The use of an outward sign for the admission of men to the ministry follows many analogies. Our Lord had made use of outward signs in instituting the two great sacraments of the gospel, baptism and the Eucharist. In the OT an outward sign was used in setting .apart for office, and it was to be expected that a similar custom should be found in the Christian Church. As a matter of fact, the only outward sign found for many centuries in the case of Christian ordination is imposition of hands. This symbol was used in the OT in acts of blessing,
of appointment to office, and of dedication to Cod. Moses laid his hands on Joshvia when he .set him apart as his successor (Nu ST'-^, Dt lU"). Jacob blessed his grandchildren by laying his hands on their heads (Gn 4S'''- "). Imposition of hands was used in dedicating sacrifices (Lv I''), and in setting apart Levites (Nu 8'"). Similarly our Lord blessed by laying on of hands (Mk 10'^; '« and || Mt. Lk.), and used the same .symbolic act in healing (Mk 5-^ — which shows that it was a well-known practice, as Jesus is asked to lay on hands, Lk 4'"' 13'^ etc.). The discii)les also used laying on of hands in heal- ing (' Mk' 16'* : Ac 9'=-", referring probably to the restoration of Saul's sight : see below, 8 ; Ac 28"). We see, then, that the symbol had more than one signification. The apostles used it when prayin" for the gift of the Holy Ghost for the baptized (Ac S" 19"), and also when setting men a|)art for the ministry. The 'laying on of hands 'in He 6" perhaps refers to all the occasions when the symbol was used ; or else to 'confirmation' only, as F. H. Chase maintains {Confinnation in the Apostolic Age, London, 1909, p. 45).
Laying on of hands is explicitly mentioned in Ac 6' (the Seven) 13' (mission of Barnabas and Saul ; see 8), 1 Ti 4'< and 2 Ti 1" (ordination of Timothy), and in 1 Ti 5", if that refers to ordina- tion (see below). No other outward sign is men- tioned in the first three centuries. None at all is mentioned in the appointment of presbyters in Ac 14-'. Here the verb x^'P"'^'"'^"' '^ used, which in later days often meant ' to ordain.' But it does not necessarily imply laying on of hands ; it may mean election, properly through a show of hands, or at any rate by an assembly, as in 2 Co 8'^ ; or it may even mean an appointment by God (Ac 10") or by man (14^). Thus we cannot affirm from the last-named passage that Paul and Barnabas laid on hands * when they appointed presbyters in every church t which they visited on their first missionary journey. Yet it is exceedingly un- likely that they used any other outward sign, or that they refrained from using any outward sign. Here the characteristic of St. Luke already men- tioned should be borne in mind. Laying on of hands was the sign universally used in the early Church for ordination ; a supposed exception in the case of the ordination of a bishop in the Apostolic Constitutions (c. A.D. 375) is conclusively shown by the newly-discovered Church Orders to be only apparent.
In the 4th cent, another outward sign was introduced, ap- parently in cases where it was not at first deemed suitable to use imposition of hands — namely, at the admission of men (and women) to minor orders. In this' case the ' porrectio instrument- orum* was substituted; a reader, for example, was given a book. In the Middle Ages, in the West, this kind of outward sign almost overshadowed the imposition of hands, especially in the case of the chalice and paten given to one ordained to the presby terate. See on this subject JSRE^ art. ' Ordination.'
Laying on of hands is mentioned in 1 Ti 5^. Timothy is to ' lay hands h.astily on no man.' But does this refer to ordination ? If so, it gives us confirmation of the fact, which in any case we can scarcely doubt, that the local ministry were ordained with imposition of hands. It is taken in this sense by Clirj'sostom and the Greek com- mentators, and in modern times by Alford, Liddon, and (apparently with a slight hesitation) by H. B. Swete {HDB iii. 85). Ou the other hand, this passage is interpreted by several moderns (Hort,
* Tlie word ^ctpotfco-t'a (' laying on of hands ') is not found in the NT (as it is so often found later on), but cViflefft? x*^P^^' In some works, e.g. the Apost. Const. ^ x«ipoTofta is used ordin- arily for ' ordination,' but xeipoftetria when ' laying on of hands ' is emphasized ; the latter is used in Apont. Cciist. for other impositions of hands (A. J. Maclean, Ancient Church Orders, Cambridge, 1910, p. 154 f.).
t This word might have been translated * in church * : cf. Ac 2^6, 'at home ' ; but Tit 1* is conclusive for the other translation.
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Hammond, Ellieott, Chase, etc.), as referring to the reception of penitents with laying on of hands. This interpretation suits tlie context perhaps better than the other ; l)oth before and after tliis verse St. Paul is speaking of sinners, and the words, ' Neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep thyself pure,' are held to be less suitable to ordina- tion. The custom of receiving penitents or persons who had been in schism or heresy, with laying on of hands, is attested in the 3rd cent, by Cyprian (Ep. Ixxiv. [Ixxiii.], 'ad Pompeium,' 1, rfe Laps. 16), in the 4th cent, by the Council of Nic;ea (can. 8), Eusebius (//£ vii. 2, an '.ancient custom'), the Apost. Const, (ii. 41), and at the end of the 5th cent, bj' the ' Galilean Statutes' (Statuta Ec.clcsice Antiqua), formerly in error ascribed to the ' Fourth Council of Carthage' (§ SO; see C. J. Hefele, A HiMory of the Councils of the Church, Eug. tr. , Edinburgh, 1896, ii. 411). But this custom is not referred to elsewhere in the NT, and one has a suspicion that the interpretation in question ante- dates it considerably. On the whole, the question must be left open.