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Transcript 240C — The Laying On of Hands
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes. I do have one question, please. The laying on of hands, where is it referred to, and is it permissible today?
HC: All right. The question that's raised is concerning the matter of laying on of hands. Is that permissible today, and where is it referred to in the Bible?
Let me see if I can help you. I think one of the earliest places that we read about laying on of hands is back in Genesis 48. And there we read where grandfather Jacob is going to bless his two grandsons, the sons of Joseph. And Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, are in front of Jacob. And he puts his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh. And then he pronounces a blessing upon them.
Now this matter of laying on of hands is picked up later on in the Bible. We find, for example, in Acts 13, when the apostles are sent forth, that we read in verse 3, "Then after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off."
And when we tie these passages together, and incidentally, in another place we read where the apostle Paul admonished Timothy, "Don't be hasty in laying your hands" on this one or that one. And the implication from all of this is that in the laying on of hands, symbolically it's a representation of imparting a blessing. The blessing that was on Jacob was imparted to Ephraim and Manasseh. The blessing that was on the church in Jerusalem was imparted to these first missionaries, as they went forth.
It is not mandated in the Bible, it is not called for in the Bible. It has no value in itself. But it can symbolize, at any rate, the idea of the impartation of blessing.
CALLER: Is it wrong to be using it in healing today?
HC: In the case of healing, we must remember that, and the question really is: Is it incorrect or wrong to lay hands in connection with healing? Now the Bible does teach that God cares for us. He is the Creator of the world, and He upholds it by His power, and we are to pray for one another. And in James 5 it does speak about anointing someone with oil if they are ill, although the context would show, if we really developed that, that this anointing with oil was really a figure of bringing the Gospel to this one who was ill, and the healing that was looked for there was spiritual healing rather than physical healing.
Actually, it isn't God's purpose to guarantee healing for us, or to necessarily provide healing for us. He does heal. All healing comes from God. And ordinarily God does this because He is the Creator God, who cares for His universe. And if someone is ill, we have the privilege of going to the Lord to beseech the Lord on behalf of this one that is ill.
But insofar as laying hands on that person, I don't really know how this would symbolize anything particularly. I do believe that some of the apostles laid hands on those who were ill. I think that could be shown from the Bible, again with the idea of imparting blessing. But that miraculous healing of the Bible is something that is not typical for today.
CALLER: Okay. Thank you very much.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.