Laying on of Hands — Anton Bosch

The Old Testament Origin of Laying on of Hands

We are now busy with the 8th one of the principles, which is the laying on of hands. We did the baptisms up to the last time, and now we have 3 left, and this one is the laying on of hands. If we go to Genesis chapter 48, this principle finds obviously its roots in the Old Testament, as all of the principles do in one way or the other.

In Genesis 48 we find quite an interesting account of Jacob blessing Joseph's 2 sons. The custom was that when someone came to the end of their life, they would bless the children and they would lay hands on them.

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

In Genesis 48 verse 12,. So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down his face. Maybe we should just take it a bit earlier. Verse 9,. And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.

And he said, Please bring them to me, and I will bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

Then Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face, but in fact God has shown me your offspring. So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth.

And Joseph took them both, Ephraim on his right hand towards Israel's left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand towards Israel's right hand, and brought them near him. Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Then he blessed Joseph and said, God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. Let my name be named upon them in the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. So he took the hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn, but put your right hand on his head.

And his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.

And so he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel will bless, saying, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And thus he said, Ephraim before Manasseh. And so you see the strange thing that happened is that Jacob crosses over his hands.

And obviously the greater, and we can see from that that there was great power in their ability, in these men's ability to bless and to pass on a blessing. And you remember that even Jacob had to go to his father and get the blessing in the stead of his brother.

And so he goes in his brother Isaac's name, having put Isaac's clothes on and the animal skins. And so his father also blessed him in this way. But even depending which hand you use, the right hand had greater blessing than the left hand.

And so Jacob now blesses the two boys, but he crosses his hands over so that the right hand is on the youngest one and his left hand on the older one. And Joseph says, No, it's got to be the other way around.

And he says, No, this is the way it's got to be. And this is just one of the many, many examples in the Old Testament of a blessing being passed on. And this is the greatest and the most important aspect of the laying on of hands is that it passes on a blessing.

God's Will Rather Than Human Force

But also a very important lesson that we learn from this is that we cannot do, and we will emphasize this as we go along in a different aspect. We cannot do what God has not determined in heaven. And so we can't force God's hand by laying on hands.

And so if God is not determined to bless someone, we can lay hands on that person and try and bless them as much as we like. God is not going to support that process. And so what we can do, and this is the principle behind the laying on of hands, is that we can simply reenact on us what God is doing in heaven.

And so sometimes we get confused and people get confused and they say, Well, you know, we can lay hands and so we can give a blessing or we can pray for someone to be healed. Or we can pray for someone to be filled with the Spirit.

And by laying on hands, we can do that. We can cause that to happen. No, we can't cause anything to happen. All we can do is be extensions of God's hands and do what God determined to do. Now, it wasn't because Jacob had laid his right hand on the younger, on Ephraim, and his left hand on the other.

That wasn't why the younger one became greater than the older one. It was because that was what was in God's will. That was what God had determined before the time. And so he was simply doing what God had determined.

And because you'll see that he then prophesied, not making something happen, but simply saying this is what is going to happen. Because he says in verse 19,. But his father refused and said, I know my son, I know he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great.

But truly his younger shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. And so he blessed them that day. And so that was what God had determined. Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh.

And so he crosses over his hands, simply following the direction of God. This wasn't something that he got into his head and said, I'm going to do it this way. No, he was doing what God had directed him to do.

This is a very important principle we need to understand when we speak about the laying on of hands. That we can't do what we want to do and expect God to support that. No, we've got to do what God wants to do, and then God will bless and support that.

Blessing Children in the New Testament

Now if we go to Matthew chapter 19, you'll find that this practice of blessing children is carried forward into the New Testament by the Lord Jesus. In Matthew 19, and we know the story well, how that the children are brought to the Lord Jesus, and the disciples say, no, but he's a busy man, you know, take the children away.

And Jesus says, suffer the little children to come to me, because of such are the kingdom. But in verse 13 of Matthew 19, it says, Then little children were brought to him, that he might put his hands on them and pray, that the disciples rebuke them.

But Jesus said, let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. So again, the children are brought to Jesus. This is a custom amongst the Jews, that children were brought to rabbis, that the rabbis might be able to pray for the children.

Now, this is obviously something that we still do in the New Testament, is that we pray for children. We do not baptize them, because remember, when we dealt with baptism, baptism is for those who believe.

Children cannot believe, they could not have repented, and so it's impossible then to baptize children. So any baptism of children is not really a biblical or a valid experience. Now, what happens is that in evangelical churches, where adults are baptized, that there is a tradition then to bring the children to the elders of the church, that the children may be hands laid on them, and that those children may be blessed in that way.

And of course, we cite the example of the Lord Jesus doing this. Now, we need to just be very clear, that we don't have any instruction in the New Testament to do this. Nowhere does the New Testament teach and say, you must dedicate your children, you must lay hands on children and bless them in that way.

This was an Old Testament custom, which Jesus perpetuates, and so we have permission to do that. It's good that we do that. I personally like to do that, because it's an opportunity, particularly if the parents are unsaved, because really we cannot, by laying hands on the child, cause this child to be saved or to be changed in any way.

But it's an opportunity to speak into the lives of the parents, to speak and to give them an opportunity, even if they are unbelievers, to turn to Christ and to understand that they cannot raise this child unless they do it with the help of the Lord.

And so, it's a good time. It's a good time for the family to get together and for us to bless the families in that way. But it's particularly a good opportunity to be able to speak a word of truth into the lives of people.

But it doesn't mean that children who are not blessed in that way will in any way be detrimentally affected in their lives. And so, it's a custom and we do that, and we have, I believe, Biblical permission to do that, but we don't have an instruction to do it.

It's nothing that says we must do it. And so, if parents don't want to do it, then that's fine. There's absolutely no problem with that. What we've got to be careful is that it doesn't become a substitute for infant sprinkling or for christening.

And so, it just becomes an evangelical form of christening. It can never be that. We've got to be careful about that connotation. And so, the people in the historic churches, they christen and we bless the children or we lay hands on the children.

No, there is no link or no parallel between those two whatsoever. There shouldn't be. We're simply doing what Jesus did here and what was an Old Testament custom which we're perpetuating. And so, that's one of the uses of the laying on of hands.

Healing the Sick Through Faithful Dependence on God

In Mark chapter 16, we find that another use or another reason for the laying on of hands is for Mark chapter 16 and verse 18. 17 says, Now, you'll see there that he's saying that these are things that will follow those who believe.

These are not for special evangelists or special ministers. Anyone who believes has the privilege of being able to lay hands on the sick and trusting God for the healing of those sick. Now, as we've said before, we cannot make happen on earth what God is not determined to do in heaven.

And so, we cannot say, and that's why we've got to be careful when praying for people who are sick. We cannot demand that a person be healed because that's not our prerogative. It's God's prerogative to heal.

And so, we've got to again, we've got to operate in conjunction with the Lord and if it is the Lord's will, the Lord will heal that individual. But again, the laying on of hands, not just, yes, evangelists, sure, they can do that.

But any believer can do that. And so, if someone gets sick in the home, the parents can pray for the children and lay hands on them. Or you can ask your husband or your wife or your friend or somebody nearby to pray for you and to lay hands on you because this is a biblical pattern, a biblical principle and a promise that is given to us that we will lay hands on the sick and that they will recover.

Laying on of Hands and the Holy Spirit

And so, you can see again, as we pass a blessing on to the child, in this way, one is passing on a blessing to those who are sick. In Acts chapter 8, you'll find that when we spoke about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, that people received or were filled or were baptized, depending on what terminology you want to use, the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands in Acts chapter 8 and verse 18.

And it speaks about Simon the sorcerer here and it says that when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. So, he thought this was a gift that you can buy.

Now, again, it teaches us two things here. It teaches us, firstly, that yes, the laying on of hands can impart the Holy Spirit. I'm very careful of that word impartation because it has wrong connotations.

But not in every case in the New Testament were hands laid on people in order to receive the Holy Spirit. So, you don't have to have hands laid on in order to receive the Holy Spirit. The same way as you don't have to have hands laid on a child in order for that child to eventually come to a knowledge of salvation.

The same way as you don't have to have hands laid on a sick person in order for them to be healed. It's interesting in James where it says, if there's any sick among you let them call for the elders of the church.

And it says that the elders must anoint them with oil. It doesn't speak about laying hands on them. It simply says they must anoint them with oil. And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise them up.

Do you see the emphasis again? The Lord will raise them up. Not the prayer of faith that will raise them up or the oil that will raise them up, but the Lord will raise them up. So, it's always God who does the work and we're simply being extensions of the hand of God.

And so again, so you can receive healing without hands being laid on. But you can also receive healing with hands laid on. It's just one of those things that God, in understanding our lack of faith really, gives us a visual thing, a tangible thing that we can relate to.

To maybe just help our faith a little bit because some people just need that physical touch in order to understand that God is actually at work here. But others don't need that. And so they can receive the Holy Spirit without the laying on of hands.

Recognizing Ministry Through Laying on of Hands

And so, yeah, we're speaking about blessing children, healing the sick, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then while we enact in chapter 13, it speaks about the recognition of ministry. And it says that in Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers in verse 1.

And verse 2 says, They ministered to the Lord and fasted. The Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. And verse 3 says, Then having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and they sent them away.

And so Barnabas and Saul are sent away and they become apostles because that's what that word means. They're sent out. And this is done with the laying on of hands. And there are quite a few examples in the New Testament of people who have hands laid on in that way.

In Acts chapter 6, for instance, we find the seven chosen to serve the tables. Now it doesn't specifically call them deacons, but most people tend to feel that this was the first account of deacons. And it says, They selected these men.

And verse 6 says, Whom they sent before the apostles and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. And the word of God spread and the number of disciples multiplied greatly. And so on. And so again you can see the laying on of hands in order to recognize a ministry.

Not in order to give a ministry. And only elders are ordained. Other ministries are not ordained, but they are recognized and they are blessed by the laying on of hands. Now again, we cannot give a man a ministry by laying hands on him.

If God did not give him a ministry, if God had not made Paul an apostle, the laying on of hands by the local elders there would do absolutely nothing for him. It wouldn't suddenly now make him an apostle.

He was an apostle because God had called him and gifted him to be an apostle. And so all they did was simply recognize that which God had already done. And so again, it's working together with God. And you'll notice that in Acts 18 it speaks about the fact that the Holy Spirit said, sorry, Acts 13, that the Holy Spirit said, Separate to me Paul and Barnabas.

So this wasn't, they decided this was what they were going to do and now they're going to lay hands on these two men. And now suddenly God has to bless that. And that's again the impression sometimes we get.

That a man can go to Bible school or seminary and he can get his diploma or his degree and now we lay hands on him and ordain him and we send him into the ministry. Now he's got something because he's got a degree and secondly he's got hands laid on him.

But if God didn't gift him, he's got absolutely nothing. He's simply got a degree and some men laid hands on him but he still has nothing. And so the laying on of hands simply recognizes that which God already does.

The Church as an Extension of Christ's Hands

Now we've alluded to the fact that the laying on of hands is simply an extension of his hands. Now in 1 Corinthians 12 it speaks about the body, speaks about the body of Christ. He is the head and we are the members of Christ.

And he says one is an eye and one is a hand and one is a foot and so on. Now Jesus has this little plaque that some people have on their walls. He has no hands but your hands. He has no feet but your feet.

And that's maybe a little bit overused now but it still is true. He doesn't have feet on the earth anymore. The body which Jesus had which he had when he was on earth is now glorified and is now in heaven.

And so the only feet he has are our feet. The only hands he has are our hands. And so you see right through the ministry of the Lord Jesus how that he was always blessing people. He was touching people.

Touching the blind man's eyes. Touching the one that was dead and raising them back to life again. Touching the little children and blessing them. Touching the bread and breaking the bread and multiplying it and making it enough to feed the multitude.

These were the things that Jesus did with his hands. But now he doesn't have hands anymore but he has our hands. And so really when we lay hands on people and generally people are not things. Some people say you can lay hands on if your washing machine breaks you can lay hands on the washing machine it will be fixed.

But the Bible doesn't really give us permission to lay hands on things. But we lay hands on people for different things. And so when we do that we are extensions of his hands and it's his hands that are being extended to people's lives in order to impart that blessing.

Binding and Loosing in the Context of Church Discipline

Now in Matthew chapter 16 we find a verse which is very often used and what we said just now relates to this now. In Matthew chapter 16 and you also find the same in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 16 and verse 19 Jesus speaking to Peter Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ and then it says in verse 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

And he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. Now also if you go across to Matthew chapter 18 and the context here is dealing with a brother who has sinned and it says in verse 18.

Assuredly I say to you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Now I know that neither of those scriptures deal with the laying on of hands but they deal with a very important principle and that is the authority which is vested within the church and so the church has authority to bind and to loose.

Now it doesn't speak about demons people apply these verses to demons neither of these two verses apply to demons it says nothing about demons or angels, loosing angels and binding demons those verses don't speak about that at all they are dealing with other issues and particularly Matthew 18 in dealing with the issue of church discipline and you'll notice that the responsibility of church discipline Matthew 18 lies with the church not just with the elders it lies with the whole church and what he is saying here is that when we bind something on earth that is bound in heaven but now remember the principle which we've established already that I cannot bind on earth what God has not first bound in heaven and so if I say that we are going to bind this person or we are going to bind this issue on earth or we are going to loose this thing on earth if that has not been done in heaven we are wasting our time because God is not going to support that but remember here that he is speaking particularly in Matthew 18 about the issue of dealing with someone who sins and you'll see a very interesting thing here because verse 19 says again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that you ask it will be done for them by my father in heaven.

Now we misapply that verse because we say if we agree that God must give me a new Mercedes then that's going to happen. But the context in which this is spoken about here is in the context of dealing with people who are sinning and who are not repenting because you see he speaks about giving them warning and if they don't listen then you take witnesses and so on and so going through a disciplinary procedure literally with that person and the whole object is not to put the person out of the church the whole object of this procedure is to get them to repent and to get them to be reconciled.

And then in that context he says again I say to you if two of us in other words he is saying the church has great authority when it comes to these matters. And then the next verse where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there in the midst of them.

Now we like to say well you know if there is only a few of us in the meeting then the Lord is there. Yes that's true the Lord is there where two or three are gathered but he is saying specifically when we are dealing with issues of church discipline the Lord is there and so it's not just two people.

Then remember why does it say two or three. Because it uses two or three right through the scripture in the context of witnesses that are brought against someone who has sinned and so under the law you were not allowed to take an accusation against a man that he had committed adultery or that he had stolen or murdered or whatever unless there were two or three witnesses.

Now he is saying if there are two or three witnesses in this issue of discipline then the Lord is there. The Lord is present in those two or three witnesses and so whatever measures. If that person then is put out of the church because you see he says in verse 17 if he refuses to hear them they tell it to church.

But if he refuses even to hear the church let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. And so he says if that is what the church has come to a conclusion of Christ is in the church in that process and therefore this carries the seal of heaven and God will confirm that in heaven.

But remember that we cannot we cannot force God if we act unjustly and we don't go through this procedure and the man is treated unfairly we cannot expect God and we put him out of the church and we say now God must now support our actions.

God is not going to support that action because we have acted unfairly unjustly we have acted against the scriptures. And so you can see what we are saying is that we don't although what we do on earth is sealed in heaven is only sealed in heaven if that was first sealed in heaven.

To start with we cannot force God's hand in these matters whatsoever we cannot act unfairly or unjustly and expect God to support that. But when we are acting in line with God then that carries the support of heaven and so there is tremendous authority in the laying on of hands and in every area of the operation of the church.

And obviously in this context in the issue of church discipline there is tremendous authority within the church because it is being supported by heaven if it is done with heaven's support and so you can see the great power which actually is vested not just in the church as such in the official organized church but in where two or three have gathered in his name and this authority carries through to the laying on of hands.

And that is why the laying on of hands is quite a serious issue. And that is why you find a warning in 1 Timothy chapter 5.

1 Timothy chapter 5.

And verse 22 Do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. Now what he is speaking about here is about elders. You will see that he says in verse 17 let elders who rule well be counted with a double honor.

Then he speaks about if they need to be paid they must be paid properly. Then he says in verse 20 those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all speaking of elders. And then in verse 22 he says do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share in other people's sins.

Now what he is speaking about is ordaining elders. Laying hands on elders for ordination. And he is saying that this is a serious thing. You can't just do this lightly and in fact it is not something that can easily be undone.

You can't take back the laying on of hands the same way you can't take back your words. You say something slanderously or something in gossip about someone. There is no way you can go back and fetch all of those words.

You can say I retracted you can say I didn't mean it you can say whatever you like. But those words have gone out into the world and it has been carried out and transferred from one person to the other and there is no way you can go and fetch that back.

And so we have got to be careful. That is why we will give it an account for even every idle word that we speak because although we can repent of those words those words have been sent out and they are going out and they are continuing to do their bad work even days and years and months after we have even tried to retract them.

And so the laying on of hands also is a very very serious step. It is not something you can easily revoke. And so some people think that you can ordain elders and you can just unordain them or you can just resign from that.

But you can't do that because in fact it carries the seal of heaven. It is a very very serious step. And I look back on my own ministry and think that there were times when I in fact incorrectly ordained elders and that has been a very very heavy burden I have had to bear in allowing elders to be ordained when in fact they were not ready or they were not the men that actually God wanted.

But it becomes an irrevocable step. There is no provision. This is the amazing thing. No provision in the New Testament whatsoever for an elder to be retrenched or to be fired or to be demoted or anything of that kind of terminology there is absolutely no provision for it whatsoever.

So it seems that once someone has been ordained as an elder they are there unless God deals with their heart and they say I shouldn't be in this position and they actually step down. And so it is a serious thing.

And that is why Paul says don't do it hastily be careful don't quickly. Particularly in the light of ordination when we pray for someone who is for healing or for blessing children. Yes that is imparting a blessing.

It is not binding something serious which gives authority to a person in the church. And so we can do that maybe less lightly. And then what is the principle then? We have said that the principle is the giving of a blessing.

The giving of a blessing for a man to continue in an area of ministry. Blessing a child. Blessing someone who is sick with healing. Blessing someone with the gift of the Holy Spirit. These are some of the many ways uses.

Freely Give What God Has Freely Given

But at the end of the day the purpose and the function of the laying on of hands is the impartation or the giving of blessing the giving of blessing. Now if we go to Matthew chapter 10 you will find a very important principle here because now we have spoken about some of the uses and the ways in which laying on of hands is used in the New Testament and you will notice that many churches don't actually practice this much anymore.

And yet it is a New Testament principle. And then. But there is a principle behind it which we need to now also look at Matthew chapter 10 and Jesus is sending out the the twelve into Judea to go and preach the gospel and he tells them to do these things verse 17 verse 7 Matthew 10 verse 7.

And as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out demons freely. You have received freely give provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts nor bag for your journey nor two tunics nor sandals nor staffs for a worker is worthy of his food.

And whatever town or city you enter inquire who in it is worthy. And stay there until you go out and so on. Now you will see that he tells them to do certain things to go and preach the gospel of the kingdom or the message of the kingdom to heal the sick to cleanse the lepers to raise the dead.

Now how did Jesus do these things. He did most of those things by the laying on of hands. Even the lepers Jesus would touch and the lepers were shocked by this because nobody would ever touch them and yet Jesus would touch the lepers and he would heal them and so.

But then Jesus says now here is the principle behind these things. He says don't hold back in touching people. Now we are not talking about physically embracing people or touching people in that way but touching people's lives in order to bless them.

And he says you have received it freely the blessing of God. We have received that freely and we must give it freely. Now that word freely means two things. Really the one is without charge. And so when the money preachers say you know sow into my ministry and I will pray for your healing they are going against the scripture because he says we didn't buy that gift from God.

God gave it to us for nothing and therefore we must give it to other people for nothing. But also when it speaks about freely it means liberally. In other words God gave to us without being stingy and saying look I will just give you a little bit of blessing.

God gave us much and so we must give freely. We must give much to others and that's the principle that he says to the disciples. He says you have received these gifts you have received blessing from me.

Now go and give to others and you have received it free give it free. You have received much give much. And that's the principle. And so as they were laying hands on people they were imparting this or enacting this principle of saying well I haven't got anything.

You remember the man came to Peter and to John and said give us money. And they said we haven't got money. We've got nothing but what we have got. In other words what I received that I'll give you. And he said we didn't receive money from God but God gave us blessing.

God gave us healing and so that we can give you we can give you healing. And so even then right. This is the beginning of their ministry. And now that experience at the at the gate called beautiful that was much later in the in the ministry of Peter and of the of the twelve and they are still applying the same principle we got it for nothing.

What we've got we can give you. But you know we can't give what we haven't got. Many preachers are trying to give what they never received and so the preaching is dry. The ministry is dead. And one wonders why it is because they actually never received anything from God.

So they are actually trying to give nothing because they received nothing. But when we have received something and whatever that may be if God has given you any ability to touch people's lives whether it be in a physical way of praying for people's healing or blessing them or whether it be in a word of encouragement or in a financial way or in a way form of comforting people or helping people in some way.