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The Acts of the Apostles
but to perform the rite of baptism and to organize churches, being
invested with full ecclesiastical authority.
The Christian church was at this time entering upon an important
era. The work of proclaiming the gospel message among the Gentiles
was now to be prosecuted with vigor; and as a result the church was to
be strengthened by a great ingathering of souls. The apostles who had
been appointed to lead out in this work would be exposed to suspicion,
prejudice, and jealousy. Their teachings concerning the breaking down
of “the middle wall of partition” (
Ephesians 2:14
) that had so long
separated the Jewish and the Gentile world, would naturally subject
them to the charge of heresy, and their authority as ministers of the
gospel would be questioned by many zealous, believing Jews. God
foresaw the difficulties that His servants would be called to meet, and,
in order that their work should be above challenge, He instructed the
church by revelation to set them apart publicly to the work of the
ministry. Their ordination was a public recognition of their divine
appointment to bear to the Gentiles the glad tidings of the gospel.
Both Paul and Barnabas had already received their commission
from God Himself, and the ceremony of the laying on of hands added
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no new grace or virtual qualification. It was an acknowledged form of
designation to an appointed office and a recognition of one’s authority
in that office. By it the seal of the church was set upon the work of
God.
To the Jew this form was a significant one. When a Jewish father
blessed his children, he laid his hands reverently upon their heads.
When an animal was devoted to sacrifice, the hand of the one invested
with priestly authority was laid upon the head of the victim. And when
the ministers of the church of believers in Antioch laid their hands
upon Paul and Barnabas, they, by that action, asked God to bestow
His blessing upon the chosen apostles in their devotion to the specific
work to which they had been appointed.
At a later date the rite of ordination by the laying on of hands was
greatly abused; unwarrantable importance was attached to the act, as if
a power came at once upon those who received such ordination, which
immediately qualified them for any and all ministerial work. But in
the setting apart of these two apostles, there is no record indicating
that any virtue was imparted by the mere act of laying on of hands.