Acts 13:3 continues, “Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” Here we see that they fasted and prayed; we are not told that they discussed and decided.
In 13:3 the laying on of hands denotes identification. It signifies that they who laid their hands were one with those on whom they laid their hands. By this they declared to all that they were one with the sent ones in their going to carry out the Lord’s great commission.
The first part of 13:4 says, “They therefore, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit.” In verse 3 Barnabas and Saul were sent by the other three. But here it says that they were sent out by the Spirit. This proves that the three were one with the Spirit in the Lord’s move, and the Spirit honored their sending as His.
The laying on of hands in 13:3 has nothing to do with ordination. The three who laid hands on Barnabas and Saul were not members of a mission board or religious organization who were assuring the sent ones of their financial support. That is the practice in many Christian groups today. Someone who is being sent out to the mission field may think that unless the members of the board lay hands on him, he will not be assured of their financial support. But if they lay hands on him, he will know that he will have the money he needs. Such a situation is common today.
If we lay our hands upon the sent ones, it should never be as a pledge of financial support. Rather, in the laying on of hands we should be one with the Triune God not to ordain the sent ones but to identify ourselves with them. Therefore, the laying on of hands signifies that our spirit, our prayers, and all that is within us go out with the sent ones. This is not ordination—it is identification.
Whenever we lay our hands upon someone in the Lord’s recovery who is being sent out by the Lord, we must do it in this way. Otherwise, we should not practice the laying on of hands.
The laying on of hands is not a ritual or a matter related to ordination. The laying on of hands is a matter of life in the Spirit. In Acts 13 the three were burdened to share in the commission of Barnabas and Saul. This was the reason they laid their hands upon them. Through the laying on of hands they indicated that they would go with Barnabas and Saul in their prayers and in the Spirit. They would be one with them and go with them at any cost.
Because of the influence of the religious background and because of the damage caused by the laying on of hands in the way of ritual, we have been reluctant to practice the laying on of hands. Sometimes I have had the burden to lay hands on a particular one. However, I hesitated to do this because many regard this as a ritual or as something related to ordination. We should not have ordination or any rituals. What we need is the genuine and proper identification. There is the need of the laying on of hands. But we should never do this ritualistically. If we practice the laying on of hands, it should be according to the inner leading and with a genuine burden in the Spirit. Our practice should be different from that of traditional Christianity, which is far off from the pattern presented in Acts 13.
In Acts 13 we see an excellent pattern. We do not have such a pattern in Jerusalem because the church there was in the initial stage. What the Lord did in Jerusalem actually began with His calling of the disciples. As He walked beside the sea of Galilee, the Lord Jesus saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, and He called them to follow Him (Matt. 4:18-19). As He went on from there, He saw two other brothers, James and John, and He also called them (Matt. 4:21-22). After calling these four and the other disciples, the Lord brought them with Him for three and a half years. He brought them through His crucifixion and into His resurrection. Then in resurrection He appeared to them during a period of forty days. Following that, the Lord brought them all to the Mount of Olives and in their sight visibly ascended to the heavens. With such a background and spiritual education, the disciples prayed for ten days. Then on the day of Pentecost Peter’s ministry began.
What the Lord did with the disciples in the Gospels and in the first two chapters of Acts cannot be repeated. The Lord will not call followers today as He called Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Therefore, with the disciples in Jerusalem we do not have a pattern that can be repeated among us today. However, the pattern in Acts 13 can be repeated.
When the Lord Jesus called Peter and Andrew, He said to them, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). But when He called Saul of Tarsus, the Lord indicated to him through Ananias that He would make him not a fisher of men but a vessel. In Acts 9:15 the Lord said to Ananias concerning Saul, “This man is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before both the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.” Peter was made a fisher of men, but Paul was made a vessel. There is quite a difference between a fisherman and a vessel.
The new turn in Acts 13 is not a turn with fishermen but with vessels. When Paul was sent out, he was sent out as a vessel. This means that he was sent to be a vessel containing Christ and bearing Him to the Gentile world. Wherever Paul went his ministry was to impart to others the very Christ he contained. He was a vessel containing Christ, and he ministered this Christ to others.
The start in Antioch is very different from that in Jerusalem. The start in Jerusalem is not a pattern for us today. But the start, the turn, in Antioch surely is our pattern, and we need to follow it.