20. To Ask, Request

Both αἰτέω and ἐρωτάω are translated ‘to ask,' and in many passages rightly; but some lose much of their force by the translation not preserving a very real distinction between them. αἰτέω is supplicatory, as of an inferior to a superior ― of a beggar seeking alms, Acts 3:22And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; (Acts 3:2) (ver. 3, where ἐρωτάω is used, would perhaps indicate a change in tone from the accustomed begging to the more peremptory demand); of a child asking from his parents, Matt. 7:99Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? (Matthew 7:9); and the disciples from God and the Father. 1 John 3:2222And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. (1 John 3:22); Jas. 1:5, 65If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. (James 1:5‑6). John uses the word προσεύχομαι for αἰτέω ‘prayer,' and never the ordinary word, προσεύχομαι nor προσευχή ‘prayer,' save in Rev. 5:8; 8:3, 48And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. (Revelation 5:8)
3And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. (Revelation 8:3‑4).
The passage that has suffered most from the obliteration in the A. V. of the distinction between the words is John 16:2323And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (John 16:23), which seems to substitute prayer to the Father in the name of Christ, for prayer to Christ directly. Whereas the ‘ask' (ἐρωτάω) of the first part of the verse refers to verse 19, "Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask (ἐρωτάω) him." Here the word is used in its ordinary classical sense of ‘question,' not as ‘prayer' at all. The Lord is leading on their hearts, from the hour of travail that was before them in His death, to the dawn of a new and endless day in His resurrection, when they would have no more questions, all difficulties would be solved. There had in fact been two difficulties before them in what the Lord had said in verse 17. Verses 18 to the first clause of 23 complete the Lord's instruction as to the first difficulty. In the latter clause of 23 He takes up their second difficulty, "Because I go to the Father," and unfolds this first of the consequences of His so going, that now they would be able to ‘ask' (αἰτέω) the Father in His name ― to come before the Father in the value of His name as they never had done hitherto, as left to represent Him in the place of His rejection.
Help also may be found as to another passage, where there is confessedly more difficulty in preserving the distinction of the Holy Spirit's use of the two words, namely, 1 John 5:1616If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. (1 John 5:16). In the beginning of the verse αἰτέω is used as in the verses preceding (14, 15) for prayer. To see a brother sin should lead those who know God's holiness to pray that he might not be cut off as to this life under His government: see 1 Cor. 11:30-3230For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:30‑32). But there are cases where the heart of the intercessor is checked, and the apostle would not have the sense of the gravity of sin weakened in such a case. "There is a sin unto death:" this may be the reason of the check. [Peter could not have prayed for the life of Ananias and Sapphira.] But he adds "I do not say that he shall pray for it." (A. V.) ‘Pray' is here, ἐρωτάω with the same difference from αἰτέω that we have seen, namely, ‘question concerning it.' If there was no question, the apostle would have none raised: "All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death."