What Is the Doctrine THE LAYING ON OF HANDS?
The laying on of hands is the fourth basic doctrine of Christianity, as detailed here:
1Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2instructions about on baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
Hebrews 6:1-2
This doctrine refers to the transference of four things through physical contact:
- Blessing,
- Anointing and consecration for service, i.e. ministry,
- The baptism of the Holy Spirit,
- Healing or deliverance.
Healing or deliverance includes physical, mental and spiritual healing/deliverance, not just physical.
To illustrate how important this often neglected doctrine is, allow me to share a personal story…
Around 1992 I was a growing believer (since turning to the Lord in March, 1984, at the age of 20). I found myself in a spiritual malaise. No, I wasn’t in sin, but I felt a darkness enveloping me. I was able to function and go to work, etc. but there was a pall of depression over me wherein I had lost my peace and joy. Prayer and Bible reading at home wasn’t breaking the malaise so I went to a night service at my local assembly, hoping for deliverance. The Praise & Worship was great as usual as was the ministry of the Word, not to mention the fellowship.
Yet, as I walked down the hallway to depart the service the malaise was still upon me. That’s when I ran into an associate pastor and we exchanged pleasantries. Being somewhat desperate, I told him about the malaise I was experiencing and he wasted no time in taking me to a nearby room in which he said a simple prayer and then touched my abdomen with his finger. I discerned power flowing from his fingertip into my torso and then throughout the rest of my body, every limb. The dark malaise was absolutely gone and I walked out of the facility healed and blessed.
The point is that praise & worship didn’t deliver me in this situation, neither did the ministry of the Word nor fellowship. I received deliverance solely through the ministry of the laying on of hands.
For anyone who doesn’t believe such holy power is biblical, keep reading, particularly the fourth section below, Healing and Spiritual Deliverance.
Now let’s look at each of the four purposes of the laying on of hands:
Blessing (or General Prayer)
Christ placed his hands on children and blessed them (Mark 10:13,16 & Matthew 19:13,15). To ‘bless’ someone means “to speak positive words that have a productive impact.” The official priestly prayer supports this definition (Numbers 6:22-27) and you can find these types of prayer/blessings all over the Bible, e.g. Romans 15:13 and Colossians 1:9-12.
Blessing or prayer in this manner is so important because words “have the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). Whether people know it or not, our words bring life or death, blessing or cursing. Proverbs 12:18 reinforces this: “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Needless to say, the idea that “words can never hurt me” is a lie.
Kids and youths are especially vulnerable to “reckless words” or verbal abuse, particularly from authority figures in their lives (Colossians 3:21). Adults who continually berate, belittle and call children names are speaking a prophecy of death and destruction over them (!).
Blessing, by contrast, is a prophecy of life, which is why the Lord laid his hands on children and blessed them.
Words are powerful by themselves and adding the dimension of touch magnifies their impact.
Anointing/Separation for Ministry
Hands are to be lain on those called of God to special service. Biblical examples include the Levites (Numbers 8:10-11), Joshua, (Numbers 27:18-23), Stephen & six others (Acts 6:1-6) and Saul & Barnabas (Acts 13:2-3).
Obviously the people who qualify for such a rite of passage should already be full of faith, God’s Word and the Spirit, as was the case with Joshua and Steven in the aforementioned examples. The laying on of hands simply provides a stronger anointing to fulfill their God-given assignment.
Paul instructed his young protégé, Timothy, to not be “hasty in the laying on of hands” (1 Timothy 5:22) because potential ministers must be tested for character and faithfulness and there’s no test like the test of time. Those who hastily confirm untested ministers share responsibility for the damage they eventually do to people and will have to give account to the Lord at the Judgment Seat (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The Holy Spirit Baptism
Hands are to be laid on believers to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is evidenced by speaking in tongues (Acts 19:1-7).
While this powerful gift is typically received this way—i.e. through someone who has it—a believer can also receive it simply through faith in God’s Word (Luke 11:9-13). In other words, believers don’t absolutely need a human conduit for the gift to be transferred. We’ll look at this more in the next section.
For details on the Holy Spirit baptism and glossolalia see this article.
Healing and Spiritual Deliverance
Christ said that believers “will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:17-18).
The book of Acts says “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and… he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38). We see evidence of this throughout the Gospels. A few good examples of the Holy Ghost power available to believers for ministry to those in need include:
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.
and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
Here are some other examples plus important additional info:
- The Lord laid hands on sick people and healed them or exorcized demons from them (Luke 4:40-41).
- A woman who was subject to bleeding for twelve years heard about Jesus’ anointing to heal and therefore had faith to receive healing from him (Mark 5:25-34). When the woman touched his cloak the Messiah sensed “power had gone out from him” (verse 30).
- Christ had an anointing to heal, but his ministry was very limited in his hometown because of the people’s lack of faith due to a “spirit of familiarity”—meaning they were so familiar with Jesus during his first three decades that they couldn’t acknowledge his divine anointing and receive from it (Mark 6:1-6). This example reveals that receiving a healing is a matter of faith in regards to the person praying (i.e. the human conduit of God’s power), as well as the recipient of the healing, which shows that receiving a healing via a human conduit involves a combination of faith. Needless to say, there’s power in agreement (Matthew 18:20 & Leviticus 26:8).
- People with the greatest faith, however, do not require hands to be laid on them for healing or deliverance. This type of faith accepts the LORD at His Word, like the centurion from Matthew 8:5-10,13. In other words, they don’t require a human conduit to receive healing or deliverance from God, which you can get details on in this video. As noted earlier, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit can be received this way (Luke 11:13).
Important Points on Transmitting the Anointing, aka God’s Holy Power
Here are several things to keep in mind when you lay hands on people to bless, pray, heal or deliver:
- Only make physical contact when you are ready to release your faith, as can be observed with Paul in Acts 28:8.
- While praying over someone, you will sense your faith reaching its peak; that’s when you should make contact.
- Children may freak out a bit when you lay hands on them because the anointing—God’s power (Luke 5:17, 6:19 & 8:46)—is new to them, but don’t let it derail you. Be at peace and keep ministering in faith, as led of the Holy Spirit.
- God’s anointing is like electricity flowing through you and your hand is the conductor for this power like an electricity cable.
- When you experience the anointing you’ll naturally get excited, which is great; just be careful not to absorb it through excessive shouting, laughing and leaping; rather channel it to those who need it. In short, don’t waste the anointing—get your hands on someone!
- Since your words and hands are the primary vehicles in which the Spirit transmits the anointing to others don’t waste words or motions. Watch your words and actions and be careful not to do anything that will drain or lose the anointing, including grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
- Put your words and motions in a direct line and use them to bring healing or deliverance to those in need. It’s akin to using a rifle: You aim it at the appropriate target in order to hit it. Wasting words and motions will cause you to miss the target.
- If you want God’s power to operate strongly in your life, as was the case with The Christ (Acts 10:38), you must discipline yourself to spend time with the LORD. In other words, saturate yourself with God through praise, worship, the Word and prayer. You can’t run around gabbing and doing frivolous things—watching TV, playing golf or computer games, etc.—right before a ministry engagement and expect the anointing to be strong when you minister.
- The anointing flows out of your inmost being like rivers of living water out of the very core of your soul/spirit (John 7:37-39). As such, you must protect the anointing so that it’ll be there when you need it.
- You can’t give something if you don’t have it and therefore you can’t expect the anointing to flow out of you if you haven’t prepared yourself beforehand to operate in God’s power. You must never allow people or things to rob you of your worship/Word/prayer time, particularly before you’re scheduled to minister. Turn off your phone.
Many Christians unfortunately don’t know much about the laying on of hands. This article reveals its importance.
Related Topics:
The Six Basic Doctrines of Christianity
Can the Power/Anointing of God Rest on an Object?
Slain in the Spirit—Is it Biblical?
WORDS have the Power of Life and Death
Dunamis (Dynamite) POWER — Is Within YOU!
Christianity — Does it Weaken People or Empower?
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