Footnotes

1. Matthew 7:7 tn The three present imperatives in this verse are best viewed as iterative (Wallace, ExSyn 722, lists the verse as an example of this usage), calling for repeated action.sn Many interpreters see the three present imperatives (Ask…seek…knock) as mainly limited to persistence in prayer (cf. v. 11), though others see them referring more generally to taking the initiative with God in various ways.
2. Matthew 7:7 tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.
3. Matthew 7:8 sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the additional encouragement that God does respond to such requests/actions.
4. Matthew 7:9 tn Grk “Or is there.”
5. Matthew 7:10 sn The two questions of vv. 9-10 use a construction in Greek that expects a negative answer: “No parent would do this!”
6. Matthew 7:11 tn The participle ὄντες (ontes) has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle: in spite of the fact that the hearers are “evil,” they still know how to give “good gifts” to their own children (see also ExSyn 634).
7. Matthew 7:11 sn The provision of the good gifts is probably a reference to the wisdom and guidance supplied in response to repeated requests. The teaching as a whole stresses not that we get everything we want, but that God gives the good that we need.