In this area we will answer questions on a variety of subjects.  The following questions are answered:

Questions with Answers:

Question:  What does the New Testament say about the laying on of hands?

The laying on of hands is a practice that is seen several times in the New Testament.  In fact, it was so common that the writer of Hebrews lists it as an “elementary doctrine” (see Hebrews 6:1-2).  The practice seems to have been done for a variety of reasons.  Laying on of hands was not something new in New Testament times.  It comes from an Old Testament background of using the laying on of hands in both positive (Numbers 27:22-23) and negative (Leviticus 24:13-14) ways.  Thus, there was at least a 1500-year history before the coming of Christ. 

Jesus regularly used the practice of laying His hands on individuals.  Often, He laid His hands on the sick to heal them.  Examples of this may be found in passages such as Matthew 9:18, Mark 5:23, Mark 6:5 and Luke 4:40.  He also laid his hands on children as a sign of blessing them (see Matthew 19:13-15).

The practice of laying on of hands is seen often within the New Testament church and serves multiple functions:

·        The gifts of the Holy Spirit were connected with the laying on of hands (Acts 8:14-17 and Acts 19:8).

·        It was used as a means of healing the sick (Acts 28:8). 

·        The apostles showed their approval of seven men chosen for special duty by laying their hands on them (Acts 6:1-6).

·        The church in Antioch used prayer and fasting along with the laying on of hands to set apart and appeal for blessings on men leaving for missionary work (Acts 13:1-3). 

·        A special gift was given to Timothy by a group of elders who laid their hands upon him (I Timothy 4:14 and II Timothy 1:6). 

·        Timothy was encouraged to “not be hasty in the laying on of hands”  (I Timothy 5:22).  This exhortation has to do with the appointment of elders (I Timothy 5:17-21). 

Thus, it seems that the laying on of hands in the New Testament serves the primary function of showing approval and unity of purpose/desire.  It is used to ask for God’s blessings upon an individual or group and probably carries a similar significance to Jesus’ statement, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them” (Matthew 18:20) or Paul’s comment concerning “the right hand of fellowship” (Galatians 2:9).               

Question:  In light of the recent discussions about who killed Jesus, what does the Bible say?

With the release of the movie “The Passion of the Christ” there has been a lot of discussion about who is to blame for the death of Christ.  Many in the Jewish community have expressed concern that one of the results of the movie will be a new wave of anti-Semitism.  This should not be a surprise.  This concern has been presented since shortly after Christ’s death:

Acts 5:27-30

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." 29But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.  

First, if one is to look into the Scriptures, it becomes plain who was responsible for the death of Christ:

It is abundantly clear that Jesus Christ and the leaders of the Christian movement in the first century held the Jews responsible for the death of Christ.  If one accepts the New Testament Scriptures as being inspired, one must say that God held them responsible also. 

With that said, what was the attitude of Christ and first century Christians toward the Jews regarding the death of Christ?  That answer is abundantly clear from the Scriptures also:

What should the attitude of Christians be toward the Jewish people today?  First, it would be wrong to fail to agree with the scriptures that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ even though the Romans drove the nails into his hands.  To do this is to deny the plain teachings of the Scriptures.  It would be as wrong to explain away this event of history as it would to deny the deaths of millions of Jews at the hands of the Germans before and during the Second World War or any of the other atrocities carried out by one people against another down through the ages.  To deny a fact of history does not change it! 

However, Christians must recognize that the founder of their religion, Jesus Christ, did not hold it against the people who were responsible for his death.  If he could forgive, all other Christian should also!  From their words quoted above, it is apparent that the early church leaders such as Peter and Paul did not hold animosity against the Jews for this event either.  Therefore, for a Christian to go against what was said by Jesus Christ and his apostles would clearly put him or her in direct opposition to what the will of God is. 

In a very broad sense, if there is a group on the face of the earth that should harbor no feelings of prejudice against any race it is Christians!  The Scriptures make it plain that all men can trace their ancestry back to Adam through Noah.  Jesus ordered his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-16), thus making no distinction on the basis of race.  Paul asserts, “he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26).  This is why he said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).  There is no room within the Christian faith for any type of racial prejudice. 

So, who is responsible for the death of Jesus?  If we are looking to point the finger of blame for the crucifixion of Christ, we must point the finger at the Jewish religious leaders.  However, we must also point an accusatory finger at Pontius Pilate and the Italian system he represented.  But we must all point a self-incriminating finger at ourselves, for the scriptures clearly state that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).  Surely, there is plenty of blame to go around.  No one escapes unscathed!  Rather than looking for someone to point a finger at, what all of us should be doing is rejoicing in what he has done for us. 

Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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To gain an overview for answering this question, one must look at four scriptures. They are:

Romans 13:1-7

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

1 Tim. 2:1-2

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Titus 3:1

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

1 Peter 2:13-17

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Practically applying these lessons calls for us to look at some other details in scripture.

First, a Christian is to recognize that "there is no authority except from God." This is true whether the ruler is good or evil. It is easy to believe this statement if the ruler is a good one who follows Christian principals. However, it may be much harder when it is someone who does not. For example, it is easy to agree with the writer of Acts when he quotes Paul as saying that God raised up Saul and David to be kings over Israel (Acts 13:21-22). It is much harder to accept Jeremiah’s statement quoting God that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, a corrupt and vicious man, was "my (God’s) servant" (Jeremiah 25:8-9) or Isaiah’s statements about Cyrus, King of Persia, being God’s "shepherd" and "anointed" (Isaiah 44:28-45:1). When Pilate became overly impressed with his authority as a Roman governor, Jesus pointed out to him that, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:11). Isaiah confirms that God can bring rulers up or down (Isaiah 40:23).

Second, Jesus put these things in proper perspective in Matthew 22:21 when he stated, "Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." This is not a putting of God and Caesar on the same level. It is recognizing that some things belong to Caesar (the ruler) because the ruler is the ruler, but it is also recognizing that God stands above all. Jesus lived this as he stood before the rulers of the Jewish religion and the ruler of the Roman government.

Third, no matter what the form of government, there comes a time when Christians must make a stand. Jesus exemplified this. Peter states the principal clearly in Acts 5:29, "We must obey God rather than men."

The scripture quotes from which we started were written by Paul and Peter. We have just seen the other side of the issue from Peter in the last quote. While we are to show honor, respect, and submission to our government, when it asks us to do something that is clearly against the teaching of the scriptures our call as Christians is to obey God rather than man---any man. We can use the examples of these two godly men that they lived and died by Peter’s statement. Although the scriptures do not record the events, history tells us that both were killed (Paul by beheading and Peter by crucifixion) by the Roman government because of their unwavering commitment to Jesus Christ.

The answer to the question, "When can a Christian disobey a civil law?" is when what the government asks is in violation of the word of God in the scriptures. In other words, Christians obey the civil laws of the land in which they live until those laws conflict with the laws of God. There comes a time when it is not only the right thing to do but a Christian duty to disobey government. Historical examples begin with New Testament individuals such as Stephen (Acts 6 and 7) and Peter and Paul and continue through the early days of Christianity when Christians were killed in various ways (e.g., beheading, crucifixion, torn apart by lions, covered with hot wax, etc.) for refusing to worship the Roman emperor to many who were part of the Reformation who had to practice civil disobedience in order to practice a more accurate way of serving God to our own time when Christians disobeyed rulers such as Hitler to save the lives of those being killed to Christians in many parts of the world today who are told to not worship Jesus Christ. Almost every century of Christian history is replete with examples! Wherever we live in the world, if and when our government asks us to support or do something clearly against the scriptures God expects us to disobey.

Another aspect that you did not ask about is that in many countries, including the one where you live (your email indicates that you live in the United States of America), allow citizens to have input into the way that the country is run through voting in elections, protests, lobbying legislators, running for office oneself, using various media to advocate for a point of view, many other ways. I believe that these are important ways to effect the direction of a government and should be used by followers of Christ. The apostle Paul offers several examples of using the laws of his land, Rome, to further his efforts (see Acts 16:16-40 and Acts 25:8-12) to preach the gospel. A thorough treatment of this subject may be found in the writings of Francis A. Schaeffer’s books, especially "Whatever Happened to the Human Race" and "A Christian Manifesto." Both of these books are published by Crossway Books, Westchester, Illinois.

Christians should be the most obedient and faithful followers of their governments. They should apply Paul’s admonition, "give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all" (Romans 12:17-18). However, when it comes to conflict, "We must obey God rather than men."