand that men remain unconverted simply because they remain ignorant of the character of God, picturing Him to themselves as being like themselves. He can bid the untied tongue now confess the sin, and as the full confession wells up from out of the depths of a penitent heart, he does obliterate the guilt. (Canon Wilberforce.)
A dumb devil east out
A friend in London, who speaks now with a voice as clear as a bell, and preaches a full salvation, spoke to me in great trouble some years after his conversion. You know i am such a fool; I am afraid to speak. The other day you called on some one to pray, and I shivered down to my shoes, I was so afraid you would ask me. I could not have prayed if you had paid me for it. This dumb devil was in full possession of him. He understood everything; you could not teach him much. I said, You have a dumb devil. Do you believe the Lord Jesus can cast him out? Yes, I believe He can. Yes, the devil himself believes that, but do you believe He will? I am afraid. I am very glad of it; now let us kneel down and see whether the Lord will cast out the dumb devil. We were in a railway carriage together alone. We knelt down in the carriage and prayed. He could scarcely hear my voice for the noise; I think that Wag an encouragement to him. I went on praying to the Lord to loose the string of his tongue that he might speak plainly for the glory of God. He said, Amen. Thank God, I said, the dumb devil is going. I began to pray again. He said, Lord, answer prayer. Amen, I said. Hallelujah! the devil is going, and sure enough he began to pray for himself. I began to praise, and he was praising too. The train stopped, but we did not know anything about it; we went on praying and praising. The collector came to the door and said Tickets, but we never stopped: we continued to praise God. Oh, we were happy! The guard shut the door and went away; he thought we were two madmen, I suppose! Oh, I wish there were more of such mad people. This man had got his liberty, and, glory be to God, he has used it since then. (W. Haslam.)
How devils may be expelled
In Charles Kingsleys Life there is a story of a madman who declared that the devil had got hold of him, and would not let him sleep. The surgeon, says Kingsley, came to me and said, As I cannot cure the mans mind by making his liver act, you must make his liver act by curing his mind. So I went to the patient and agreed with him fully that the devil was in him. And I will tell you, I said, why he is. It is because you have been a scoundrel. But if you will lead a new and honest life you may snap your finger at the devil. The devil left him presently, and the man was cured. So resolution may expel the devil of worry, even after the nerves are more or less broken. (T. M. Coan, M. D.)
Third Sunday in Lent
And as this miracle indicated the true nature of Christs mission and appointments, it was at the same time a complete demonstration of His capacity and fitness for the work. And yet, it very differently affected different classes of witnesses.
1. There were some whom it greatly amazed. It came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake, and the people wondered. These were the commoner class of persons who saw what was accomplished. Common people with common sense are the worlds best jury in nearly every case submitted to human arbitrament. Gods truth is never fruitless.
2. A second class of persons who witnessed this miracle consisted of certain rebellious spirits, who were ready to grasp at any absurdity, and to commit themselves to any sort of inconsistency and self-contradiction, rather than admit that Jesus was the Christ.
3. There was a third class, however, who assumed an attitude of feigned modesty in the case, who were scarcely less reprehensible. They would not say whether the miracle was of God or of the devil, but assumed to be earnest inquirers, quite ready to believe if only the Saviour would show them some sign from heaven. And very good and commendable did they evidently consider themselves in the attitude which they thus assumed. To them it was quite extreme and harsh to ascribe Christs miracles to the devil. They would not be guilty of such daring opposition, or commit themselves to such ultraism. No, no; they would be moderate and reasonable in their course. True, they could not yet regard the question as sufficiently cleared up for decided action. Things were a little too inchoate and indistinct as yet. They wished to have them freer from embarrassment and objection before they moved. A great deal of bitter feeling and controversy existed, and they did not wish to be prematurely mixed up with it. They would therefore hold their decision in suspense, and wait for further developments, meanwhile siding a little with both parties, consenting with the worst, yet keeping up a fair show in favour of Christ and the truth. But the Lord knew their thoughts, tore off the painted mask, and gave them to understand exactly where their pretended neutrality placed them. He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad. The justice of this sentence is manifest. The evidence before these people was ample.
4. But there was yet another class represented among the witnesses of this miracle. As He spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked. She spake as a mother, and she spake well and truly. Her feeling toward Christ was of a very different sort from that which so basely aspersed Him, or so hypocritically put Him aside under cover of pious friendship. She had seen the miracle, and was moved with reverence and admiration by it. Quite too fleshly and sentimental were this womans thoughts and emotions. Though well enough as far as they went, they did not penetrate to the true blessedness in Jesus, or to the right conditions on which its enjoyment rests. She did not rise to that evangelism which makes His truth in our hearts a far sublimer thing than to have our blood in His veins. And it is just here that the religion of many falls short. They have great admiration for Christ, the excellence of His spirit, the beauty of His teachings, and the beneficence of His works. And it is well as far as it goes; but it is not religion. It is a mere earthly sentimentalism which fails of any saving effect. From this subject, then, let us learn the true glory and office of Jesus. He comes to us as verily the messenger and Christ of God. He comes to us with the great power of the heavens. In Him the potencies of the eternal kingdom are brought near to us. And it is all for our liberation from the thraldom and disabilities which Satan has inflicted upon us. He comes to us to open our blind eyes; to unstop our deaf ears; to loose our tied tongues; and to set us free. He comes to cast out of us the unclean and disabling spirit. From this subject let us also be admonished of the dangers that beset us of making our high privileges of none effect. The sublimest demonstrations of Christs power and grace were the occasion of the deeper damnation to the Scribes and Pharisees; and we have in us the same sort of depraved hearts which they had. And, above all, let us learn from this subject what our great duty under the gospel is. It is not given by mere inference, but in plain and positive words, by the Saviour Himself. It is, to hear the Word of God, and keep it. (J. A.Seiss, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v11 Luk 11:11-13. “But which father of you, shall his…
YOUR FATHER WHO IS FROM HEAVEN
Luk 11:11-13. “But which father of you, shall his son ask bread, whether will he give him a stone? Or indeed a fish, whether, instead of a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he may ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?” You see from the plain teaching of our Savior that God never gives anything useless nor injurious; e. g., a stone, an utterly worthless thing, as the hungry boy can not eat it; nor a serpent, nor a scorpion, which might bite him and kill him. The reason why so much prayer is not answered directly is because it would be detrimental to the recipient. Many good people pray for riches, which God sees would make them proud, worldly, and oblivious of Him; giving Satan the down-hill pull on them, to drag them, not only out of the kingdom, but down to perdition. Millions of people are now happy in heaven who would be in hell if their prayers for riches had been answered. Myriads will praise God through all eternity for His signal mercy in keeping them poor enough to escape the awful temptations of riches, and be humble enough to get to heaven. We should be like God, and never grant the petitions of our children for anything useless or injurious, as Satan’s temptations come thick and fast along those lines. If you permit your children to attend Satan’s fandangos, with their concomitant follies and vices, you simply, with your money, purchase for them a ticket over the Black Valley Railroad down to hell.
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“Therefore, if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father, who is from heaven, give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him!” The Holy Spirit is not only the Omnipotent God, but He is the Executive of the Trinity. Consequently the Holy Spirit is but another name for “All Good Things.” When you have Him, you are a king and a priest in Zion, enjoying heaven in your heart. The contrast here between earthly parents, inheriting evil natures, and our blessed Heavenly Father is very forcible, giving us one of those a fortiori arguments so common in our Savior’s illustrative expositions of the unutterable love and unfathomable wisdom of our Heavenly Father. What is an a fortiori argument? It is, from a human standpoint, an argument in the superlative degree; e. g., if a bushel of apples is worth one dollar, how much more would a thousand bushels of apples compensate for the dollar! The E. V., in this wonderful passage, “Our Heavenly Father,” signally fails to bring out the full force of our Lord’s affirmation. So do not forget the translation of this passage which I literally give you, “How much more will your Father who is from heaven give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Now, see the beautiful and significant concatenation of our Savior’s argument confirmatory of real efficiency in prayer. That “shameless prayer,” the sine qua non of every victory at a throne of grace, actually brings your Heavenly Father down to you, so that He is convenient and ready to give you His Holy Spirit, victory over the devil, and a heavenly sunburst. The simplicity of Jesus is actually inimitable. Here, describing this efficient prayer, illustrative of the very form he has given us, He assures us of victory invariably attending that “shameless prayer,” and culminating in the gift of the Holy Ghost, by “our Father who is from heaven,” having come down in answer to that shameless prayer. Hence, you see the Divine presence is indispensable in all acceptable worship, and absolutely necessary to the blessings of salvation and sanctification and victory over the enemy. We must have the real, personal presence of God. There is but one way to succeed, and that is to pray Him down from heaven. Now do not forget that this “shameless prayer” is the only one that will bring Him down, making His presence our paradise, giving to all the Holy Ghost — to impenitent infidels and demon-filled sinners in the capacity of a Convictor; to all brokenhearted penitents, a Regenerator; to weak believers, an Illuminator; to consecrated, believing Christians, a Sanctifier; and to all the sanctified, a Glorious Edifier.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v13 It is evident that none of the disciples, with…
give
It is evident that none of the disciples, with the possible exception of Mary of Bethany, asked for the Spirit in the faith of this promise. It was a new and staggering thing to a Jew that, in advance of the fulfilment of Joe 2:28; Joe 2:29 all might receive the Spirit. Mary alone of the disciples understood Christ’s repeated declaration concerning His own death and resurrection Joh 12:3-7. Save Mary, not one of the disciples but Peter, and he only in the great confession Mat 16:16 manifested a spark of spiritual intelligence till after the resurrection of Christ and the impartation of the Spirit; Joh 20:22; Act 2:1-4. To go back to the promise of Luk 11:13, is to forget Pentecost, and to ignore the truth that now every believer has the indwelling Spirit; Rom 8:9; Rom 8:15; 1Co 6:19; Gal 4:6; 1Jn 2:20; 1Jn 2:27. (See Scofield "Act 2:4")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 A further admonition:
A further admonition:
v. 11. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him. a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
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v. 12. Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
v. 13. If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good, gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him!
Jesus draws a final lesson from the love which parents bear to their children. Whom of you, being a father, shall his son ask for bread,—surely he will not give him a stone! Or also a fish,—surely he will not give him, instead of the fish, a serpent! Or also an egg,—surely he will not give a scorpion (the latter being a lobster like animal lurking in stone walls). A parent that would act as Jesus describes would be inhuman. No normal, sane father would be capable of such cruelty. And now Jesus makes the conclusion from the smaller to the greater. If human parents, whose disposition of heart is by nature evil, will show so much affection toward their children, surely the Father from heaven, in His merciful goodness and grace, will give the Holy Ghost, the highest and most wonderful gift from above, the gift which includes all other spiritual gifts, to them that ask Him! God wants the Christians to pray, and He intends to give them the spiritual gifts which they have need of without condition. But He insists upon being asked, lest the gifts lose their value in the eyes of men, and lest the Christians become careless about working out their own salvation with fear and trembling. He does not force His gifts upon unwilling and indifferent hearts.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus finishes teaching his disciples about prayer.
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Which father among you ... a fish?
Jesus uses a question to teach his disciples. It could also be written as a statement. AT: "None of you fathers ... a fish" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Or if he asks ... scorpion to him?
Jesus uses a question to teach his disciples. It could also be written as a statement. AT: "And you would never give him a scorpion if he asks for an egg" (See: Rhetorical Question)
scorpion
A scorpion is similar to a spider, but it has a tail with a poisonous sting. If scorpions are not known where you are, you could translate this as "poisonous spider" or "spider that stings" (See: Translate Unknowns)
if you who are evil know
"since you who are evil know" or "even though you are sinful, you know"
how much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit ... him?
"how much more certain is it that your Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit ... him?" Jesus again uses a question to teach his disciples. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "you can be sure that your Father from heaven will give the Holy Spirit ... him." (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
serpent
evil
good
God the Father
heaven
Holy Spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 13 11:11-12 A fish and an egg were common foods.…
11:11-12 A fish and an egg were common foods. A scorpion resembles an egg when it curls into a ball to lure its prey. Giving a snake or a scorpion would be a cruel practical joke, substituting something deadly for a good meal. No loving father would do such a thing.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.