Imparting Spiritual Gifts through Laying on of Hands
- Michael E.B. Maher
- Oct 7
- 7 min read
And the Lord said to Moses: "Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. And you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him--all the congregation." So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.
(Numbers 27:18-23)
There are two aspects to the Laying on of Hands mentioned in the above quoted passage of scripture. The one aspect is inauguration and the other is transference or impartation of spiritual gifts. In this section we will discuss the aspect of impartation of spiritual gifts.
The context of this passage is that Moses’ time for leading the children of Israel was drawing to a close, for it was time for him to be gathered to his people. Therefore God raised up Joshua in his place to continue leading the children of Israel into their promised land.
In this passage God instructed Moses to lay hands on Joshua to invest him with the new office in which he had to stand; Joshua was to become the new leader of Israel. I want you to notice that even before Moses laid hands on Joshua however, that Joshua already had the Holy Spirit resting upon him, for God mentions that Joshua was a man in whom was the Spirit. In other words God had already called Joshua to ministry and recognized him by giving him the Holy Spirit.
Now that Joshua was about to take on a new role however, he needed the appropriate spiritual gift to fulfil that role, which is why God instructed Moses to give Joshua some of his authority. In other words Moses was to impart some of his spiritual gift of leadership to Joshua.
Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
(Deuteronomy 34:9)
When Moses laid hands on Joshua there was a definite transference of anointing from the one to the other. We know that because the above quoted passage of scripture reveals that Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, specifically because Moses laid hands on him. In other words, because Moses had the spiritual gift of leadership, God could use him to impart that same gift to Joshua.
This account in the Old Testament for the impartation of spiritual gifts gives us some insight regarding the operation of this ministry in the New Testament. One insight we see is that the one used to impart a spiritual gift must themselves have the same gift, for as we have read in these passages, Moses gave Joshua of the authority and wisdom that he himself had.
For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 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. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
(1 Corinthians 12:8-11)
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 that it’s the Holy Spirit who imparts spiritual gifts, 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 saw that God instructed Moses which gifts He wanted to impart to Joshua and Moses was simply the vessel God used for His purposes. Although there are numerous examples of the Holy Spirit using men to impart spiritual gifts through Laying on of Hands, nevertheless He 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.
And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all.
(Acts 19:6-7)
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? Just as the Holy Spirit cannot use one who has not already been filled with the Holy Spirit to baptize another believer, 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 them. We saw that principle in the account of Moses imparting certain gifts to Joshua; 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 have an account of the apostle Paul laying hands on some disciples to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, when Paul laid hands on them they not only received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they also received the spiritual gift of prophecy.
If you read the full context of this account you will see that Paul laid hands on these new converts 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. After Paul baptized them in water he laid hands on them to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
In this instance however, the new converts received more than just the filling of the Holy Spirit, for they also received the spiritual gift of prophecy. Paul didn’t ask the Lord to give them this gift; the Holy Spirit gave them the gift of prophecy as He willed.
The reason these disciples could receive 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 spiritual gifts to the church through the Laying on of Hands.
Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
(1 Timothy 4:14)
We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture to demonstrate how prophetic words are given through Laying on of Hands. Nevertheless this same passage reveals that spiritual gifts are also imparted through Laying on of Hands.
In this account Timothy received a spiritual gift and the gift was named through the prophetic word given. Because prophecy is divine utterance given by the Holy Spirit on the spur of the moment, the person prophesying would have found out the same time Timothy did regarding which spiritual gift was being imparted by the Holy Spirit. And so we see from this example that man is simply the vessel used by the Holy Spirit to impart His gifts through the mechanism of Laying on of Hands.
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established
(Romans 1:11)
In the above quoted passage of scripture we again see that it is the Holy Spirit who decides which and to whom, spiritual gifts are given. The apostle Paul knew that the Holy Spirit used him to impart spiritual gifts, which is why he made this comment to the church at Rome.
But I want you to notice that Paul said “that I may impart to you some spiritual gift”. In other words Paul did not know what spiritual gift he would impart; he only knew that the Holy Spirit would use him in that capacity to bless the church in Rome.
The examples we have looked at in this section clearly teach that spiritual gifts can be imparted through Laying on of Hands. These examples have also shown that it is only those who already have a specific gift that can be used by the Holy Spirit to impart those same spiritual gifts to others through Laying on of Hands.
Michael E.B. Maher
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