Laying both hands on another person (usually on their head) had serious meanings in Bible times. It could symbolize a parent bestowing an inheritance (Gen. 48:14–20) or an act of blessing (Matt. 19:13). Jesus and the apostles often laid hands on a person asking to be healed (Mark 5:23). But laying on of hands is most often associated with conferring the gifts and rights of an office—priests, deacons, pastors, missionaries. The ones laying on the hands are respected authority figures who symbolically pass on power and authority to the other person (Acts 6:6; 13:3). The apostles would sometimes lay hands on a person who would then receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17;19:6).
Laying on of hands is still practiced in churches, used in ordaining pastors and deacons and in confirmation services.
