Laying Hands on Believers to be Filled with the Spirit

Baptised in the Spirit Directly from Heaven

John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

(Luke 3:16)

 As we will see in this section, one of the primary purposes for the use of the laying on of hands in the church is to fill the saints with the Holy Spirit. In scripture we see two methods that our Lord uses to fill His saints with the Holy Spirit. The first is directly from heaven or we could also say directly from the Lord, for He is the one who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit anyway. That truth is confirmed in the above quoted passage of scripture when John the Baptist taught us that it is Jesus Himself who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.

And so as we have already seen earlier in this series, the first account of this method being used is recorded in the book of Acts when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, for the scripture tells us that the sound of the mighty rushing wind came from heaven (Acts 2:1-4).

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

(Acts 10:44-47)

The above quoted passage of scripture is the second account that shows the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit directly from heaven. The context of this account is that the apostle Peter was preaching the gospel to the gentiles for the first time. While Peter was still preaching, the Lord Jesus poured out His Spirit on the people who were listening to Peter speak and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

In my own experience I was also filled with the Holy Spirit in this same manner. I had been born-again for less than a week when some fellow Christians invited me to attend a bible conference. I had never been to such an event before and when I got there I was introduced to other believers as a brand-new convert.

One of the believers I was introduced to asked me if I had received the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues since I was saved. I had no idea what the person was talking about and the people who brought me to the meeting told me not to worry about it, because they would explain all of that to me at a later stage. The meeting then began as the saints began to worship the Lord. Halfway through the worship the power of God came all over me and I just knew that if I spoke out I would speak in those tongues that I had just heard about. And so I spoke out and have been speaking in tongues ever since.

Baptised in the Spirit Through Laying on of Hands

And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

(Acts 9:17)

Altogether there are six accounts given as examples of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit, and those accounts are found in the book of Acts and the epistles. Of the six, two are accounts where the saints were filled directly from heaven, which we have already discussed. The other four accounts recorded in scripture are of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.

And so we come to the second method that our Lord uses to fill His saints with the Holy Spirit, which is through the laying on of hands. Of the four accounts recorded where the laying on of hands was used, we have already looked at the first account which was a record of Peter and John going to Samaria to lay hands on the new converts for them to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17).

In the second account quoted above we see the disciple Ananias being sent by the Lord Jesus to lay his hands on Paul so that he could receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. We know that when Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit that he also spoke with tongues, because he said to the church at Corinth that he thanked God that he spoke with tongues more than all (1 Corinthians 14:18).

There is another very important observation that we can make from this example, which is that Ananias was simply a disciple of the Lord. In other words the Holy Spirit is teaching us from this example that it is entirely scriptural for ordinary disciples to lay hands on fellow disciples to minister the baptism of the Holy Spirit to them. 

And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" So they said to him, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." And he said to them, "Into what then were you baptized?" So they said, "Into John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." 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. Now the men were about twelve in all.

(Acts 19:1-7)

The above quoted passage of scripture is the third account of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. In this account we see that the apostle Paul laid his hands on these new believers in Ephesus, and they were then filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues. This incident was different to the others however, for in this instance they also received one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at the same time, for scripture reveals to us that they also prophesied. Nevertheless the main point I wanted to highlight for this section is that the saints received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

(2 Timothy 1:6-7)

The above quoted passage of scripture is a record of the fourth account of the saints being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, for in this passage the apostle Paul reminds Timothy that he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of Paul’s hands. We know that Paul is speaking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit in this passage, because when Paul encourages Timothy to stir up the gift of God that is within him, he goes on to describe some of the characteristics of the Holy Spirit by telling him that he had not received a spirit of fear, but rather a Spirit of power, love and a sound mind, i.e. the Holy Spirit.

And so the fact that there are four accounts in scripture of being filled with the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and half that number of accounts of being filled directly from heaven, indicates to us that the laying on of hands is the most common method used by the Lord to fill His saints.

Both methods require faith on the part of the recipient in order to be filled. This fact points us to the reason as to why the Lord uses the laying on of hands method more frequently to fill His saints. The reason is because the laying on of hands is a method that assists the recipient to release their faith when the point of contact is made through this method. But there is also the added dimension which we discussed earlier, i.e. there are certain individuals who receive a specific anointing from the Lord to lay hands on believers for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And so because these individuals are anointed in this area they will always have more success when they lay hands on individuals to be filled with the Spirit.

There is another truth that we need to recognize from the examples discussed in this section, which is that only saints who have themselves been baptized with the Holy Spirit can be used by the Lord to lay hands on fellow believers to be filled with the Spirit. The reason for that is because there is a transference of anointing that takes place through the laying on of hands.

Michael E.B. Maher

Laying on of Hands

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