Big Healing Book - Are Impartations and Impartation Services Biblical?

Are Impartations and Impartation Services Biblical?

It is common in some circles to have one person pray over another believing that the person being prayed for will receive an impartation of some kind, often involving one or more gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy, or a grace to stand in a certain ministry office, sometimes with the assumption that the gifting on the imparter will be shared with the impartee. Some churches and ministries hold special “impartation services” (or at least “impartation lines” within services) where the idea is to have anyone who so desires come up and receive an impartation. However, like the Bereans, we need to question everything, examine the Scriptures, and see what God has stated on the subject.

I am under no delusion that I can write an answer that will please everyone, as there are multiple popular schools of thought on the matter:

(1) The “gifts of the Spirit” were only for the early church, so no one can flow in them, much less impart them, today.

(2) Believers already have all the anointing they need on the inside and do not need anyone to lay hands on them to “impart” gifts of the Spirit.

(3) One believer can impart one or more “gifts of the Spirit” to another believer, usually through the laying on of hands, at will.

(4) Only God can bestow “gifts of the Spirit” but sometimes when people lay hands on a believer, that is the time God chooses to bestow something new or enhanced. However, the gift comes from God and is not “imparted” out of the person(s) doing the laying on of hands.

Adding to the “fun” is the question of whether “gifts of the Spirit” and “spiritual gifts” mean the same thing, and whether “spiritual gift(s)” always means the same thing in all passages.

Sounds like fun! Let’s get started.

An Early Knockout

We can immediately dismiss the first option above, as its error is exposed elsewhere in this book. The perfect has not yet come; therefore, gifts of the Spirit are still for this Church Age dispensation.

Scriptures Generally Used to Support Impartations

Most people doing “impartation” lines or services rely on one or more of the following verses for support:

Romans 1:11:
For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

1 Timothy 4:14:
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

2 Timothy 1:6:
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

Let’s look at these carefully one at a time, as each one has its own set of interpretation difficulties.

Romans 1:11

A useful starting point is what the Greek word for “impart” (metadidomi) in Romans 1:11 means elsewhere where it is used in the New Testament. Does it denote a sharing of something you have or a “giving away” of it so that you no longer have it? Only four other verses in the New Testament use this word, and here they are, with the word translated from metadidomi underlined:

Luke 3:11:
He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

Romans 12:8:
Or he that exhorteth, in exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

Ephesians 4:28:
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him, labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

1 Thessalonians 2:8:
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear to us.

The first and third case clearly refer to a case where you no longer have something after you “impart” it, which is definitely NOT what those preaching impartations claim to do. The second case seems likely to follow those, though it isn’t as conclusive, and the last case deals with figurative speech, as you can’t literally give your soul to anyone else. It is clear that Paul and his companions still had their own souls after what Paul describes.

So we don’t have a clear-cut case against impartation here, though it would be tough to build a positive case for it based on these four verses.

However, we can also look at the word didomi which is part of the Greek word above. This is used over 400 times, and it is translated “give” in the traditional sense almost all the time.

However, it is clear that Paul didn’t give anyone in Rome his unique gifting, as no one in Rome after Paul proceeded to have Paul’s kind of ministry as far as we know. There is no indication that he “gave away” any gifting he had so that he was no longer gifted.

Now let’s consider whether “gifts of the Spirit” are the same as “spiritual gifts” in the Greek! That one is a doozie. The only place I found “gifts of the Holy Ghost” was in Hebrews 2:4, and the Greek word there means distributions, not gifts as we think of them. The words “spiritual gift” are only found together in Romans 1:11 (cited above). The single Greek word used in 1 Corinthians 12:1 (Now concerning spiritual gifts), 1 Corinthians 14:1 (desire spiritual gifts) and 1 Corinthians 14:12 (ye are zealous of spiritual gifts) is simply “spiritual” (i.e., spiritual things); the word gifts was added by the translators each time because there is no Greek word for gifts in these passages. Does this mean the translators blew it?

No. The Greek word charisma – a gift given by grace (charis) without merit – does appear in 1 Corinthians 12:4 (diversities of gifts), 1 Corinthians 12:9 (gifts of healing), 1 Corinthians 12:28 (gifts of healings), 1 Corinthians 12:30 (gifts of healing) and 1 Corinthians 12:31 (the best gifts). So I think it’s fair to add the word gifts to clarify what Paul is talking about in the verses cited in the previous paragraph.

1 Corinthians 12:4, 5, 6 and 7 refer to gifts, administrations, operations and manifestation. So all these words apply to what the Holy Spirit does through believers. (The Greek word for gifts in Hebrews 2:4 is not any of the words in the four verses just cited in 1 Corinthians 12.) The Bible is not contradicting itself but rather expanding on how we see “spiritual gifts.”

The bottom line is that in the Greek, spiritual gift in Romans 1:11 is not the same as spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1, and 14:1 even though they read the same way in English in the King James Version. So it’s a stretch to assert that Paul was talking about any transfer of a gift found in 1 Corinthians 12.

Let’s read the next verse and see if the context adds anything:

Romans 1:11-12:
For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;
That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Paul said that associating with him would produce a spiritual benefit and comfort, both of which could be considered gifts and both of which could be considered spiritual, but neither of which are “gifts of the Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul explicitly stated that they would be established and comforted. He did not state that his “gift” would equip them to minster a new way that would mimic what he did. To me, that is too much of a stretch to read into this passage. His “impartation” of a “spiritual gift” was to establish and comfort them, not equip them to establish and comfort others, which is what the “spiritual gifts” do.

1 Corinthians 14:3:
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Also, 1 Corinthians 12:7 in most modern translations says that the gifts of the Spirit are given to everyone for the common good or the profit or benefit of all, though the Greek says simply to profit. This seems to imply the profit of others, though it does not say so explicitly. I would agree with these translators, as the gifts are certainly not given for your personal profit, even though an occasional “bad apple” minister might try to use his giftings with selfish motives.

It's always a good idea to check the Greek when dealing with a questionable verse such as this one, and doing so produces an interesting discovery that appears to decisively invalidate the interpretation, “I will impart to you one or more 1 Corinthains 12 spiritual gifts.” The problem is that both instances of you/ye in Romans 1:11 are plural while the noun for spiritual gift is singular! Paul wanted to impart some spiritual gift (singular) to multiple people. It makes no sense to conclude that Paul wanted to bestow the same singular 1 Corinthians 12 “spiritual gift” to everyone at Rome, as that would contradict what Paul said about different gifts being distributed to different people.

In fact, I believe Scripture teaches against the idea that I can blow into town and bestow any “gift of the Spirit” on you at our mutual will because I lay hands on you. I have never conducted such a service for that reason. 1 Corinthians 12:11 says that the Spirit divides to every man separately as He wills, so I don’t have the right to take matters into my own hands and distribute gifts of the Spirit as I will or as you will. Paul did not have that right either.

1 Timothy 4:14

Now let’s consider 1 Timothy 4:14. This is a difficult verse. How can “prophecy” impart anything to anyone? Does this really mean “BY prophecy” in the Greek? Yes. I looked it up. Also, ALL major Bible translations use the words “by prophecy” or “through prophecy.” So there’s no easy way around the difficulty of this verse. Timothy was given something by prophecy with the laying on of hands by the elders, and we have to accept that.

We can see one thing that 1 Timothy 4:14 does NOT say. It does not say that Timothy got Paul’s anointing or any other individual’s anointing when this event happened. It was the elders (plural) who laid hands on Timothy, and it would be a stretch to teach that Timothy got an impartation of every individual elder’s anointing when the elders laid hands on him.

Why would a GROUP of people lay hands on someone? The most obvious reason is to set someone apart for a ministry he is called to. That is obviously the context below.

1 Timothy 5:22:
Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.

If any preacher doing impartation services asserts that the laying hands on of his hands will be for the purpose of impartation or setting anyone who comes forward into a ministry, he is disobeying this scripture, as he IS laying hands suddenly on people that he doesn’t even know personally! That is fine with healing, as Jesus laid hands on people He didn’t know personally. So this instruction to Timothy must instead refer to laying hands on someone to separate the person to a ministry calling, which would be consistent with the verses below.

Acts 13:2-3:
As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

This is another case where the laying on of hands was done by more than one person, and it was not for the purpose of impartation of a gift but rather a public affirmation of the calling of Barnabas and Paul.

Another case is perhaps not quite as clear-cut. This involves the seven Spirit-filled men chosen to oversee food distribution in Acts 6:

Acts 6:6:
Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

These men were NOT receiving the apostles’ callings or giftings; they were being commissioned to wait on tables. No transfer of anointing was implied. One could argue that the ministerial success of two of these seven, Stephen and Philip, showed that something was imparted after all, but one could also argue the lack of signs-and-wonders ministry by five out of the seven showed that nothing was imparted. They all received the same laying on of hands. After all, when Jesus sent out the 12 and then the 70, they ALL had results. I would agree that nothing was imparted because the seven were being installed into “ministry of helps” positions, not being anointed for healing ministry. In fact, I would consider this proof in the case of Stephen and Philip that it is unnecessary to receive a special “impartation” to go out and do signs and wonders.

When Jesus said that we will do the works He did and greater, He made no mention that there would be a special step necessary to receive an “impartation” before you could do so, unless you refer to the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which is available to “as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39). You should expect any giftings specific to your ministry to manifest when you get out and preach. Stephen and Philip did exploits without anyone prophesying to them or “imparting” a miracle-working gift to them in front of others. So you should not see a public “impartation” as a necessity before having a fruitful and powerful ministry.

2 Timothy 1:6

Paul wanted Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him through the laying on of his hands. In this case, Paul did not mention a plurality of people laying hands on Timothy at once, though it is probable that Paul was one of the hand-layers out of the group in 1 Timothy 4:14. However, since both of these verses have the same author (Paul) and the same recipient (Timothy), it would have been consistent for Paul to have said “laying on of OUR hands” if he were really referring to the same event.

So some gift was obviously given to Timothy when Paul laid hands on him. We know that Paul laid hands on people in the same city (Ephesus) and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Could this be the same here? (English readers might assume that “gift” would be capitalized if it were the Holy Spirit, but the King James didn’t always capitalize names referring to a person of the Trinity; that is a more modern custom. So that doesn’t serve as any kind of clue. Such capitalizations are at the whim of the translators as they are not part of the original Greek. Our choice is that either this refers to the Holy Spirit or to some ministerial gifting.)

If it refers to the Holy Spirit, there is no support in this verse for impartations and impartation services.

If it refers to a ministerial gifting, we now have a problem. Timothy was evidently a pastor. Paul was an apostle. Timothy did NOT get Paul’s apostolic anointing when Paul laid hands on him! There would be no need for him to get an apostolic anointing when he was called to be a pastor at Ephesus. So at least in general terms, Timothy did NOT get Paul’s anointing when Paul laid hands on him. Conversely, while being an apostle puts you in a place of pastoring churches you plant as they get started, Paul NEVER referred to himself as a pastor in any of his letters. He called himself an apostle. So Paul did not even have a more strictly pastoral gift operating in his life that he could have imparted to Timothy!

One could conclude that GOD imparted something to Timothy when Paul laid hands on him. But if Timothy got the impartation from GOD and not from PAUL, this would provide no support for the idea of one minister imparting his anointing to another minister through the laying on of hands.

What About the Thus-and-Such Revival?

Some revivals generate stories of people who attended them and then went home and started something similar in their own church, city or school. Is this not proof that some kind of revival anointing is transferrable and there is something to this impartation thing after all? I even met a man in person who brought a similar powerful move to one country that he had experienced in another country during a sustained set of revival meetings.

It is dangerous to develop doctrine based on experiences, even good experiences. I know a couple pastors who went to a well-known revival, but they did NOT have any similar move when they got back, although they would have welcomed it. Another pastor couple went to a revival that was the “hot thing” of the moment where there were many reported healings, but their plane had to be diverted on the way home to take one of them to an emergency room in another city. One cannot make a general formula out of other people’s experiences.

I could just as well theorize that people attending a certain revival have their eyes opened to a particular way that the Holy Spirit can move that they might never have considered, and then they allow Him to move that way when they get home. This could happen without the transference of some special “revival anointing.”

I think it’s safe to say that at least most people who attend “revivals” do not go start similar revivals themselves. If attending a certain revival could give you the same “revival anointing,” we should expect everyone who goes to start their own revivals.

What About Elisha’s Double Portion?

That was in the Old Testament, when neither Elijah nor Elisha had the Spirit within them. He only came upon them to accomplish specific things. And interestingly, Elijah never laid hands on Elisha for him to receive that double portion, so laying hands on someone for a “double portion” doesn’t even have an Old Testament precedent! Also, only Elisha was qualified to receive that “double portion” – it was not offered to any of the “school of the prophets” crowd who probably wanted it.

Final Round

I believe we have knocked out the first and third options at the head of this discussion. This leaves only the question of which of these two is correct:

Believers already have all the anointing they need on the inside and do not need anyone to lay hands on them to “impart” gifts of the Spirit.

--or--
Only God can bestow “gifts of the Spirit” but sometimes when people lay hands on a believer, that is the time God chooses to bestow something new or enhanced. However, the gift comes from God and is not “imparted” by the person(s) doing the laying on of hands.

For the top option to work, we have to assume that believers “have” all the gifts of the Spirit and just need them stirred up. However, that is disproved by 1 Corinthians 12:28-30, which directly proves that we do not ALL have ALL the gifts as some teach today. The top option would also invalidate 1 Corinthians 12:11 because that option implies that the Holy Spirit divides to EVERY man ALL giftings.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t flow in all the gifts over time. I have personally flowed in all nine of the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. However, some are “bread and butter” to me ministerially and others I might have flowed in once every decade or two! So I can potentially flow in multiple gifts, but as is the case with other believers, the Holy Spirit tends to use me more along certain lines. I would certainly not claim to “have” the lesser-used gifts in the sense Paul wrote about. I have also noticed over time that different gifts became more prominent. I believe that this had to do with changes in the ministry office I was called to at the time – different gifts tend to be associated with different fivefold ministry callings. (God can move you from one office to another over time. Paul didn’t start out as an apostle; he was previously a prophet, teacher, or both, based on Acts 13:1.)

This logically leaves only the bottom option. The event in 2 Timothy 1:6 could be construed to illustrate that case, as Timothy did not get Paul’s apostolic anointing but perhaps (if you don’t think Paul meant the Holy Spirit) he received a ministry grace that he had to stir up.

We don’t have to sort out the last detail in order to answer the question at the head of this discussion. The latter of the remaining options – the only viable one – rules out services where you can get the anointings of the ones preaching by the laying on of hands. And so does the runner-up above it!

Our answer has to be that we do not see biblical support in the New Testament for the kind of impartations and impartation services that are sometimes advertised to New Testament saints. As we’ll see, though, the issue can be what the people doing the meeting mean by their language, as some “impartation services” would not contradict Scripture as long as they are not based on one or more preachers giving you a portion of their anointing by the laying on of hands.

This is not an essential Christian doctrinal issue, so we can be friends if you disagree with me! I wouldn’t run out the door if someone starts doing “impartations” in a meeting. I don’t consider it a major deal that should separate believers. I might even get in the line with the understanding that am I going to get a blessing or refreshing as opposed to receiving another minister’s personal anointing.

Now that we have established this, we can think about the matter some other ways that reinforce the conclusion we just reached.

Problems with Certain Kinds of “Impartation Services”

Given that we should not lay hands on people suddenly when healing isn’t the context, it seems suspicious that it would be OK to lay hands suddenly on people totally unknown to you to impart a special anointing to them. They could be prideful, and an increase in their being used supernaturally might actually cause them to fall because of their inflated egos. They could be promoters of bizarre doctrines. How would you know, given that you don’t even know the people? Would you want a purveyor of junk teaching to go forth in power and attract hearers to listen to his spiritual-sounding weirdness because you “gave” him an anointing for a certain ministry?

Do you really believe that a carnal person can now be used mightily just because you laid hands on him for an impartation? Is just “getting an impartation” a shortcut to growing in the Lord if you want to be used?

There is no record of a single “come one, come all” impartation service in Scripture. That alone is a big red flag.

“Yes,” someone will say, “but we know something happened in our impartation service because a lot of people got drunk in the Holy Spirit after hands were laid on them!” However, the fact that they got drunk in the Holy Spirit does not prove that they received someone else’s ministerial anointing. If you look at such a meeting a while after the fact, how many people who had hands laid on them in that service went out of there and flowed in exactly the same ministerial anointing as the preacher? Did even one single person do it, let alone a roomful of excited people? These are tough questions but we need to ask them. The people may have been encouraged, refreshed and stirred up, but that is not the same as actually receiving someone else’s anointing.

There is a parallel in healing services. People might get refreshed, knocked to the floor, drunk in the Holy Spirit, or stuck to the floor or a chair (we’ve had all this happen), but that is not the same thing as those people receiving the anointing that is on the healing minister!

And most of all, if the person receiving the laying on of hands already has the infinitely-powerful Holy Spirit within him, how much additional “power” is the hands-layer-on-er able to grant to him? This is perhaps the main issue associated with such services. If the preacher announces, “Who wants the anointing? Get down here!” (as I saw done live by a prominent preacher), doesn’t that actually contradict the clear teaching of Scripture that believers already HAVE the anointing (1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:27, 2 Corinthians 1:21)? Isn’t saying, “If you want the power of God, come let me lay hands on you!” actually at odds with what Jesus said, which was that you would receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, meaning when you get baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)? What “power” is the preacher going to impart that the Holy Spirit in you doesn’t have already? If you’re Spirit-baptized, you already HAVE the power of God!

The main answer from an “impartation” standpoint would be that you are not receiving power in a general sense but rather a specific anointing that is on that preacher for ministry. But this wades into another swamp. Suppose that the preacher flows prodigiously in “gifts of healings.”

1 Corinthians 12:30:
Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?”

(Note: Healing in that verse is plural in the Greek and should have been translated healings.)

After the service, the preacher could supposedly say, “Does everyone have gifts of healings? YES, everyone in this room now does, because I have gifts of healings and I just imparted them in the prayer line I just had when I called everyone in the room to come forward and get an impartation of my specific anointing!” Do we really think that we can do something that causes everyone in a specific church to have the same gifting? How is that going to square with 1 Corinthians 12, which teaches clearly that we all have different gifts, administrations, operations and manifestations? And how do we square any of this with the clear statement that the Holy Spirit distributes to every person differently as HE wills (1 Corinthians 12:11)? If we can go “get another preacher’s gifting” in a prayer line, it would seem that we can circumvent this and get a distribution of the Holy Spirit as WE will by attending an impartation service.

Blessing Through Laying On of Hands

Finally, we need to distinguish someone laying hands on someone for a general blessing as opposed to granting an impartation of that preacher’s specific anointing. We should not oppose something Jesus did.

Mark 10:13:
And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.

Mark 10:16:
And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

So if someone lays hands on people for a general blessing or refreshing, there is New Testament precedent for that. I am not opposed to services where laying on of hands is done for that reason, and I have had altar calls for that myself. That situation is different from than having a line of people come up to supposedly get an impartation of your anointing. People might have some interesting encounters with God, but that is not the same as getting your anointing.

But I Felt Something!

Someone is sure to object that he went to an impartation service, and oh boy, did he feel something! He was “out” on the floor, shaking, drunk in the Holy Spirit, “feeling God all over Himself,” maybe even having a vision or similar experience.

I’m not disputing that you can feel something in such services. I have! We established in the prior section that you can lay hands on someone just to bless the person. I have had people experience all the things I just mentioned when I laid hands on them. But they did not get my minister’s anointing and immediately go out and have the same ministry that I have. The children Jesus blessed didn’t start going out preaching and laying hands on the sick like Jesus either.

The Bible Way to Become Like Another Minister

Luke 6:40 tells you that a disciple, when he is fully taught, will be like his teacher. Sit under or follow that preacher’s teaching, and you will end up acting like that preacher whether or not he ever lays hands on you! This works even for preachers who are with the Lord now! Even then, that does not guarantee that you will have the same ministry grace as that person. If it did, you would be able to pick and choose which ministry graces you have, which is the Lord’s decision, not yours.

In some cases, this fact should be a warning! Do you want to be like the preacher you listen to? If not, perhaps you should stop listening to him, even if he seems to have a strong anointing.

Services Where God Imparts Things

I have no problem with a service where people receive impartations for ministry directly from God, even if the preacher is the intermediary. However, such things are as the Spirit wills. You cannot biblically assure everyone who comes up for prayer that he will get a ministry “impartation” of some kind. I believe that God will sometimes impart ministry graces to people who come up for a “refreshing,” but I don’t believe that God will transfer a measure of the grace that is on one person to another. We can’t support that with the Bible, as we have seen above.

Dismantling “Mantles”

Because Elisha literally picked up Elijah’s mantle, some Christians make a big deal about getting a deceased preacher’s “mantle.” They even argue about who received it. “Mickey from Fremantle had a great anointing for seeing cancer healed, and now Noah from Brisbane has Mickey’s mantle.” “No, that’s not true – Mickey Jr. got his mantle.” However, there are no New Testament cases of transferred mantles. Paul had a great ministry, but he did not transfer his “mantle” to someone else who proceeded to have the same great ministry Paul had.

Why then do we see a new person raised up in a new generation with the same general type of ministry that someone else had when he was alive? It’s not that a specific mantle was transferred, but rather that every generation has the need for that type of ministry, so God has to raise up someone else. If a person with prodigious healing gifts goes home to heaven, there is still a need on the earth for gifts of healings. If a notable prophet dies, the next generation still needs ministry from prophets, so God has to raise up someone else.

I had the privilege of spending a lot of time with David Newberry, a man who saw large numbers of deaf people and cancer sufferers healed in large crusades in Africa. I also assisted another minister who had a lot of success with back problems. It has become obvious over the years that “gifts of healings” operate through me especially with people with hearing problems, cancer and back trouble. Those aren’t the only type of issues I see healed, but someone could well ask if I “got their anointings.” Despite the similarities in results, I believe that they had success through the anointings that were on them and that I’ve had success with the anointing that is on me. Brother Newberry also had spectacular success with blind people, but at this writing, I have yet to see the same results with eye trouble as with ear trouble. If I had his mantle, I would be raising dead people and seeing blind people healed as well as the other things. I would also have sensed a calling to Africa where he spent much of his life. So I would have to conclude based on experience as well as the Word that I did not “get someone else’s mantle” even if there are similarities in how he operated and how I operate.

Brother Newberry did feel led to lay hands on me and believe that I would receive an impartation. In one such case, we still have a video of me on the floor looking like I was hooked up to some kind of high-voltage socket. I wouldn’t question for a minute that I got something serious when he laid hands on me. However, I maintain that what I got was from the Lord, not from him, even if it flowed through him. On another occasion he bear-hugged me, picked me off my feet and carted me around my living room believing that I would get an impartation. (He was much taller, so this worked.) This made sense given the similarity of our callings, but my point is that I got an impartation for ministry, but I did not get HIS exact grace for ministry. Our ministries were still different, and he needed certain graces to do what he did that I did not need given that I was not doing the same things. (At least not at this writing; I’ve learned to “never say never.”) And he continued to do what he had been doing; he did not “give me his mantle.”

Much of the reason I followed in some of his footsteps was that I spent so much time with him that the idea of deaf ears opening started seeming normal. Previously, I would cringe on the inside and think, “Oh, no, this is a TOUGH case!” But when I sat and listened to his miracle accounts at length (we even pulled all-nighters a couple times), his “nothing is too hard for God” attitude rubbed off. It wasn’t that I got his anointing as much as that I got his mindset. However, the mindset change was progressive, not something that happened because he laid hands on me at a particular time.

When the “mantle-passer” is still alive, things become even more dubious. When Elijah gave his mantle to Elijah, Elijah didn’t have it anymore! So you couldn’t even use the Old Testament to say that you have some living person’s mantle!

Okay, but didn’t Moses lay his hands on Joshua to impart his anointing to him? No.

Numbers 27:18-20:
And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.

The Bible says that Moses put some of his honor on Joshua, not some of his anointing. The Hebrew word for anointing was not used in that verse. In fact, the first verse above states that Joshua already had the spirit in him before Moses laid hands on him. Joshua did not operate in Moses’ ministry of giving the Law after Moses died, so Moses did not impart his mantle to him. Joshua was a different leader for a different time, not another Moses. Moses commissioned him to be Israel’s leader, which he also was, but he was not Israel’s lawgiver.

The Bible DOES say that Joshua was full of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. That is still not the same as imparting the anointing.

Deuteronomy 34:9:
And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.

We need to be careful how much doctrine we get from the Old Covenant when we have a better one. Under our covenant, Christ has been made unto us wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30), and if you’re full of the Spirit, you’re full of wisdom because He is the Spirit of wisdom (Isaiah 11:2). Thus, unlike Joshua, you do not need anyone to lay hands on you to get wisdom.

Now you may wonder, “Didn’t Paul pray for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of wisdom (see Ephesians 1:15-23)? How can you say that you already have something that Paul prayed that God would give them?” That’s a perfectly reasonable question, and there is a perfectly reasonable answer! Paul was praying that the Ephesians would get a revelation of what they already had. The “spirit” of wisdom has to refer to a mindset of wisdom, not the Holy Spirit, whom they already had. Proof that “spirit” can mean a mindset can be found in Ephesians 4:23 (“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind”), and 1 Corinthians 4:21 and Galatians 6:1, which both refer to the “spirit of meekness.”

The Anointing vs. Different Giftings

While all Christians have “the anointing,” not everyone has the same giftings. Paul said to the Romans, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us…” (Romans 12:6), so we all have different graces. You and a prophet both have “the anointing” but unless you’re a prophet yourself, you don’t have the same grace to be a prophet that he does. Were it otherwise, anyone could stand in any ministry office at will, which is clearly not the case. Thus, it is antibiblical to teach, “You already have ALL anointings because you have the Holy Spirit” even though you have the anointing in a general sense. You certainly do NOT have all graces, giftings and callings. Nor can you have someone in a service lay hands on you and “give” you his grace, gifting and calling.

Conclusions

“Impartation services” where people are assured that they can come up at will and receive an impartation of the anointing on the preacher are contrary to Scripture.

“Impartation services” where people are assured that they will get their own impartation from God if they come up are also contrary to Scripture.

“Impartation services” where God provides the opportunity for people to have giftings imparted as He wills do not contradict Scripture.

“Refreshing services” where people can come up and be blessed by the laying on of hands, where some people MAY receive a new impartation of a ministry grace from God are consistent with Scripture.

A minister may feel led to lay hands on you for an impartation of a specific ministry grace (not “the anointing” in general, which you already have), and may even prophesy while doing so, mirroring Timothy’s experience, and that is supportable with Scripture.