1 Timothy 5:22
Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share
responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.
Mark 10:16
And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His
hands on them.
Luke 4:40
While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick
with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of
them, He was healing them.
Acts 8:17
Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were
receiving the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 1:17
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man And He placed
His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the
last,
Leviticus 1:4
'He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that
it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.
Leviticus 3:2
'He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slay it
at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall
sprinkle the blood around on the altar.
Leviticus 4:15
'Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on
the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slain before the
LORD.
Leviticus 16:21
"Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the
live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all
their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the
head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who
stands in readiness.
Numbers 8:10
and present the Levites before the LORD; and the sons of Israel
shall lay their hands on the Levites.
Numbers 27:18
So the LORD said to Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a
man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him;
Deuteronomy 34:9
The laying on of hands is found throughout scripture. If we
look at the development of this teaching we find its purpose for our modern
faith.
It is seldom dealt with in large part by the church and when
it is; commonly it is compartmentalized from scripture and as such loses much
of its true meaning. At laying on of hands core in its simplest form is to
share what is in one with another.
Some have described this as a transfer from one to another,
but transfer has the idea of a thing leaving one and going into anouther. Yet
Paul warns Timothy to lay his hands on no man suddenly that he would not be
found to share in another man’s sins. In like manner, as a wire receives an electrical
charge when a connection is made to it; not taking the charge out of the first
wire but sharing and extending that same charge, the laying on of Hands
connects us to another so that what has been given to us from God is shared
with those upon whom we lay our hands.
In this example God is generator of all power, all
authority, and all life, our Master, savior, and mediator is the strong arm of
His living word, and the Holy Spirit is
the right hand of God laid upon us who believe. Thereby making us one with all
by infusing the life of God into us; therefor if we connect to others with what
is generated by us we steal, kill, and destroy those around us and disconnect
from the life of God, but if instead we let the Life of God flow out of us to
others then we become not a destination for Gods blessings but a conduit of His
life.
With this in mind consider the following verses: Psalms 63:8,
Psalms 139:10, Isaiah 41:13, Lamentations 2:3, Psalms 16:11, Psalms 48:10, Psalms
73:23, Isaiah 62:8, Psalms 60:5, Psalms 108:6, Psalms 17:7, Psalms 20:6, Psalms
80:15, Psalms 138:7, Psalms 44:3, Psalms 78:54, Isaiah 41:10, Exodus 15:6, Psalms
21:8, Hebrews 1:13, Matthew 22:44, Luke 22:69, Hebrews 1:3, Acts 2:33, Acts
5:31, Revelation 5:1-7, Matthew 25:32-34, Revelation 1:20, and Revelation 2:1
In the same way that the law taught that a man could be made
unclean by touching what was unclean so it also teaches in the sacrifices that
by the willful laying on of hands sin of the man was laid upon the victim. This
also was a sharing not a transfer; for God tells them that the sacrifice of a
thousand bulls and goats will not be accepted if their heart is not toward Him.
In this same way we must believe in our heart that Christ
has brought His Holy life into us before the confession of our mouth can be
effective. If we confess with our mouth
that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead but our heart does
not cleave to Him we are liars and what comes from our mouth is just a lie.
Now we begin to see the why of laying on of hands and also the
how of the sick can be healed by such. Do we also see the reason for James
instruction to call for the elders; there is a certain maturity of trust in the
life of Christ to live through us and a necessity of abandonment of trust in
what can be generated by ourselves. Faith is not a trust in what God has made
me but instead a reliance upon who He is, through His Son, by His Spirit,
living in me, shared with my brethren that as is written we may know to be one.
Perhaps we can also see why John warns us not to pray for one
who has committed a sin unto death (if you are worried you have done this you
probably have not; for those who do such have no desire to have the life of
God), or why Paul says lay hands on no man suddenly, and an elder should not be
a novice to the faith.
At the same time we are warned not to make ourselves
partakers of another man’s sins we are also taught that we must share with
others the life, and power and witness of Christ which God has shared with us.
The warning of the parable of the talents is that what God
gives to us cannot be hidden or it will be lost. Also we may share in each
other’s reward simply by providing for one another as our Lord has said if we
give a glass of water to a prophet because He is a prophet then we receive a prophet’s
reward. One body, one Faith, one life, one reward no man can have the life of
God if he remains by himself.
