Hebrews Chapter Six, Laying On Of Hands

 

Hebrews 6:2b of laying on of hands,

 

The doctrine of the laying on of hands, like baptism, is filled with controversy in the Christian church. The Charismatic/Pentecostal churches, like Assemblies of God or NAR, advocate laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit. In addition to this, of course, some sects also include the necessity to speak in tongues as a sign of receiving the Holy Spirit. Other denominations or Christian churches have done away with laying on of hands altogether.

But what is laying on of hands in the New Testament? What does it represent, and how was it employed? If Hebrews was written near to 70AD, its inclusion in this epistle demonstrates the doctrine was still practiced as one of the first principles of the church.

 

Prior to the church we know that Jesus our Lord laid hands upon people to heal them, and power went out from Him. But to those with strong faith like the centurion whose servant was paralyzed, such physical action was unnecessary. Only a word might be spoken and the created order would react to the command of its Maker. We learn from laying on of hands in the gospels, not that the act transmits the Holy Spirit, but that it forced the recipient and attendant witnesses to acknowledge that the power (and the healing) came from Jesus and nowhere else. Our Lord also laid hands upon the very young and innocent to bless them, or in more religious nomenclature, to give them a benediction. Again, this act did not confer the Holy Spirit, but rather revealed Jesus’ care for those that still possessed the guileless love only a small child can produce.

 

We know that the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 believers in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost in divided tongues of flame, conferring the gift of tongues: that is, other languages they previously did not know so the disciples could communicate the gospel to the some 16 nations represented in they city that day. Prior to Pentecost, before the Lord ascended, He revealed Himself to the apostles and they rejoiced, “He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” John 20:22. This instance of the Holy Spirit being conferred upon another was not by laying on of hands, but by Jesus breathing on His disciples. Moving ahead in Acts we find two great soul harvests following the reception of the Holy Spirit as the church’s corporate witness. In Acts 2:41 we learn the church increased from 120 to 3120. In Acts 4:4 that number crept to 5000 in short order. Again, by Acts 5:14 Luke stops trying to count the numbers of believers, but simply relates that multitudes in and around Jerusalem converted to Christianity.

 

I share these verses because there is in them a conspicuous absence of any mention of laying on of hands. We simply read that men and women believed the gospel of Christ and were added to the church. While this argument by omission does not prove laying on hands was not being employed, Luke’s failure to report this detail is conspicuous.

 

We finally come across a direct mention of laying on of hands in Acts 6:6. When the apostles held the first church conference about the distribution of food in the church, they appointed seven men, the first deacons. These men were already, “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom,” Acts 6:3. Thus, when the apostles, “had prayed [and] laid hands on them,” it was not to give them the gift of the Holy Spirit, but a public display of acknowledgment from the elders of the church, that they recognized and vested these men with the authority accorded their new titles. We find this same pattern in Acts 13:3. The Holy Spirit calls Saul and Barnabas to ministry, so the leadership of Antioch’s church, “fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them,” again publicly recognizing and endorsing their coming ministry. Paul writes to Timothy, instructing his disciple on the proper government of the church, “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins,” 1 Timothy 5:22. The eldership of the church was to recognize those called to minister, and lay hands on them to demonstrate their endorsement of the person in question. Paul cautioned not to do so hastily, or one might share in the sins they will commit with wrongly vested authority, having the elders’ approval for perpetuating moral or doctrinal error. So we may observe that one purpose for laying on of hands was the public acceptation of an individual to the ministerial calling.

 

Turning back to Acts chapter 8, we see the laying on of hands used, not as a call to ministry, but as a confirmation of the reception of the Holy Spirit. I will say this concerning the whole tenor of Scripture: the laying on of hands is not necessary to receive the Holy Spirit, or to be saved. Men and women were saved and filled with God’s Holy Spirit throughout the Old Testament for thousands of years before the church became an entity. The requisite for one’s salvation and the reception of God the Holy Spirit is not whether a church elder lays hands on you to recognize your confession, but faith in the God you have confessed. This was exactly why God saved Cornelius the way He did. Peter was still preaching Christ when Cornelius and his family were saved. “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word,” Acts 10:44. For the Jew it demonstrated that Gentiles were co-inheritors of salvation. For the one preaching water baptism, it demonstrates that baptism does not save; faith saves. For the advocate of laying on of hands as a necessity to receive the Holy Spirit, God protects the one true gospel by recording the details in order: first Cornelius and his house were saved, receiving the Holy Spirit, then they were baptized with water, Acts 10:47, 48.

 

We find in Acts 8, Philip in Samaria preaching Christ and winning souls. He made disciples and baptized them in the name of Jesus Christ (verse 12) but the Holy Spirit had yet to fall upon any of them. Thus the church at Jerusalem sent Peter and John to them who, “prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them,” Acts 8:15, 16. The result is recorded in the following verse: “Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit,” Acts 8:17. I think Simon’s observation in verse 18, “when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given,” is unfortunately taken by some as a universal. I mean, this verse for some readers dictates the only legitimate means the Holy Spirit comes to a believer in Christ. But if this logic was taken to its extreme, then I could argue that no person has received the Holy Spirit since the last of the apostles died, since the verse indicates only the apostles could confer the Holy Spirit to another.

 

Returning to Timothy, Paul writes, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership,” 1 Timothy 4:14. In this instance we again find, not that the Holy Spirit was given Timothy by laying on of hands, but a public acceptance by the eldership to strengthen the church with the gift of sound teaching. Spiritual ministries of every kind are referred to as gifts in Scripture, given by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, 1 Corinthians 12:28-31. Contextually, we learn a little more about how laying on of hands functioned in the first century church, beyond Acts 8:18. Now we know that the eldership, as noted above, uses this formality to demonstrate a spiritual alignment with the person in question they lay hands on. That, of course, is why Paul cautioned Timothy never to do such a thing in haste. The elder John warned his own disciples not to so much as greet an errant teacher, because you tacitly endorse the heterodoxy they have espoused, 2 John 10, 11. In 2 Timothy, Paul expresses his belief that Timothy has saving faith, having been raised by a godly mother and grandmother, 2 Timothy 1:5. Persuaded by the evidences of his faith, “I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands,” verse 6. Again, Paul is not talking about the Holy Spirit (since Timothy was already saved, see 1 Timothy 4:14), but the spiritual gift given him to minister to the saints. The reader ought to take care to determine what laying on of hands is being used for, and why.

 

For one final instance of laying on of hands, we turn to Acts chapter 19. Paul meets a group of disciples that had known only John the Baptist’s message in the days prior to Jesus’ first advent, Acts 19:2, 3. Paul was quick to clarify the issue by filling in the name of the Messiah, and having received better knowledge on which to found their faith, the disciples were baptized into the name of Jesus Christ, as was commanded, Acts 19:4, 5. Knowledge provided by a preacher of the gospel, followed by an act of faithful obedience to the Lord’s command regarding baptism, brought Paul to a place where he laid hands on the men, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, verse 6. To bear witness that the Holy Spirit sealed them, they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

 

We see then that laying on of hands in Jesus’ time and in Acts was for healing (see Mark 16:18), and in Jesus’ case, also benediction. Laying on of hands also demonstrated acceptance of an individual by the eldership to a ministry the Holy Spirit is calling them to. Finally, the apostles twice lay hands on others that they may receive the Holy Spirit, Acts chapter 8:17-20 and 19:6. Yes, this version of laying on of hands is recorded only twice. What about today? I firmly believe the Scripture is clear that faith alone is the sole criterion for salvation or the Holy Spirit’s reception, which is tantamount to the same thing. The doctrine of laying on of hands the writer of Hebrews makes mention of in this passage is related to recognition of ministerial calling. The elders of a church, when they acknowledge that a man or woman has been given a gift by God to serve the church in whatever capacity, lays hands on them to partake in their ministry, as it were, or to officially agree upon it. It is a public declaration of agreement with what the Helper, God the Holy Spirit, has already determined.