Can the Laying of Hands Impart Spiritual Gifts?

Now, Contending for the Faith. In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.

Here’s this week’s question: “Dear Dave and Tom, In Romans:1:11For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
See All... the Apostle Paul says that he longs to see those in Rome that he may impart to them some spiritual gift. In his epistles to Timothy, Paul talks about the gift that is in Timothy by the laying on of hands by the presbytery. That’s 1 Timothy:4:14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
See All.... And also, by the putting on of his hands, 1 Timothy:1:6From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling;
See All.... What exactly is going on here? What gifts are involved? And how does the physical laying on of hands impart a spiritual gift?”

Tom: Dave, this is not far removed from what we were talking about earlier. How does the physical aspect of laying on of hands—of course I’m going at this backwards—impart something spiritual?

Dave: It doesn’t (chuckling).

Tom: (Laughing) Well, it says so Dave, doesn’t it, in the Scriptures?

Dave: No. For example, that’s 1 Timothy:4:14Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
See All..., is it?

Tom: Right.

Dave: And he says, “Neglect not the gift which is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, and by the laying on of the hands of the elders, presbyters”—does it say “presbyters” in the King James? I think maybe it does.

Tom: Yeah, presbytery.

Dave: Yeah, well, “…which was given thee by prophecy…” so it was a human instrument who foretold, who prophesied, the gift that God had given Timothy. So it wasn’t the laying on of the hands. They were—what can I say Tom? They were “imparting” this, in a sense,ß you could say.

Tom: Well, that’s what Paul says in Romans:1:11For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
See All...: “That they may impart….” He wanted to see them so he could impart some spiritual gift.

Dave: Yeah, I don’t think Paul meant that he wanted to lay hands on everybody, you know, one at a time. He writes to the Corinthians the classic chapter on gifts, spiritual gifts. He says, “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” I believe you can desire the gifts from God and then what do I have to do? I desire it, and then I’ve got to wait for somebody to lay hands on me? I think it was showing their identification with him in this, in obedience. God revealed through a prophet or prophets the gifts that he was going to impart to Timothy and how he wanted to use Timothy because now Timothy has a responsibility. This isn’t something automatic. Paul writes, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given to thee in this process.” So I don’t think that it means that without that it couldn’t have happened. I think it simply means they’re believing God and they’re joining with Timothy in this act. So when Paul is going go to Rome to impart some spiritual gift, he wants to see them, he wants to be there. I don’t think it means he’s going go around and lay hands on everybody.

I remember some people in the charismatic world. That was their “gift” was imparting gifts. It was almost like an Edgar Cayce reading, you know. They would tell you what was going to happen and they could do this one after another. People were so eager to come up and have this done, and now here we are wandering around…Have you ever had anybody lay hands on you, Tom, to impart a gift to you? I never have. I mean there are millions of Christians….

Tom: I’ve had people lay hands on me in the Nehemiah sense (laughing).

Dave: (Laughing) Right.

Tom: Where he looked down from the wall and said, “If you don’t get yourself out of there, I’m coming down to lay hands on you.” But not the other one.

Dave: Right, but, Tom, when we think about it logically now, the Bible does not teach that receiving a spiritual gift from God is dependent upon someone laying hands on me. So this is an example, I mean they had this prophecy; they imparted this to Timothy in the name of the Lord. It’s coming from God. They didn’t decide. They don’t have the means. It’s not up to even Paul to say, “Okay, I’m going to impart this gift to you.”

But I think Paul says, “I want to come there and I want be used of the Lord in your presence.” And when he writes to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12, he talks about the gifts of the spirit. It says—chapter 12 begins by saying, “These gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit, which he imparts to each one in the church as he wills.” So, I don’t think it takes someone to lay hands, but this was a special case, I would say. Because we have other teaching that indicates it doesn’t require this particular method of imparting gifts.

Tom: Dave, I noticed in your explanation, it didn’t seem to me that you’re saying that the gifts are not available for today. Some people accuse us of that. You’re not a cessationist, believing that the gifts have ceased.

Dave: Tom, I agree with A.W. Tozer, who said there is not a syllable in the New Testament to indicate that the gifts of the Spirit are passed away. God is the same. He can do whatever He wants. If He wants you to speak in tongues, that’s up to Him. Okay?

On the other hand, Tozer also said 99.9 percent of what you see out there that claims to be the gifts of the Spirit is not of God. One of the problems is that people think they possess a gift. I often say that to people who think they’re speaking in tongues. You can’t raise the dead anytime you want. You can’t walk on water anytime you want. You can’t heal the sick anytime you want. What makes you think you can speak in tongues anytime you want?

Now if this is an impartation of a gift from God through the Holy Spirit to you as He wills, I have no quarrel with that. God is the same; Christ is the same. He can do what He wants. But the problem is we’ve fallen into a mode where there are many people out there who think that they have the power to impart these gifts. They tell you, “Go home and practice your prayer language.” You might as well practice walking on water. You don’t get a gift from God by practicing it.

And I’m sorry, I’m offending probably people on both sides. If God does it, praise God! I’m in favor of that. But if you think you’ve got some techniques, you can touch people and make them fall over, and you can do this, or you can do that, and you are the one who is doing this, or you possess this gift yourself, and you can practice it and make it work, then I think you have departed from the Word of God.