Thursday, March 16, 2023

Robert Lee Williams on the laying on of hands and the importance of the prayer of ordination

  

Laying on of hands was customary in appointing individuals as elders or overseers. Timothy receives the χαρισμα enabling him for his task “with” (μετα, an accompanying circumstance, not a means) the imposition of hands (by “the presbytery,” 1 Tim 4.14; by Paul, presumably at the same time, 2 Tim 1.6). That such a gesture represented ordination of elders and overseers is assumed, on the basis of such verses as Acts 14.23 and 1 Timothy 5.22, without much discussion. (Bultmann, Theology, 2:107. Goppelt, Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, 200-201. Ehrhardt, Apostolic Succession, 33-34) Imposition of hands is associated with spiritual power beyond the contexts of office (Acts 8.17; 9.12, 17; 19.6). Goppelt states that the imposition that is in a special sense an ordination. (Goppelt, Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, 200) This special sense is based on the transmission of “apostolic tradition” in 2 Timothy 2.2. To the extent that such a transmission of doctrine involved a continuity in role or responsibility which would not apply to every person installed in a position, Goppelt’s designation of ordination here is accurate.

 

Was the ordination a “sacramental” act? Does the imposition of hands transfer to the elder-overseer the χαρισμα required for the responsibility? Goppelt says no. Ordination was not “a legal credential meaning that the one ordained stands now in a line of succession, knows the tradition and is capable of making doctrinal and disciplinary decisions in keeping with the tradition . . . but he (Timothy) was to be certain of the charisma which was imparted to him through the ordination . . . i.e., the work of the Spirit which calls and equips one for service.” (Ibid., 200-201) While it does not create a “line of succession,” with which sacramental office is often associated, von Campenhausen insists that it is sacramental. It “imparts to the recipient effectual grace appropriate to his office.” (Von Campenhausen, Ecclesiastical Authority, 116) Certainly the χαρισμα was not “a legal credential” but “the work of the Spirit which calls and equips one for service.” Ferguson, however, that “there was no automatic transfer of the Spirit through touch.” (“Laying on the Hands: Its Significance in Ordination,” JTS 26 [1975]: 6-7) The overlooked feature in ordination texts is “the centrality of prayer.” As noted above, the passages in Acts and the Pastorals an appointment and ordination are properly understood as involving not transmission of χαρισμα from an appointing person or group but blessing, both a “personal benediction” of approval and a request for “divine blessing” of the person. The imposition of hands was “an outward symbol of the prayer,” (4Everett Ferguson, “Ordain, Ordination,” ABD 5 [1992]: 39) or perhaps, better, a gesture complementing the (presumably) audible prayer.

 

Paul considers that Timothy “knows the tradition” (2 Tim 1.14) “and is capable of making doctrinal and disciplinary decisions in keeping with the tradition” (1 Tim 5.1, 17; 2 Tim 2.2). The gesture in ordination signifies that an official is equipped by the Spirit for the responsibility he is assigned by the Spirit. We have shown earlier that Paul considered that the judgment of Christians, usually Christian leaders, reflected the judgment of the Spirit in selecting leaders. Holmberg, in turn, has demonstrated it as eminently Pauline that the leader who serves a congregation evinces God’s χαρισμα, be the task ever so ordinary or “uncharismatic.”

 

We conclude two things from our examination of the development of episcopal authority in the New Testament. Where appointments to episcopal positions or functions are mentioned, Acts 20 and Titus 1, the appointment is attributed to the Holy Spirit and is confirmed by Paul or his assistant, who acts on Paul’s orders. The power to discharge the responsibilities of the overseer comes from a χαρισμα which is given to the person being ordained and is confirmed by prayer and the laying on of hands. (Robert Lee Williams, Bishop Lists: Formation of Apostolic Succession of Bishops in Ecclesiastical Crises [Gorgias Studies in Early Christianity and Patristics 16; Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2005], 56-57)