Laying On Of Hands

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Laying On Of Hands. This ceremony, of frequent occurrence in both Ot and Nt, is a piece of natural symbolism with the central idea that through physical contact the person performing it identifies himself with the other in the presence of God. In Ot this is done with a view to the transference ( a ) of a Divine blessing (  Genesis 48:14 ff.; cf.   Numbers 27:18;   Numbers 27:23 ,   Deuteronomy 34:9 ); ( b ) of a burden of guilt (  Leviticus 1:4;   Leviticus 4:3 f.,   Leviticus 16:21  Leviticus 16:21 f. etc.). In Nt, while it is variously employed, the general idea is always that of blessing.

1 . The simplest case is when Jesus lays hands of blessing on the little children (  Matthew 19:13;   Matthew 19:15 ||). The fact that the mothers desired Him to do so shows that this was a custom of the time and people. The narrative in Mt. shows further that, as used by Jesus, it was no magical form, but the symbolic expression of what was essentially an act of prayer (  Matthew 19:13 ).

2 . In His deeds of healing Jesus constantly made use of this symbol (  Mark 6:5;   Mark 8:23 ,   Luke 4:40;   Luke 13:13; cf.   Matthew 9:18 ||,   Mark 7:32 ) an example which was followed by the Apostolic Church (  Acts 9:12;   Acts 9:17;   Acts 28:8 ). In these cases, however, besides its religious symbolism, the act may further have expressed the healer’s sympathy (cf. the hand laid even on the leper,   Mark 1:41 ,   Luke 5:13 ), or have been designed to bring a reinforcement to faith.

3 . In the early Church the imposition of hands was used, sometimes in close association with the act of baptism (  Acts 9:17-18;   Acts 19:5-6; cf.   Hebrews 6:2 , which, however, may include all the various kinds of laying on of hands), but sometimes quite apart from it (  Acts 8:17;   Acts 8:19 ), as an accompaniment of prayer that believers might receive a special endowment of the Holy Ghost in charismatic forms. That this endowment does not mean the essential gift of spiritual life, but some kind of ‘manifestation’ (  1 Corinthians 12:7 ), is proved when   Acts 9:17 (‘filled with the Holy Ghost’) is compared with   Acts 2:4 , and when   Acts 8:15;   Acts 8:17 is read in the light of the request of Simon Magus (  Acts 8:18 ff.), and   Acts 19:2 in the light of   Acts 19:6 . The case of Ananias and Saul (  Acts 9:17 ) further proves that the laying on of hands for this purpose was not a peculiar Apostolic prerogative.

4 . In four passages the laying on of hands is referred to in connexion with an act that corresponds to ordination (the word in its ecclesiastical sense does not occur in Nt. ‘Ordained’ in   Acts 14:23 should be ‘elected’ or ‘appointed’; see Rv [Note: Revised Version.] ). The Seven, after being chosen by the multitude, were appointed to office by the Apostles, with prayer and the laying on of hands (  Acts 6:6 ). The ‘prophets and teachers’ of the Church at Antioch ‘separated’ Barnabas and Saul for their missionary work by laying their hands on them with fasting and prayer (  Acts 13:3 ). Timothy received the ‘gracious gift’ which was in him with the laying on of the hands of a body of elders (see art. Presbytery), with which St. Paul himself was associated (cf.   1 Timothy 4:14 with   2 Timothy 1:6 ). Timothy’s ‘gracious gift’ probably means his special fitness to be St. Paul’s companion in the work of a missionary evangelist (see Hort, Chr. Ecclesia , p. 184 ff.).

5 . Of the manner in which deacons and elders or bishops were set apart to office no information is given in Nt. The injunction, ‘Lay hands suddenly on no man’ (  1 Timothy 5:22 ), has often been supposed to refer to the act of ordination; but the fact that the whole passage (  1 Timothy 5:19-25 ) deals with offenders points rather to the imposition of hands in the restoration of the penitent (cf.   2 Corinthians 2:6 f.,   Galatians 6:1 ), a custom that certainly prevailed in the early Church at a later time. The fact, however, that Jewish Rabbis employed this rite when a disciple was authorized to teach, favours the view that it was commonly practised in the Apostolic Church, as it was almost universally in the post-Apostolic, in consecration to ministerial office. But the silence of the Nt at this point is against the supposition that the rite was regarded as an essential channel of ministerial grace, or anything more than the outward and appropriate symbol of an act of intercessory prayer (see   Matthew 19:13 ,   Acts 6:6;   Acts 13:3;   Acts 28:8; and cf. Augustine, de Baptismo , iii. 16, ‘What else is the laying on of hands than a prayer over one?’). See, further, art. Bishop.

J. C. Lambert.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Old Testament Laying on of hands is primarily associated in the Old Testament with the sacrifices prescribed in the Law. An Israelite making a burnt offering was to lay his hand on the animal's head that it might be an acceptable sacrifice for his atonement ( Leviticus 1:4;  Leviticus 8:18 ). Peace offerings ( Leviticus 3:2-13 ) and sin offerings ( Leviticus 4:4-33;  Leviticus 8:14 ) were made in the same way, as were the offering of the “ram of consecration” or ordination ( Leviticus 8:22 ) and the sin offering on the annual day of atonement ( Leviticus 16:21 ).

To lay hands on the sacrificial animal was a means of transferring one's iniquity to the animal ( Leviticus 16:22 ). Sins of the congregation were transferred by the elders ( Leviticus 4:15 ) or the high priest ( Leviticus 16:21 ) as the people's representatives. Later the king and princes acted on behalf of the nation ( 2 Chronicles 29:20-24 ). When the Levites were presented to the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, the whole assembly laid hands on them ( Numbers 8:10 ). The sin of blasphemy was viewed as so severe that all who overheard one cursing the name of the Lord laid their hands on his head prior to stoning him to death ( Leviticus 24:14-16 ). While the primary texts convey little of the spiritual meaning of these rituals, later Old Testament texts emphasize the importance of “a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart” ( Psalm 51:17 ).

The act of laying on of hands had other meanings in the Old Testament. Jacob (“Israel”) blessed Ephraim and Manasseh by laying his hands on their heads ( Genesis 48:13-20 ), and the Psalmist celebrated the Lord's protection as a blessing bestowed by God's having “laid thine hand upon me” ( Psalm 139:5 ). Job longed for someone who could arbitrate between himself and God by laying “his hand upon us both” ( Job 9:33 ). Moses commissioned Joshua and transferred some of his authority to him by the laying on of hands ( Numbers 27:18-23;  Deuteronomy 34:9 ). Elisha laid his hands on King Joash's hands as a prophetic act signifying God's promise to provide Israel victory over Syria ( 2 Kings 13:16 ). In addition, the Old Testament frequently uses the image of laying hands on someone as an act of arrest, capture, or violence ( Genesis 27:22;  Exodus 22:11;  2 Chronicles 23:15;  Esther 2:21 ).

New Testament The most frequent usage of the expression in the New Testament relates to the arrest or capture of someone ( Matthew 26:50;  Mark 14:46;  Luke 21:12;  John 7:44;  Acts 4:3;  Acts 12:1 ). In contrast, miraculous healing accompanied the laying on of hands. Jesus healed a blind man ( Mark 8:23-25 ), the sick ( Mark 6:5;  Luke 4:40 ), and a woman with “a spirit of infirmity” ( Luke 13:11-13 ) by laying hands on them. This seems to have been a characteristic means of healing ( Mark 5:23 ), and Jesus' disciples continued the practice ( Mark 16:18;  Acts 9:12-17;  Acts 28:8 ). Some view healing by laying on of hands as an extension of the Old Testament blessing. A more explicit example of this is Jesus' laying hands on children to bless them ( Mark 10:16;  Matthew 19:13-15 ).

Acts introduces the dynamic but fluid practice of the early church.  Acts 6:1 relates the selection of seven men who were put in charge of the daily service to the widows of the Jerusalem congregation. These men were chosen by the congregation, brought before the apostles, and, after prayer, had hands (whether the congregation's or the apostles' is unclear) laid on them. Fasting, prayer, and the laying on of hands also accompanied the appointment of Barnabas and Saul to their missionary endeavor (  Acts 13:3 ). Peter and John laid hands on baptized believers in Samaria so they might receive the Holy Spirit ( Acts 8:14-19 ). Paul did the same for some disciples at Ephesus who had been baptized into John the Baptist's baptism ( Acts 19:6 ). These disciples began speaking in tongues and prophesying as evidence of the Holy Spirit.

In 1,2Timothy Paul wrote of Timothy's having been given a spiritual gift by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the assembly of elders ( 1 Timothy 4:14 ). He also referred to a gift of God that was in Timothy through the laying on of Paul's hands ( 2 Timothy 1:6 ). Paul warned against laying hands on any one hastily ( 1 Timothy 5:22 ).

Hebrews classified laying on of hands among the elementary teachings that persons of maturity must leave behind ( Hebrews 6:2 ).

Michael Fink

Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology

The Bible frequently invests this simple gesture with weighty symbolism. Its significance can be fruitfully evaluated in connection with four concepts: blessing, miraculous power, separation, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Although the imposition of hands accompanies the pronouncement of blessing relatively infrequently in Scripture, the association occurs with remarkable consistency. Just as Jacob blesses Joseph's children by the imposition of hands ( Genesis 48:14 ), so Jesus takes little children in his arms, places his hands on them, and blesses them ( Mark 10:13-15; cf.  Matthew 19:13-15 ). Related to these passages are those that speak of the high priest raising his hands over the people in order to bless them ( Leviticus 9:22 ), a pattern Jesus follows when he, perhaps acting as the great high priest, blesses his followers immediately before his ascension ( Luke 24:50 ).

Jesus and his followers also frequently placed their hands on those whom they intended to heal by miraculous power. Although the term "blessing" does not appear in these contexts, certainly those who experienced these healings understood in an especially powerful way the benediction of God's favor ( Mark 5:23;  7:32;  8:23-25;  Luke 4:40;  13:13;  Acts 9:12,17;  28:8;  5:12 ).

Often the imposition of hands is associated not with blessing but with separation from the larger group. Thus in the Old Testament hands are imposed on sacrificial animals in order to set them apart for a special purpose ( Exodus 29:10,15 ,  19,33;  Leviticus 1:4;  4:4,15 ,  24;  8:14,18 ,  22;  16:21;  Numbers 8:5-15;  2 Chronicles 29:3 ). The notion of separation for an uncommon purpose probably also lies behind the imposition of hands on the Levites during their ceremony of consecration ( Numbers 8:5-15 ) and behind Moses' imposition of hands on Joshua during the ritual in which he was designated as Moses' successor ( Numbers 27:18-23; cf.  Deuteronomy 34:9 ).

The concept of separation may explain references to the laying on of hands in Acts and the Epistles as well. The gesture was included in the ceremony that separated seven gifted men from the rest of the early Jerusalem church for the task of overseeing the distribution of food to those in need ( Acts 6:3-6 ). Similarly the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch laid their hands on Saul and Barnabas in order to "separate" them for their ground-breaking mission work ( Acts 13:3 ). In view of the critical nature of the tasks for which the imposition of hands set people apart, Paul naturally wanted Timothy to avoid laying hands on people too quickly as a precaution against putting people in charge of tasks for which they were not qualified ( 1 Timothy 5:22; cf.  Hebrews 6:2 ).

The concept of separation may also explain why the imposition of hands occurs so frequently (although not invariably) in connection with the coming of the Holy Spirit or with the giving of the gifts that the Spirit distributes ( Acts 8:17-19;  19:6; cf.  1 Timothy 4:14;  2 Timothy 1:6 ). Since God's Spirit is the Spirit that sanctifies or sets apart (hence the term " Holy Spirit"), it inevitably separates those on whom it falls from the world around them. Moreover, by the gifts it distributes, God's Spirit separates some from others within the church for special tasks.

There is a sense in which the idea of separation for a special purpose, so clearly visible in many instances, binds together all the occurrences of the phrase. Even in the context of formal blessings and astonishing miracles, the imposition of hands signifies the separation of a person, a people, or even a bodily part ( Mark 8:25 ) as the recipient of an unusual manifestation of God's grace.

Frank Thielman

Bibliography . E. Lohse, Tdnt, 9:428-29,431-34; M. H. Shepherd, Idb, 2:521-22; M. Warkentin, Ordination: A Biblical-Historical View .

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

One of the symbolic actions we meet a number of times in the Bible is the laying on of hands. It contained within it a wide range of meanings.

In Israel’s sacrificial system, before offering an animal in sacrifice, the offerers laid their hands on the animal’s head, indicating that the animal was their representative in bearing their sins ( Leviticus 1:4;  Leviticus 4:1-4). When Israel’s tribal leaders, acting on behalf of the whole nation, laid their hands on the heads of the Levites, they symbolized that the Levites were their representatives in the service of God ( Numbers 8:10-11). When the church in Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries, the elders of the church laid their hands on them, symbolizing the church’s identification with the two men as their missionary representatives ( Acts 13:3).

From these examples it seems that important elements in the laying on of hands were those of identification and fellowship. This again appears to be so in those cases where the apostles laid their hands on people who received the Holy Spirit in unusual circumstances ( Acts 8:17;  Acts 19:6; see Baptism With The Spirit).

Sometimes laying on hands symbolized more than representation or identification. It symbolized appointment to office. Moses appointed Joshua as his successor by the laying on of hands ( Numbers 27:22-23). Church leaders appointed missionaries, teachers, elders and deacons to their positions by the ceremonial laying on of hands ( Acts 6:6;  Acts 13:3;  1 Timothy 4:14;  1 Timothy 5:22;  2 Timothy 1:6).

The laying on of hands seems in some cases to have indicated transferal. It may have been a transferal of sin, such as happened when the high priest confessed the sins of Israel over the head of a goat on the Day of Atonement ( Leviticus 16:21-22); or it may have been a transferal of good, such as happened when a father passed on his blessing to his children ( Genesis 48:14-16; cf.  Mark 10:16).

Jesus and the apostles sometimes laid their hands on those whom they healed, possibly to symbolize the passing on of God’s power and blessing ( Mark 6:5;  Luke 4:40;  Luke 13:13;  Acts 9:17). In some cases the laying on of hands may have been a kind of acted prayer ( Acts 28:8; cf.  James 5:14-15).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Laying On of Hands. This "formed at an early period a part of the ceremony observed on the appointment and consecration of persons to high and holy undertakings;" (and, in the Christian Church, was especially used in setting apart men to the ministry and to other holy offices. It is a symbolical act expressing the imparting of spiritual authority and power. - Editor).

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(See Baptism.)

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

See Ordination.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

See Hands.