The first article in the present series on New Testament Practices stated that during the Reformation in Europe, both the Roman Catholics and the Protestant Reformers had largely ignored the parts of the Bible that were not palatable to most people, but that the churches with an Anabaptist and Pietist heritage have maintained a number of distinctives down through the years. These distinctives included what the Brethren called “the ordinances.” An “ordinance” is a symbol representing some great spiritual truth, and it is a commandment that requires more than one Christian to carry out. The command not to steal and the command to bridle the tongue – each of us can obey himself – but the command to wash one another’s feet requires a group of Christians. An ordinance cannot be observed apart from the body of believers.
One of the ordinances is the laying-on of hands. At the time of baptism (Acts 19:5-6), or when a person is being anointed (James 5:14), or when one is being initiated into a church office (1 Timothy 4: 14)- the elders place their hands on the head of the person involved and offer prayer that he might be a yielded child of God and conscious of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In Acts 8:17, the apostles laid hands on the new converts, symbolizing the receiving of the Holy Spirit. When the deacons were selected (in Acts 6), the apostles laid hands on them. When Paul and Barnabas were set aside for missionary service, hands were laid upon them. Acts 13:3 says, “And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on (Barnabas and Paul), they sent them away.” The laying-on of hands is a symbol of restoration of health, reception of the Holy Spirit at baptism, and the conveying of the gifts and rights of a church office. The laying-on of hands symbolizes a fresh coming of the Holy Spirit in new power to help meet a task at hand. Man is utterly dependent upon God, He needs strength from heaven. And so the laying-on of hands is not a mere empty form, but a symbol that aids God’s people in depending more completely upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
