Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 7:11

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" — Matthew 7:11 (ASV)

Using an argument similar in style to that in 6:25 (see comment), Jesus stresses that no parent would deceive a child asking for bread or fish by giving him a similar looking but inedible stone or a poisonous snake. His point is not merely the parents’ willingness to give but their willingness to give good gifts— even though they themselves are evil. Jesus presupposes the sinfulness of human nature but implicitly acknowledges that that does not mean all human beings are as bad as they could be. How much more, then, will the heavenly Father, who is pure goodness without alloy, give good gifts to those who ask!

The blessings promised here as a result of prayer are not the blessings of common grace but of the kingdom. And though we must ask for them, it is not because God must be informed (6:8) but because this is the Father’s way of training his family.