James 4:3 - Exposition

An evident allusion to the sermon on the mount, Matthew 7:7 , " Ask , and it shall be given to you … for every one that asketh receiveth." And yet St. James says, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss;" for our Lord elsewhere limits his teaching, " All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing ," etc. ( Matthew 21:22 ). αἰτεῖτε … αἰτεῖσθε . The active and middle voices are similarly interchanged in 1 John 5:15 , on which Dr. Westcott writes as follows: "The distinction between the middle and the active is not so sharply drawn; but generally the personal reference is suggested by the middle, while the request is left wholly undefined as to its destination by the active." That ye may consume it upon your lusts ; render, with R.V., that ye may spend it in your pleasures ; ἡδοναί , as in 1 John 5:1 .