Acts 8:14-17 "Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God..."

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.—Acts 8:14-17

Question:

Are the spiritual gifts for today, or do they have to be activated by the laying on of hands as in Acts 8? A Jehovah’s Witness came to our flat and was saying that you need the anointing by the laying on of hands. He said the gifts are not for today.

Comment:

First of all, it is never my intention to declare that anyone’s interpretation of the Bible is “wrong.” Many people, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, believe the Bible offers a means of separating the “acceptable” from the “unacceptable”—whether it is action, people or entire belief systems. They use a very literal interpretation, and therefore, if a passage such as this describes a laying on of hands, then a laying on of hands must be always required. (However, Jesus himself only occasionally “laid hands” on the people whose lives he transformed; he didn’t “call” his disciples by the laying on of hands. In the clearest case I can think of, in which he “called” another—the Samaritan Woman at the well in John 4—there was no physical contact, simply and profoundly a recognition of a spiritual being eager to be empowered to carry the message to others.)   In Unity our biblical focus is at a deeper, metaphysical level in which we recognize universal spiritual principles calling each of us to awaken to our true divine nature and begin to accomplish the spiritual purpose that brings us into human form—the creation, choice by choice, of the elevated consciousness that is the kingdom of heaven. We do not receive spiritual power from others; it is already and always the truth of who we are. Certainly, outer manifestations may be helpful in affirming that truth—sacraments, rituals, prayers, the support and encouragement of teachers and spiritual guides. But what is really needed is that we awaken to the Christ—the indwelling power of God that is our true identity. Our relationship to the divine is intimate, immediate and direct. The “gifts” are simply the wonderful ways in which our lives are blessed and our power expressed once we have embraced that relationship. They are eternal gifts, and we are eternal beings. There is no past or future in the eternity of God, so the gifts must be and are immediately available to us today.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed