Laying On of Hands - by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Found here. My comments in bold.

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I have entertained many writers in this blog in my quest to find a compelling scriptural case for cessationism. In this particular example, we have a Dr. Dave Miller offering us his explanation for the cessation of the miraculous. Yet like so many cessationists, he is loathe to quote Scripture. In fact, he only manages to quote two scriptural passages. 

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The ability to perform miracles in the first century church was granted by God in essentially two ways: baptism of the Holy Spirit and the laying on of the apostles’ hands. 

The Bible only mentions the former avenue as occurring twice (Acts 2 and Acts 10), and then only for special and limited purposes, with a third occurrence implied in connection with Paul’s unique calling (Acts 9:15; 22:21; Romans 1:5; 11:13; 1 Corinthians 15:8; Galatians 1:16; 2:7-8; et al. See Miller, 2003). (Unfortunately for the author, his very first claim is false. He makes a definitive claim ["occurring twice"], then lists several Scriptures to support his claim. But those Scriptures aren't relevant to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So let's examine the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The first mention of it is in Matt. 3:11: 

I will baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

To whom was John the Baptist speaking? Dr. Miller would have us believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was limited to the first century, and could only be imparted by the apostles. However, we see here that John the Baptist was speaking to the crowd that had assembled, including Pharisees and Sadducees:

Matt 3:7-8…But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his place of baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit worthy of repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

John was speaking in a public place, with no restrictions about who could receive or impart this baptism. The account is repeated in Mark 1:4-8 [and also Luke 3:15-16 and John 1:33]:

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People went out to him from all of Jerusalem and the countryside of Judea. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.… And he began to proclaim: “After me will come One more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”…

Clearly this was a public, universal proclamation of what God intended to do.

We also need to consider Jesus' promise to those who believe:

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

More of the Holy Spirit is available to each believer!

Further, this promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is quoted by Jesus Himself in Acts 1:5:

For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

Surely this baptism, mentioned by all four gospel writers and quoted by Jesus Himself, is not a limited, isolated thing. Indeed, there is no indication anywhere in Scripture that the author's contention is correct.

Peter, having witnessed Jesus' affirmation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, explains to the crowd that had assembled after the tongues of fire descended on the 120 in the upper room by quoting Joel:

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. (Acts 2:17)

Peter continues:

God has raised this Jesus to life, to which we are all witnesses. Exalted, then, to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.… (Acts 2:32-33)

Here we have it. Jesus affirms John the Baptist's testimony. The Holy Spirit comes just as Jesus said. Peter explains it by appealing to Joel, who said that all flesh would receive this outpouring. And finally, Peter confirms that what has just happened is the promised Holy Spirit.

Having now established his case, that the baptism of the Holy Spirit has come and is available to everyone, he tells the crowd what to do:

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)

This same outpouring, this baptism, will be received by all who repent and are baptized.)

The latter avenue is specifically described by Luke in his account of the initial proclamation of the Gospel to the Samaritans:

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:14-19, emp. added).

Since the New Testament expounds no other means by which any person may receive ability to perform miracles, (Again false. Here is a person that was doing the miraculous apart from Jesus:

Mk. 9:38-40: “Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us."

This man, who was not one of the disciples, was nevertheless ministering in the miraculous power of God, and Jesus was not troubled by this at all.

Further, Ananias laid hands upon Paul and did a miracle. There is no record that he was an apostle:

Ac. 9:17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord — Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Some prophets and teachers laid hands upon Barnabas and Saul. It seems strange that apostles needed the laying of hands upon themselves by prophets and teachers, if the author's assertions are truly correct:

Ac. 13:1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 13:3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

Timothy, who is never identified as an apostle, receives instruction from Paul:

1Ti. 5:22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

Why would Timothy be laying hands on anyone unless it was an accepted and widespread practice in the churches?

Timothy himself had an impartation from non-apostles:

1Ti. 4:14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

The writer of Hebrews chides his readers about the "elementary teachings," including the "laying on of hands:"

He. 6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 6:2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

If this basic stuff should be understood by the Hebrew church, why should the author have such difficulty with it?

There is no record of Stephen being baptized in the Holy Spirit [although Scripture records he was full of the Holy Spirit], but he nevertheless had hands laid upon him for his work as a deacon:

"Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint this responsibility to them and devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, as well as Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmnas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.… (Acts 6:2-6)

 This same Stephen, never identified as an apostle, functioned in the miraculous: 

Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. (Acts 6:8)

This deacon, a server of food, was nonetheless himself performing miracles! 

Now, what about this:

Ga. 3:5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Paul directs his remarks to "you," that is, the members of the Galatian church. "You" were given his Spirit. God was working miracles among them, not the editorial "we" as in the apostles. Clearly it was commonplace for the Spirit of God to do all sorts of miraculous things in the churches.

And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Cor 12:28-30)

Notice that "in the church" there are various kinds of gifts and positions. Isn't it curious that there are workers of miracles who are mentioned separately from gifts of healing, apostles, and teachers? Paul is laying out a list of various things which are necessary in the church. There is no hint here that there is any exclusivity or method.)

it inevitably follows that no person living on Earth today has miraculous capability. Holy Spirit baptism was unique, exclusive, and limited at the beginning of the church, and no apostles are alive today to impart miraculous ability to anyone. (The author hasn't in any way demonstrated this.)

Some have challenged the exclusivity of the role of the apostles in their unique ability to impart miraculous capability by calling attention to the admonition given by Paul to Timothy: “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, emp. added). Based on this verse, some insist that the apostles were not the only conduit through which God would/will impart miraculous ability. Does the New Testament clarify this situation?

In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul plainly declared that the “gift of God” which Timothy possessed was conferred “through the laying on of my hands.” How does one harmonize 1 Timothy 4:14 with 2 Timothy 1:6? (How about there being more than one event? No harmonizing is necessary.)

Was Timothy’s miraculous ability conferred upon him by Paul, by the eldership, or by both? The grammar of the text provides the answer. In 2 Timothy 1:6, where Paul claimed sole credit for imparting the gift to Timothy, the Holy Spirit employed the Greek preposition dia with the genitive, which means “through” or “by means of ” (Machen, 1923, p. 41; Dana and Mantey, 1927, p. 101). However, in 1 Timothy 4:14, where Paul included the eldership in the action of impartation, he employed a completely different Greek preposition—meta. The root meaning of meta is “in the midst of ” (Dana and Mantey, p. 107). It denotes “the attendant circumstances of something that takes place”—the “accompanying phenomena” (Arndt and Gingrich, 1957, pp. 510-511, emp. added). It means “in association with” or “accompanied by” (Moule, 1959, p. 61; Thayer, 1901, p. 404; cf. Robertson, 1934, p. 611). (A relatively fair presentation, but...)

(...the author draws a specious conclusion.) In other words, Paul—as an apostle—imparted the miraculous gift to Timothy. It came from God through Paul. However, on that occasion, the local eldership of the church was present and participated with Paul in the event, lending their simultaneous support and accompanying commendation. (Let's review the Scripture again: 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. It's seems plain that the un-parsed, un-manipulated Scripture tells us that the elders laid hands on Timothy. Forcing Paul into the narrative is just plain wrong.)

After examining the grammatical data on the matter, Nicoll concluded: “[I]t was the imposition of hands by St. Paul that was the instrument used by God in the communication of the charisma to Timothy” (1900, 4:127; cf. Jamieson, et al., n.d., 2:414; Williams, 1960, p. 956). Consequently, 1 Timothy 4:14 provides no proof that miraculous capability could be received through other means in addition to apostolic imposition of hands and the two clear instances of Holy Spirit baptism.

(So the author fails to demonstrate his thesis.)

[NOTE: For a more thorough study of miracles, see "Modern-Day Miracles, Tongue-Speaking, and Holy Spirit Baptism: A Refutation—EXTENDED VERSION"]
REFERENCES
Arndt, William and F.W. Gingrich (1957), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).
Dana, H.E. and Julius Mantey (1927), A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (Toronto, Canada: Macmillan).
Jamieson, Robert, A.R. Fausset, and David Brown (no date), A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan).
Machen, J. Gresham (1923), New Testament Greek for Beginners (Toronto, Canada: Macmillan).
Miller, Dave (2003), “Modern-Day Miracles, Tongue-Speaking, and Holy Spirit Baptism: A Refutation—EXTENDED VERSION,” http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=11&article=1399.
Moule, C.F.D. (1959), An Idiom-Book of New Testament Greek (Cambridge: University Press, 1977 reprint).
Nicoll, W. Robertson, ed. (1900), The Expositor’s Greek Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Robertson, A.T. (1934), A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press).
Thayer, J.H. (1901), Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1977 reprint).
Williams, George (1960), The Student’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel), sixth edition.

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