1 Corinthians 12:8-11 “for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, (9) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, (10) to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (11) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
In this section we are discussing the impartation that takes place in the distribution of the above listed nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. This passage teaches us that it is the Holy Spirit who imparts spiritual gifts and not men, for the scripture declares that He distributes to each one individually as He wills. There are some in the church who teach the error that men can impart spiritual gifts to each other as they choose but that is completely unscriptural, for although the Holy Spirit can and does use men to impart spiritual gifts to one another, the one imparting the gift is simply the vessel that the Holy Spirit uses. In the previous example we looked at we can clearly see that God instructed Moses what gifts He wanted to impart to Joshua, and it was not Moses’ choice to make for he was simply the vessel that God used for His own purposes. There are many scriptural examples that show that the Holy Spirit uses men to impart His gifts through the laying on of hands. Nevertheless the Holy Spirit is not limited to this method, for just as with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, He can choose to simply drop a gift into the spirit of a believer as He wills.
Acts 19:6 “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”
Although spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit as He wills, the Holy Spirit is constrained to some degree when it comes to impartation of the gifts through the laying on of hands. So what constraint is placed upon the Holy Spirit in this regard? The constraint is that just as the Holy Spirit cannot use one who has not already been filled with the Holy Spirit to baptize another believer with the Holy Spirit, in the same manner the Holy Spirit can only use one who already has a particular gift to impart that same gift to a fellow believer. For example only a believer who already has the gift of prophecy can lay hands on another believer to impart the gift of prophecy to that individual. We saw that exact principle in the account of Moses imparting certain gifts to Joshua, for Moses was only able to impart to Joshua the gifts that he had himself received from the Lord. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see an account of the apostle Paul laying his hands on some disciples to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We can see from this account that when he laid his hands on them they not only received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but in this instance they also received the spiritual gift of prophecy. If you read the full context of this account you will see that when Paul laid his hands on these new converts he was expecting them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for that was his opening question to them. He had asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they had believed. Paul then found out that they hadn’t been saved yet, and so Paul witnessed to them and they were saved. And so after Paul had baptized them in water he laid his hands on them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But in this instance these new converts received more than just the filling of the Holy Spirit, for they also received the spiritual gift of prophecy. Paul did not ask the Lord to give them this gift. The Holy Spirit gave them the gift of prophecy as He willed. And the reason these disciples received the gift of prophecy through the apostle Paul was because he was anointed with that same gift. Different ministry gifts carry different anointings and are also endowed with different spiritual gifts. The ministry gift of the apostle is endowed with all nine of the spiritual gifts, and so you can readily see that this ministry gift would therefore be used by the Holy Spirit more effectively to impart His gifts to the church through the laying on of hands.
Michael E.B. Maher
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