The Christian church has practiced the laying on of hands in the context of worship since apostolic times. In the New Testament, three purposes are associated with this act: healing, the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and commissioning for service.
The practice of the laying on of hands for blessing or consecration is of ancient origin. Jacob blessed the children of Joseph by laying his hands upon their heads (Gen. 48:14, 18). Worshipers in Israel laid their hands upon the head of their atonement sacrifices before offering them (Lev. 1:4). The “sons of Israel” laid their hands on the Levites in presenting them to the Lord (Num. 8:10 NASB). Like the sprinkling of blood, the laying on of hands constitutes an identification between the two participants in the ritual. Jacob claimed Joseph’s two sons as his own, including them in the family inheritance. The Israelite worshiper recognized that the slain animal was taking on itself the judgment belonging to the one who sacrificed it, and the sons of Israel presented the Levites to the Lord as a substitute for themselves and their children.
In the New Testament, the laying on of hands also indicates identification and confers blessing. Accordingly, it is regularly practiced in Christian churches. This practice is carried on in three principal areas: healing of the sick, the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and various practices of commissioning.
Healing
Although most Christians pray for healing, the Pentecostal movement has always maintained it as a major emphasis. The “full gospel,” say Pentecostals, includes healing as one of its components; their common practice is to pray for healing with the laying on of hands, frequently anointing the sufferer with oil according to James 5:14.
The biblical foundation for this ritual is drawn from several New Testament accounts. Jesus himself often laid hands on people for healing. Luke writes: “The people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness and laying his hands on each one, he healed them” (Luke 4:40). Mark records a number of instances in which Jesus used his hands in healing the sick and raising the dead: he took both Peter’s feverish mother-in-law (1:31) and Jairus’s dead daughter (5:41) by the hand, took the hand of a demonized boy and lifted him up (9:27), reached out his hand to touch a leper (1:41), put his fingers into the ears of a deaf-mute (7:33), and laid his hands on a number of sick people in his hometown (6:5). Apparently, Jesus’ own spiritual vitality was transferred to those in need through the physical touch of his hands.
After his ascension, Jesus’ healing ministry was carried on through his church, as the book of Acts records. Peter took a lame beggar by the hand, and he was healed (3:7); he raised Tabitha from the dead, lifting her by the hand (9:40–41); handkerchiefs and aprons that had come into contact with Paul’s body were used to heal the sick (19:12); Paul laid hands on Publius’s father and he was made well (28:7–8). Before his ascension, Jesus had given all believers the authority to lay hands on the sick for their healing. “In my name,” he said, “[those who believe] will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:17–18).
In view of the scriptural precedents and Jesus’ clear statement, “full gospel” Christians affirm that laying on of hands for healing should be a regular practice in the church. They see no biblical reason why the body of Christ should not continue to provide healing in his name in this way for all time to come.
Impartation of the Holy Spirit
A number of Bible passages connect the laying on of hands with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Most of these occur in the Acts of the Apostles. After Philip had proclaimed the gospel and baptized a group of Samaritans, Peter and John, who had come down from Jerusalem, “placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (8:17). Some three days after Saul of Tarsus had recognized Jesus as Lord, Ananias went to him and, “placing his hands on Saul,” declared both his healing from temporary blindness and his being filled with the Holy Spirit (9:17). Many years later Saul, now known as Paul, ministered in a similar fashion to a number of disciples in Ephesus. They came to faith in Jesus, were baptized in his name, and subsequently received the Holy Spirit “when Paul placed his hands on them” (19:6).
The Bible records a few instances in which the Holy Spirit was given without the laying on of hands. These include the initial outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4) and the occasion on which Peter preached to the household of Cornelius (10:44). In the first case, the 120 believers on whom the Spirit fell were the first to receive this gift; there was no one available to lay hands on them. In the latter instance, Peter himself was taken by surprise when the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his family and friends who were Gentiles; he had apparently not intended to pray for them to receive the gift. In both cases, God acted sovereignly to bestow his Spirit without the use of a human intermediary.
An important concern for Catholic charismatics is the relationship between the laying on of hands in the sacrament of confirmation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The church teaches that the Spirit is conferred on believers for their strengthening and outward witness when the bishop lays his hands on them in confirmation. For this reason, Roman Catholics sometimes refer to confirmation as “the Pentecostal sacrament.” However, Catholic charismatic believers also recognize and practice the laying on of hands by laypersons of all denominations for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These two apparently conflicting doctrines have been reconciled in a number of ways. Some Catholics view the charismatic laying on of hands as a prayer for the confirmand that he or she will have “full docility” to the grace received in the sacrament. Others regard the baptism in the Spirit as the release of the power of the Spirit already given at confirmation, in which a person experiences “the effects of confirmation.” Still, others believe that the Holy Spirit is offered at confirmation but must be accepted personally by the confirmand. This latter view moves the emphasis away from a sacramental understanding of the laying on of hands as an objective medium of Spirit baptism to an offer of the Spirit that can be received subsequently.
Clearly, there is a need in the church at large for a better understanding of the relationship between the laying on of hands and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The writer of Hebrews refers to the laying on of hands as an elementary doctrine that the church should already have mastered (6:12); the context of this passage indicates that he is talking about the impartation of the Holy Spirit. Without having clarified its understanding of this doctrine, then, the church cannot very well go on to maturity as the writer admonishes it to do (6:1).
Commissioning
Most Christian bodies practice the laying on of hands for commissioning (ordaining, appointing). In its first move toward organization, the infant church chose seven men to serve tables; in preparing them for this responsibility the apostles laid their hands on them and prayed (Acts 6:5–6). Several years later, prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch set aside Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries by fasting, praying, and laying hands on them (Acts 13:1–3). During one of their journeys, Paul and Barnabas appointed (literally “chose by stretching out the hand”) elders in a number of churches (Acts 14:23).
Paul’s references to Timothy’s being consecrated for ministry through the laying on of hands have prompted churches of various denominations to continue the practice when ordaining ministers. Paul says that a body of elders laid hands on Timothy (1 Tim. 4:14) and indicates that he himself was a part of that group (2 Tim. 1:6). In both of these passages, Paul says that the gift for ministry was given to Timothy through the process of laying on of hands.
In all three situations in which the Bible mentions the laying on of hands, impartation of some grace is the result; a closer examination will reveal that this grace always involves the Spirit of Christ. In the case of healing, there is a transfer of energy or life, which is the Spirit; in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the connection is explicit; and in commissioning, a gift of the Spirit is given.