is not a metaphor at all. Luz notes that this alternative interpretation was central to Gnosticism, and this was one of the defining verses of that branch of Christianity. To Gnostics the continuous seeking for the hidden God was a central part of their faith. By contrast most other Christian groups describe believers as those who have found God, not those who are still seeking. The verse is elaborated upon by saying 92 in the Gospel of Thomas. The words "Ask, and you will receive" also form part of Jesus' farewell discourse in John 16. The common English expressions "Ask, and you shall receive" and "Seek, and ye shall find" are both derived from this verse. Commentary from the Church Fathers Jerome: Having before forbidden us to pray for things of the flesh, He now shows what we ought to ask, saying, Ask, and it shall be given you. Augustine: Otherwise; when He commanded not to give the holy thing to dogs, and not to cast pearls before swine, the hearer conscious of his own ignorance might say, Why do you thus bid me not give the holy thing to dogs, when as yet I see not that I have any holy thing? He therefore adds in good season, Ask, and ye shall receive. Glossa Ordinaria: We ask with faith, we seek with hope, we knock with love. You must first ask that you may have; after that seek that you may find; and lastly, observe what you have found that you may enter in. Augustine: Asking, is that we may get healthiness of soul that we may be able to fulfil the things commanded us; seeking, pertains to the discovery of the truth. But when any has found the true way, he will then come into actual possession, which however is only opened to him that knocks. Augustine: How these three differ from one another, I have thought good to unfold with this travail; but it were better to refer them all to instant prayer; wherefore He afterwards concludes, saving, He will give good things to them that ask him. Chrysostom: And in that He adds seek, and knock, He bids us ask with much importunateness and strength. For one who seeks, casts forth all other things from his mind, and is turned to that thing singly which he seeks; and he that knocks comes with vehemence and warm