Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 8:17
Then laid they [their] hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
17. Then laid they their hands on them ] That there might be some outward sign of this imparted grace. So Ananias (Act 9:17) laid his hands on Saul, and he received the Holy Ghost. But on Cornelius and his companions (Act 10:44) the same gift was bestowed while Peter spake unto them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then laid they their hands … – This was an act of prayer, expressing an invocation to God that he would impart the blessing to them. On how many they laid their hands is not said. It is evident that it was not on all, for they did not thus lay hands on Simon. Perhaps it was done on a few of the more prominent and leading persons, who were to be employed particularly in bearing witness to the truth of the gospel. It was customary to lay the hands on any person when a favor was to be conferred or a blessing imparted. See notes on Mat 9:18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 8:17
Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Confirmation
According to–
I. Its origin. No sacramental institution of our Lord, but a time-honoured ordinance of the Church.
II. Its import. No substitution for, or repetition of baptism, but a ratification of baptismal confession and grace.
III. Its effect. No infallible communication of the Spirit, as here by the apostles, but an incalculable spiritual blessing for susceptible hearts. (K. Gerok.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Then laid they their hands on them] Probably only on some select persons, who were thought proper for public use in the Church. They did not lay hands on all; for certainly no hands in this way were laid on Simon.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That this laying on of the hands of the apostles was not intended here as any rite whereby the apostles did confirm some, or ordain others, seems evident from the context.
They received the Holy Ghost; the power of speaking with tongues, and working of miracles; which throughout this book is so often spoken of in this acceptation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14-17. the apostles . . . sent Peterand Johnshowing that they regarded Peter as no more than theirown equal.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then laid they their hands on them,…. The Ethiopic version adds, “who had been baptized”; but not upon all of them, men and women, only on some they were directed unto by the Spirit of God; whom he had designed, and now would qualify for the work of the ministry, that so this new church, might be supplied with proper officers, pastors, and teachers, to feed them with knowledge and with understanding, and who might not only have ministerial gifts to qualify them for preaching the Gospel, but extraordinary ones, which would serve for the confirmation of it; and for this purpose the apostles, “both” of them, as the Arabic version reads, laid their hands on them: for it will not seem probable, that they laid their hands upon the women, on such an account; and it will hardly be received, that they should lay their hands on Simon Magus, otherwise he would have received the Holy Ghost too; so that it seems a plain case, that imposition of hands was not used to them all:
and they received the Holy Ghost; that is, they received the gifts of the Holy Ghost; so that they could prophesy and speak with tongues, and heal diseases, and do other wonderful works: and since now these effects have ceased, the rite and ceremony which was peculiar to the apostles as such, it should seem should cease likewise.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Laid they their hands ( ). Imperfect active, repetition. The laying on of hands did not occur at the great Pentecost (Acts 2:4; Acts 2:33) nor in Acts 4:31; Acts 10:44 nor is it mentioned in Acts 8:1; Acts 8:14. It is mentioned in Ac 6:7 about the deacons and in 13:3 when Barnabas and Saul left Antioch. And in Saul’s case it was Ananias who laid his hands on him (9:17). Hence it cannot be concluded that the Holy Spirit was received only by the laying on of the hands of the apostles or by the hands of anyone. The so-called practice of “confirmation” appeals to this passage, but inconclusively.
They received (). Imperfect active, repetition as before and with the laying on of the hands.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Then laid they their hands on them,” (tote epetithesan tas cheiras ep’ autous) “Then they (Peter and John) laid their hands upon them,” upon the baptized believers, as a symbol of committed and shared trust, at which times these too received special spiritual gifts, according to their needs, 1Co 12:4-11.
2) “And they received the Holy Ghost,” (kai elambanon pneuma hagion) “And they (the baptized Samaria believers) received the Holy Ghost;” In the sense of special manifestation that He came upon the waiting, believing church, on the day of Pentecost; to bring special gifts of divers kinds, from the gift of tongues to that of Inspiration, all of which gifts ceased when the Bible was completed, or upon the death of the twelve apostles, 1Co 13:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. When they had laid their hands. The laying on of hands followeth prayers, whereby they testify that the grace of the Spirit is not included in the external ceremony, which they crave humbly at the hands of another. And yet when they confess that God is the author, they neglect not the ceremony which was delivered them by God to this use; and because they usurp it not rashly, the effect is also annexed. This is the profit and efficacy of signs, because God worketh in them, and yet he remaineth the only giver of grace and distributeth the same according to his good pleasure; but let us remember that the laying on of hands was the instrument of God, at such time as he gave the visible graces of the Spirit to his, and that since the Church was deprived of such riches, it is only a vain visor without any substance. (517)
(517) “ Inane duntaxat esset spectrum,” it was only an empty specter.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Then laid they their hands on them.The act had already appeared as at once the symbol and the channel of the communication of spiritual gifts and offices in the appointment of the Seven. (See Note on Act. 6:6.) Historically, the act here recorded has the interest of being the starting-point of what afterwards developed into the rite known as Confirmation. Taking the narrative of the Acts by itself, a question might be raised how far what we read of was normal or exceptional, connected, for a time only, with the bestowal of new and marvellous powers, or powerful, through the whole history of the Church, as a means of grace strengthening the spiritual life after those powers had been withdrawn. In any case it was probable that no hard and fast line marked the disappearance of the special and marvellous forms of spiritual power which were at first manifested in connection with the laying-on of hands, and so the practice had time to become part of the fixed order of the Church. When they ceased altogether we can understand the reluctance of men to give up a rite that had come down from the days of the Apostles. They would feel that the prayer of faith was still mighty to prevail; that the Spirit would still be given in answer to prayer joined with the symbolic act, though no longer in the same form, and would confirm and strengthen the work which had been begun in baptism, and so the primitive laying-on of hands passed into Confirmation, and was accompanied by other symbolic acts, such as anointing. The thought that it is so called because in it adults confirm the promises made for them when baptised as infants, is entirely modern, and cannot be traced further back than the sixteenth century.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Ver. 17. Then laid they their hands on them ] After the manner of the priests, who laid their hands on the beast that was to be sacrificed, and so consecrated them to God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Act 8:17 . There cannot be any reason to doubt the validity of St. Philip’s baptism, and it is therefore evident that the laying on of hands ( cf. Act 19:6 ) is here distinct from baptism, and also from the appointment to any Church office (as in Act 6:6 , Act 13:3 ), or the bestowal of any special power of healing as in the person of Ananias, Act 9:12 ; Act 9:17 , although gifts of healing might no doubt accompany it. But both here and in Act 19:6 ( cf. Heb 6:2 ) it follows closely upon baptism, and is performed by Apostles, to whom alone the function belongs, although it is reasonable to suppose that the prophets and teachers who were associated with them in their Apostolic office, and who could lay on hands in Act 13:1-3 , could do so in other cases also for the reception of the Holy Ghost (Gore, Church and the Ministry , p. 258). The question why St. Philip did not himself “lay hands” upon his converts has been variously discussed, but the narrative of Acts supplies the answer, inasmuch as in the only two parallel cases, viz. , the verse before us and Act 19:6 , the higher officers alone exercise this power, and also justifies the usual custom of the Church in so limiting its exercise (“Confirmation,” Dict. of Christian Antiq. (Smith & Cheetham), i., p. 425; B.D. 1 , iii., App. ; and Hooker, Eccles. Pol. , v., ch. lxvi. 5, and passage cited; Jerome, Advers. Lucif., c. 4, and St. Cyprian, Epis. 73, ad Jubaianum (reference to the passage before us)). Undoubtedly there are cases of baptism, Act 2:41 ; Act 16:15 ; Act 16:33 , where no reference is made to the subsequent performance of this rite, but in these cases it must be remembered that the baptiser was an Apostle, and that when this was the case its observance might fairly be assumed. For the special case of Cornelius see below on Act 10:44 , see further “Confirmation,” B.D. 2 , i., 640]. Weizscker contrasts this account in 8., Act 5:16 , which he describes as this crude conception of the communication of the Spirit solely by the imposition of the Apostles’ hands ( Apostolic Age , ii., 254 and 299, E.T.), and which represents baptism as being thus completed, with the account of baptism given us by St. Paul in 1Co 1:14-17 . But in the first place we should remember that Acts does not describe baptism as being completed by the laying on of hands; the baptism was not invalid, the Samaritan converts became by its administration members of the Church; and the laying on of hands was not so much a completion of baptism as an addition to it. And, in the next place, Heb 6:2 certainly indicates that this addition must have been known at a very early period (see Westcott, in loco ). It may also be borne in mind that 2Co 1:21 is interpreted of confirmation by many of the Fathers ( cf. too Westcott’s interpretation of 1Jn 2:20 ; 1Jn 2:27 ), and that St. Paul is writing a letter and not describing a ritual. : Dr. Hort, who holds that the reception of the Holy Spirit is here explained as in Act 10:44 by reference to the manifestation of the gift of tongues, etc., points out that the verb is not , but imperfect , and he therefore renders it “showed a succession of signs of the Spirit” (sec also above). But this interpretation need not conflict with the belief in the gift of the Spirit as a permanent possession, and it is well to remember that ( ) is also imperfect. Both verbs may therefore simply indicate the continuous administration of the laying on of hands by the Apostles, and the continuous supernatural result (not necessarily external manifestation) which followed upon this action; cf. in Act 8:12 , imperfect, and so in Act 18:8 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
on = upon. Greek. epi. App-104.
received = were receiving, i.e. continuing to receive.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
laid: Act 8:18, Act 6:6, Act 9:17, Act 13:3, Act 19:6, Num 8:10, Num 27:18, 1Ti 4:14, 1Ti 5:22, 2Ti 1:6, Heb 6:2
they received: Rom 1:11, Gal 3:2-5
Reciprocal: Gen 48:14 – and laid Deu 34:9 – Moses 2Ki 2:9 – Ask what Act 8:19 – General Gal 2:8 – he
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE FIRST CONFIRMATION
Then laid they their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Act 8:17
This passage has a particular interest for us, because it is the first instance of what is now known as Confirmation. In the earliest days the laying on of hands followed baptism immediately, or as soon as possible; indeed, we may say that it was the completion of baptism.
I. The Gift.Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. If these words are true of the first believers at their confirmation, can they be less true of you? I can only think of one objection, which, no doubt, occurs to many of you. The first believers, we are told, had outward and visible as well as inward and spiritual signs of the gift of the Spirit. They spake with tongues and prophesied, so it is recorded on more than one occasion, To this I would reply that, no doubt, tongues and prophecy were signs of the gift of the Spirit; but they were not the gift itself; they were not a necessary part of it.
II. Let us not suppose, then, that we are in any different position from that of the first Christians.We are living under the same conditions; we have all received the Holy Ghost. The great question for us at this time isHow have we used or are we using the great gift? We know how some of them used it. We know the story of Ananias and Sapphira. We know the sin and shame of those Corinthian Christians of whom St. Paul said that the Spirit dwelt in them. All history is full of the falls and failures of those who have been endued with power from on high.
III. Is this the case with any of you?Have you gradually, insensibly, let your vision fade? Have you sunk to the level of any society in which you might be? Are you conscious that your prayers are cold, that the tide of your spiritual life is slack? Ah, it is to you that the appeal comesto stir up the gift that is in you; to realise and use the power in which so many of us are lacking. And yet the power is here; it only needs stirring, reviving, using.
Rev. H. R. Gamble.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
7
Act 8:17. This gift was not to make them Christians or bring them forgiveness of sins; their obedience to the Gospel did that for them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
See notes on verse 14
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
17. Then they laid hands on them, and they continued to receive the Holy Ghost. Why the church has utterly ignored this positive, clear and unequivocal Apostolical precedent, confirmatory of the second work of grace in the plan of salvation, is to all ages an enigma indissoluble, recognized by none but the fragmentary holiness movements since the fatal Constantinian apostasy of the fourth century, thus elucidating to all Bible readers the indisputable fact that all human ecclesiasticisms in all ages are actual departures from the New Testament church, following human dogmatism off on endless diversity of sidetracks, into the darkness and morasses of Satans bewilderment; while the irregular Holy Ghost revivals in the different ages, anathematized, persecuted and martyred by the popular churches, are really the survival of the apostles and primitive saints through all the intervening ages, daring to preach the unadulterated truth and walk in the precepts of the Apostolic church. How signally you see this fact verified at the present day. In vain do you ransack the popular ecclesiasticisms to find a verification of this Apostolical precedent. But I am happy to say you find it everywhere among the different phases of the holiness movement, this day girdling the globe, and, without financial resources, preaching the gospel to more heathens than all the popular churches with their millions of money. No church can possibly sustain a claim to orthodoxy and ignore New Testament precedent. Here we have a clear and unequivocal illustration of the gospel plan of salvation transmitted to us by the infallible history of the Holy Ghost. No one will dare discount those roaring demonstrative conversions under the preaching of Philip. But you see this is not enough in the judgment of the inspired apostles. Therefore they unhesitatingly send out Peter and John to preach to them the second work of grace, that they may all receive the Holy Ghost. What think you of the churches and preachers who not only ignore this procedure, but antagonize it? Rest assured, they will have trouble in the judgment day. No wonder God is raising up the holiness movement in every nation under heaven and pushing it to the ends of the earth. In connection with this movement He is raising up a grand army of evangelists, male and female, endued with Pentecostal heroism, fearlessly of men and devils to preach and practice the gospel in its New Testament simplicity, from the heads of the rivers to the ends of the earth, thus ushering in the millennium and preparing the nations for our Lords return.