What if I told you that the laying on of hands in the Bible wasn’t just about miracles? That it wasn’t just about healing or speaking with tongues? In fact (well, more like six, but the first one doesn’t count), there are five different reasons people laid hands on others in the Bible—and only one of them is what most people think of.
In this study, we’re going to explore every biblical reason for the laying on of hands—including one that only the apostles could do, and one that’s still very relevant for you and me today. And by the end, the Bible will answer the question: Can I lay hands on someone today and expect the same results we see in the Bible?
In Hebrews 5 and 6, the author was a bit frustrated with his audience, because the Christians had been disciples for a while up to that point, and they should have matured accordingly. They should have been active in teaching others the gospel, but instead, they needed to be retaught the basic principles of Christ. One of the basic principles the author lists is the laying on of hands (Hebrews 6:1–3). So, if you’re unaware of the five ways the Bible presents this practice, it’s time you study it well, so you can move on to the meatier subjects in the word.
As we study the five ways the Bible presents laying on of hands, be aware that, in some cases, there is a bit of overlap, It’s important to know the difference and not confuse the different ways. Before we get to the spiritual and symbolic uses, let’s clear up one surprising way the Bible talks about laying on of hands—one that has nothing to do with blessings or miracles.
Arrest and Persecution
One reason people laid hands on others in the Bible is for arrest and persecution. Now, you may not “count” this as a biblical practice, and I would agree. However, it’s included in this list, because it will show up if you search for laying on of hands or similar phrases in Bible software.
After some of Jesus’ teachings in the temple, the Bible says:
The chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people—for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.
Luke 20:19
Obviously, these people were trying to arrest Jesus, not impart some spiritual gift. They were wanting to lay hands on Jesus in order to seize Him. Similarly, Jesus warned His messengers in Luke 21:12:
Before all these things [the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem], they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.
So, arrest and persecution is one reason people laid hands on others in the Bible. In the rest of the examples, the practice of laying on of human hands is a humble submission, representing what God was doing. For example, one of the reasons people would lay hands on someone in the Bible was to appoint them to a role or service in the kingdom of God. We will discuss this more towards the end of the study, but the point now is that this was not meant to be seen as the humans appointing the person, but God doing the appointing.
In the Old Testament, we see laying on of hands in…
1. Dedication and Symbolic Cleansing
In Leviticus 1, God explained to Moses how a freewill offering was to be presented to the Lord.
He shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
Leviticus 1:3–4
In this case, the person laid a hand on an animal, not another person. The animal was about to make atonement for this Israelite. The laying on of the hand was to dedicate the offering—symbolic of transferring the guilt of the sinner to the animal, so the sacrifice paid the debt of sin: death.
When Aaron and his sons were consecrated for service in the tabernacle, there were many symbols, including sprinkling of oil, wearing certain clothing, and cleansing processes. There was also a sacrifice.
And he brought the bull for the sin offering. Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering, and Moses killed it. Then he took the blood, and put some on the horns of the altar all around with his finger, and purified the altar. And he poured the blood at the base of the altar, and consecrated it, to make atonement for it.
Leviticus 8:14–15
The book of Hebrews explains that much of this dedication and sacrifice foreshadowed the role that Christ would serve, both as high priest and the actual atoning sacrifice.
Another purpose for laying on of hands that appears in both the Old and New Testaments is…
2. Inheritance and Blessing
In Genesis 48, as Israel approached death, he called his grandsons to him. He blessed them with an inheritance after laying his hands on their heads. In this case, it was significant whose head received the right hand and whose head received the left hand.
In Mark 10, parents brought their children to Jesus.
And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
Mark 10:16
Most of us want the best for our children, grandchildren, and really, children in general. We pray for them, and we try to leave something behind for them when we leave this earth. In Bible times, it was a cultural practice to lay hands on the individual while praying for them and their inheritance. It symbolized the passing of a blessings from one person to another. There is no command or example in the Bible that indicates that the physical process of laying on of hands for this purpose is something directly connected to service to God. There are also biblical examples of people praying for their children without laying their hands on them.1 Therefore, we are not required to lay our hands on our children while we pray for them, although it would certainly be acceptable to do so.
Next, this is where most people’s minds go when they hear “laying on of hands”—miraculous healing. Let’s see what was really happening when Jesus and the apostles laid hands on the sick for miraculous healing.
3. Miraculous Healing
When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
Luke 4:40–41
In this case and others, Jesus physically laid His hands on people while healing them. However, at other times, He simply spoke, and they were healed. It obviously was not necessary for Jesus to physically touch an individual for Him to heal them or cast a demon from them. Therefore, again, we can conclude that the action was symbolic and not required. Sometimes, it also conveyed Jesus’ tender care.
And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8:2–3
Anyone who had leprosy was expected to stay far away from civilization. Anyone who happened to be in the vicinity of a leprous person knew to avoid them, pass by on the other side, or even run away. Leprosy is a highly contagious disease. Anyone with leprosy would have been starved of human interaction, having not felt another human’s skin for months, years, or decades. Yet, here, when Jesus healed this leprous man, Jesus “put out His hand and touched him.” Was it necessary that Jesus lay His hand on this man? No. But that simple gesture spoke volumes of His concern and love towards those who are hurting.
After His resurrection, He sent His apostles out to display the same level of care. He said they would “lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:18). Over the next three decades, we see the apostles doing just that.
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.
Acts 3:6–8
In this case, it doesn’t seem to be your typical laying on of hands, but more of Peter pulling up this man so he could use his feet that had been useless for four decades. But Paul did, on at least one occasion, lay his hands on a sick person and heal him.
And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him.
Acts 28:8
Like Jesus, however, the apostles and prophets did not need to physically touch someone to heal them, as we have examples of them simply speaking to perform miracles, and in some cases, not even being present during the healing.2 This ability was a sign of a true apostle. The church in Corinth was disturbed by the presence of false apostles. While defending his true apostleship, Paul encouraged the Christians to test anyone who claimed to be an apostle—could they perform the “signs of an apostle…with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12)? Similar to praying for a blessing for someone, we all are driven to prayer when our friends and family members are sick. Laying your hands on them while you pray is a wonderful gesture, but doing so is not the same as what the apostles and prophets did in the New Testament. What they were doing was what Jesus had equipped them to do—perform true signs, wonders, and miracles. We pray for our sick family to recover. In the case of the apostles, God miraculously and immediately healed withered limbs, incurable diseases, and even raised the dead.
Although doing so certainly helped the individuals who were cleansed and healed, the primary purpose for these signs, wonders, and miracles was always to confirm the message and messenger as having been sent from God. Today, we have a lot of false teachers making spectacular claims. We can test every teacher with the completed New Testament. Therefore, a true teacher today does not need to perform miracles to prove his teachings. The Bible is sufficient. There were a lot of these false teachers in the first century too. How were disciples of Jesus to confirm or deny whether a message was true in the first century, before the New Testament was in the hands of the believers?
“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” …And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.
Mark 16:17–20
In every case of miraculous healings in the New Testament, this was the primary purpose. When confirmation of the word was not necessary, miraculous works were neither necessary nor performed. For example, when Christians who already believed the truth of God and His messengers were sick, prayers and advice were offered, but the sick disciples were not healed miraculously. For example:
- Timothy had stomach ailments. Paul did not heal him, but instead, gave him advice on how to medicate his sickness. See 1 Timothy 5:23.
- Paul’s friend Epaphroditus almost died in his sickness. Paul did not heal him miraculously, but hoped that God would heal him. See Philippians 2:25–30.
- Paul’s traveling companion Trophimus fell sick. Paul did not perform a miracle to heal him, but instead had to leave him behind in Miletus. No doubt, he also prayed for his healing. See 2 Timothy 4:20.
Is God just as powerful as He has always been? Absolutely. Is He still concerned for the sick and injured? Yes. Does He still command us to pray for those who are ill and hurt? You’d better believe it. But when we do, we also know there’s a difference between the confirming miraculous signs of the apostles and us when we pray. We can choose to lay our hands on the sick while we pray or not, but one action we must take is depending on God to act according to His will.
Healing wasn’t the only miraculous result of laying on of the apostle’s hands. In some cases, laying on of hands actually transferred the Holy Spirit—and this one comes with a very important restriction we need to talk about.
4. Imparting Miraculous and Spiritual Gifts
For example, a dozen men in Ephesus were taught about Jesus and the truth of baptism…
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Acts 19:5–6
After Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they were able to perform these miracles. Some teachers in churches and online today may give you the impression that every Christian can lay hands on others so the Holy Spirit will come upon them and they too can speak with tongues. In fact, I was taught that once, and submitted myself to an entire congregation surrounding me, laying their hands on me, and praying that I could receive the Spirit and the gift of tongues. I had as much faith as possible in that moment, yet it didn’t work. Why? Two reasons: 1. We were mistaken about what the gift of tongues really was (we have a few studies on that subject). And 2. According to the Bible, this ability to lay hands on individuals so the Holy Spirit could come upon them was limited to the apostles in the first century. Hear me out on this.
In the first several chapters of Acts, the church grew by the thousands. In Acts 2, about three thousand people repented and were baptized into Jesus. Yet, among those three thousand, only the apostles performed miracles (see verse 43). Similarly, two chapters later, “the number of the men came to be about five thousand” (Acts 4:4). Still, only “through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people” (Acts 5:12).
The way many people try to teach the Bible could lead you to believe that every Christian in the first century church had miraculous gifts. That wasn’t true then, and it certainly isn’t true today. How did people receive miraculous gifts in the church in the Bible? For one, they received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. But for another, they received the laying on of the apostles’ hands.
The first two people in the church who performed miracles beside the apostles, at least as far as is recorded in Scripture, are Stephen and Philip (the evangelist, not the apostle). In Acts 6, these two are among seven men who were chosen for a specific area of service. After the church chose them, “they set [them] before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them” (Acts 6:6). A couple of verses later, “Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). Now, as a disciple of Jesus, even before he was chosen for this task, Stephen was already blessed with the Holy Spirit as a seal of his salvation. He was already “full of the Holy Spirit” before the apostles laid their hands on him (see vv. 3 and 5). However, through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, the Holy Spirit equipped him and Philip in a unique way. We learn about that two chapters later by the work of Philip. Stick with this longer reading of Scripture and learn what God can teach us through it.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!”
Acts 8:5–20
These people in Samaria heard the gospel, believed the gospel, and obeyed the gospel. According to other parts of Scripture, God provides His Holy Spirit of promise for all those who do this from the heart.3 And just because the Holy Spirit lives in someone does not mean they will be able to perform miracles. John the Baptist is a perfect example of this. Of John, the Scriptures say that he would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15), yet John performed no signs or wonders with his hands (see John 10:41). So, these people in Samaria, had the Holy Spirit of promise, yet the Scriptures say the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen or come upon them. This is the same terminology we saw in Acts 19:6:
And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
In Samaria, Philip the evangelist had miraculous powers, and he knew and preached the gospel. However, he himself could not pass that power on. Even “Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given” (Acts 8:18). So Philip had to call for the apostles to come down to Samaria and lay their hands on these new believers.
Putting this all together:
- Not every disciple in the church had miraculous gifts, yet every Christian was blessed by and with the Holy Spirit.
- Even when the church had thousands and thousands of members, only the apostles could perform miracles among them.
- Then, the apostles—and only the apostles—began laying their hands on certain people, so the Holy Spirit would fall on them in a unique way, providing them with certain miraculous gifts.
An additional aspect to this study is whether or not we have official apostles in the church today. We do not.
Now here’s one final use of laying on of hands that’s still meaningful today—and it doesn’t involve miracles at all. It’s all about leadership, service, and responsibility.
5. Appointment To Service
We already saw this with Stephen, Philip, and the other guys who were appointed to serve widows in the church in Acts 6. Before they began their work, they were chosen by the church, and the apostles laid their hands on them. (This was also popular in the Old Testament.4) In Acts 13:1–3, the Bible says:
Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As 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.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Again, this was more of a cultural practice than a necessary practice. How do we know? Other passages show folks being appointed to serve without the laying on of hands.5 Although people can be appointed to serve without the laying on of hands, it’s still appropriate to do so. It’s symbolic of one in authority either passing on or sharing that authority with the other person or people. And, if you’re ever in the position to appoint others to service, don’t do so without serious consideration and prayer. Jesus prayed all night long before selecting His apostles (see Luke 6:12–13). Paul told Timothy about appointing men to service:
I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.
1 Timothy 5:21–22
Many teachers zoom into verse 22, without considering the context. They often assume that this laying on of hands was related to miraculous healing or the imparting of the Holy Spirit. No, the context shows that this is related to appointment for service and leadership. The entire book of 1 Timothy is about ensuring sound doctrine is preached among the saints and the lost and appointing leaders and servants who can help the spread of healthy teaching—particularly elders and deacons. Just a few verses prior, Paul had told Timothy:
Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
1 Timothy 5:17
So, in this context, when Paul told Timothy to “not lay hands on anyone hastily,” he was speaking of appointing them to special roles in the church. In the previous chapter, Paul reminded Timothy how he (Timothy) had been appointed to serve by the laying on of hands (see 4:12–16). Now it was Timothy’s turn to appoint others to serve. If Timothy were to be hasty and appoint someone not qualified for the job, and that person sinned in that role, Timothy would have shared in that sin. So, the warning is ours as well: If we ever find ourselves in a position to help appoint leaders in the church, do not do so hastily. Instead, be prayerful, include others in the decision-making process where possible, and consider the qualifications laid out in Scripture.
So, although we are not apostles, and we cannot miraculously heal or impart the Holy Spirit by our hands, we can still pray for God to work mightily in someone’s life. We may also, on occasion, find ourselves in the position to appoint others to service. While praying and appointing, it may be a helpful and powerful illustration to lay your hands on them, symbolizing our humble submission toward God, waiting on Him to answer our prayers according to His will.
We hope this study has helped clarify some things for you. Don’t forget to sign up so you won’t miss a study. Now, dig into the study of baptism with the Holy Spirit—what it is, who it’s for, and why it matters.
Keep pursuing God’s truth, testing everything by the word.