Christ's Prediction on the Advancement of Science

Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you:
Mat 7:8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

It is interesting that the word used for "ask," aiteo, and for "seek," zeteo, both have secondary meanings of "desire" or "crave," indicating that there is nothing wrong with having human desires. Even more interesting, the word used for "knock," krouo, is a metaphor for "examining," "trying," or "proving" something. This idea comes from tapping an earthen vessel to see if it "rings true."

The term for "given," is didomi, which is the same term Matthew always uses for give, but the term use for "find" is heurisko, which means "find" in the sense of finding something that is lost or finding something by accident. It also specifically means finding by intellectual inquiry, as in analyzing and understanding something. It is the source word for our idea of heuristic methods, that is, testing our ideas. The term for "open" is anoigo, which metaphorically means "to disclose" or "to lay open."

Since I love science, I have always looked at this statement as Christ's prediction about the future of science, that, if we study the natural world, we will discover its secrets. The original Greek actually strengthens this view. The use of krouo is especially telling because, unlike English, the Greek term describes testing appearances. The idea of physical testing as a form of advancing scientific knowledge is the foundation of our modern scientific method but was quite different than the ancient view of science, which was based more upon intellectual analysis, the huerisko, which is also mentioned in this verse.

This prediction of learning if we search and test has certainly held true in ways that no one in Christ's time could have foreseen. It is also interesting, and I suspect no coincidence, that the Christian world has been the prime mover in advancing science for the last several hundred years since the Bible was made generally available to common people. This phrase also encourages physical exploration, in ways that most "civilized" people tended to avoid. I think this one line of truth has sparked countless investigations down through the centuries, where people, encouraged by Christ's message, have gone exploring and gone searching for the truth about the world.