Stop Misreading the Bible: Luke 11: 8 Corrected and the Other Lesson on Prayer in Matthew 7: 7
It was one of those "words" that slip into my mind, maybe because I had been talking to DeBorah about technique. "Whoever asks, receives"; not that in the future he who asks would receive from a third party, God, what he asked for, but his "asking" was by imagining what he desired as having been received. We "ask" in faith by believing that what we desire has already been GIVEN by God and is as received. Whoever "asks," receives.
That made sense to me -- ask by imagining it received, seek by imagining it found, knock by imagining it opened. So I checked my Victor Alexander version of Matthew 7: 7, "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you will find. Knock and it shall be opened to you."
That was kind of a bummer. Maybe all the pastors aren't teaching prayer wrong after all. But then, Matthew 7: 8: "For whoever asks, receives* (note; is set), and [whoever] seeks, finds. And whoever knocks, it is opened to them. Oh, here in verse 8 is the lesson, the rest is commentary!
All the pastors teach how to pray incorrectly, "Keep asking; don't give up!" because Luke 11: 8 is mistranslated. You know Luke 11: 8; it is where a man goes to his neighbor's house in the middle of the night and asks for three loaves of bread, because a friend has come on a journey and the man has nothing to feed his friend. The man in the house is in bed with the whole family covered up, and doesn't want to get up, but because of the man outside's importunity/shameless audacity/persistence he will get up and give him all that he requests. Applied to prayer, THIS IS COMPLETELY WRONG!!!!
Let's look at Luke 11: 5-10 translated from the ancient Aramaic:
5. And he told them, "Which one of you that has a relative, and who goes to him in the middle of the night, and tells him, 'Kinsman, I need three loves [of bread.]
6. " 'Since a relative has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to place before him.'
7. "And he replies from inside and says to him, 'Do not bother me. Behold, the door is locked and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise and give you [the bread.]'
8. "I tell you, that if not out of a sense of kinship he does it, then surely because of his integrity he will rise and give him as much as he wants.*
9. "I also tell you, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find it. Knock and it will be opened to you.
10. "For whoever asks, receives and [whoever] seeks, finds and [whoever] knocks, it will be opened to him.
*11:8 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "I tell you, that if because of kinship he will not not give it to him, he will rise and give him as much as he wants because of his persistent sense of duty.
It is not a neighbor; it is your relative, your kin. It is not your persistent asking, your "importuning" that gets him up; it is your kin's persistent sense of duty, his integrity as your kin to provide whatever you need and expect from him because of that kinship. A neighbor would come out and punch your lights out, but this is an illustration of our oneness with God and HIS integrity in his kinship with us, his persistent sense of duty to perform his word. God has integrity to his word. It is he who is persistent. The lesson is you can count on that! Once we desire, we are set! Just be faithful to the idea and be grateful.
Thus the way to "ask" is to believe you have received, the way to "seek" is to believe it is found, and the way to "knock" is to believe it is opened unto you. For God isn't going to give you something other than what you desire. He is a good kinsman, no? So FAITH believes what you ask is heard and granted and is received; not in the future by some third party God, but now -- from the foundation of the world and by the founder of the world.
Have you been praying wrong for years because you don't have Victor Alexander's translations from ancient Aramaic? You can peruse them online at v-a.com/bible/. Read what the Bible actually teaches.
That made sense to me -- ask by imagining it received, seek by imagining it found, knock by imagining it opened. So I checked my Victor Alexander version of Matthew 7: 7, "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you will find. Knock and it shall be opened to you."
That was kind of a bummer. Maybe all the pastors aren't teaching prayer wrong after all. But then, Matthew 7: 8: "For whoever asks, receives* (note; is set), and [whoever] seeks, finds. And whoever knocks, it is opened to them. Oh, here in verse 8 is the lesson, the rest is commentary!
All the pastors teach how to pray incorrectly, "Keep asking; don't give up!" because Luke 11: 8 is mistranslated. You know Luke 11: 8; it is where a man goes to his neighbor's house in the middle of the night and asks for three loaves of bread, because a friend has come on a journey and the man has nothing to feed his friend. The man in the house is in bed with the whole family covered up, and doesn't want to get up, but because of the man outside's importunity/shameless audacity/persistence he will get up and give him all that he requests. Applied to prayer, THIS IS COMPLETELY WRONG!!!!
Let's look at Luke 11: 5-10 translated from the ancient Aramaic:
5. And he told them, "Which one of you that has a relative, and who goes to him in the middle of the night, and tells him, 'Kinsman, I need three loves [of bread.]
6. " 'Since a relative has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to place before him.'
7. "And he replies from inside and says to him, 'Do not bother me. Behold, the door is locked and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise and give you [the bread.]'
8. "I tell you, that if not out of a sense of kinship he does it, then surely because of his integrity he will rise and give him as much as he wants.*
9. "I also tell you, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you will find it. Knock and it will be opened to you.
10. "For whoever asks, receives and [whoever] seeks, finds and [whoever] knocks, it will be opened to him.
*11:8 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "I tell you, that if because of kinship he will not not give it to him, he will rise and give him as much as he wants because of his persistent sense of duty.
It is not a neighbor; it is your relative, your kin. It is not your persistent asking, your "importuning" that gets him up; it is your kin's persistent sense of duty, his integrity as your kin to provide whatever you need and expect from him because of that kinship. A neighbor would come out and punch your lights out, but this is an illustration of our oneness with God and HIS integrity in his kinship with us, his persistent sense of duty to perform his word. God has integrity to his word. It is he who is persistent. The lesson is you can count on that! Once we desire, we are set! Just be faithful to the idea and be grateful.
Thus the way to "ask" is to believe you have received, the way to "seek" is to believe it is found, and the way to "knock" is to believe it is opened unto you. For God isn't going to give you something other than what you desire. He is a good kinsman, no? So FAITH believes what you ask is heard and granted and is received; not in the future by some third party God, but now -- from the foundation of the world and by the founder of the world.
Have you been praying wrong for years because you don't have Victor Alexander's translations from ancient Aramaic? You can peruse them online at v-a.com/bible/. Read what the Bible actually teaches.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
2:23 AM
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