Positional Blog - Where does the impartation come from? Where in Scripture can I research this? I’ve heard that it’s not from God and that it is something made up by man. Is this true? –Cecelia
No, impartation is not a manmade concept, idea or practice. It is Biblical as we will see in the study below. What some people may stumble over is the word ‘impartation’ although it is used in Scripture, as Paul talks about it in Romans 1:11 (“…that I may impart to you some spiritual gift…” emphasis mine).
We need to remember that the words Trinity and Rapture are not found in the Bible but are commonly used in not only everyday Christianity, but serious theological dissertations as well. Here is an in-depth study on impartation that I put together:
Impartation
Before we study “impartation” (what it is, what it’s for), we need to “back up” and recognize that it is typically a part of a “bigger picture” if you will, within the Scriptures. When talking about someone “imparting” something to someone else, we must understand that it often comes within the context of the “laying on of hands.” So, then, in light of this, we should first look at the Biblical teaching of the “laying on of hands” so we can study “impartation” within its proper context:
The Laying on of hands
The laying on of hands is another elementary teaching of Christ (Hebrews 6:1, 2). There are four Scriptural purposes for the laying on of hands in the New Testament:
1. Setting people apart and commissioning into their ministry
The leaders of the church lay hands on those who have been called by God to a specific ministry (such as missionary, youth pastor, etc.). There are two offices of the church in the New Testament that require ordination however:
a. Elders: are those who provide direction, government, teaching and pastoral care for a local church.
b. Deacons: are those who serve the church and the elders, allowing them to minister the word and pray.
(Philippians 1:1; 1 Tim. 3; Titus 1:5; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11, 12; Acts 15:13; Acts 6:4)
2. For the impartation of spiritual gifts (Romans 1:11/ I Timothy 4:14)
Spiritual gifts were given in two ways:
a. The Holy Spirit gives them directly (Acts 10:44-46/1st Corinthians 12:11)
b. Through the laying on of hands by the church leaders (Acts 8:17)
Scripture tells us that we are to earnestly desire spiritual gifts; and one of the ways to get them is through the laying on of hands. In the two passages listed in Acts, they received both the Spirit and the gifts at the same time through the Baptism of the Spirit.
3. Healing (Mark 16:15-19)
All who believe may lay hands on the sick and, according to Jesus, the sick shall recover! This is for all believers, not just church leaders (Acts 28:3-10). This can also happen two ways: First, directly from the Lord or secondly, through the ‘gift of healing.’
4. For the impartation of the Holy Spirit
Again, there are two ways to receive the Holy Spirit (Baptism or infilling):
a. Directly from the Lord (Acts 2:1-4)
b. Through the laying on of hands (Acts 19:6)
Remember, through the baptism of the Spirit, we receive power to be witnesses! (Acts 1:8)
A WARNING
Scripture (I Timothy 5:22) tells us that we should not lay hands on anyone too hastily or quickly for a few reasons:
People should not be set into ministry prematurely (1st Timothy 3:10). People should always be tested first. Character should always precede ministry.
Some people are involved in hidden sin. One must know the depth of a person’s character before the laying on of hands (1st Timothy 5:24).
Jesus healed a man who was lame at the pool of Bethesda. The first thing he asked him was if he wanted to be healed. He was then healed, but later we see Jesus find him and instruct him: Jesus tells him not to sin anymore or something worse would befall him (remember he was lame 30+ years since his birth; what could be worse? I don’t even want to think about it).
The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. Once we lay hands on somebody, there is no taking it back. We bare a responsibility as well as those who the gifts are entrusted to.
We must understand that the above is in reference to “commissioning” someone for ministry. It would NOT apply to the laying on of hands for healing, or impartation of spiritual gifts, or receiving the Holy Spirit.
Is impartation in the Bible?
Yes, as we have studied and listed above (#2, #3 and #4 under the “Laying on of hands”), “impartation” is a Biblical concept and practice. Let’s look at some of the Scriptures in greater detail to get a better understanding of it:
1st Timothy 4:14
“Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.”
We see from this passage of Scripture that the spiritual gift was imparted in the following way:
Through the laying on of hands
Through a prophetic word
It goes without saying, but we will say it anyway: The Holy Spirit is the one who gives (imparts) the gift (1st Corinthians 12:11), but He chooses to use people as a vehicle in the above method to ‘deliver’ it to Timothy.
What might that have looked like? Let’s see…
“A group of Elders are gathered around Timothy (Paul is probably among them). One of them receives a prophetic word from the Lord that He desires to give Timothy a specific spiritual gift. The Elder tells Timothy of God’s intentions and they lay hands on him. This Elder prophecies this over Timothy and asks God to release that specific spiritual gift into Timothy’s life. Timothy receives the word and impartation and then begins to operate in this specific spiritual gift.”
Did impartation cease with the Apostles?
I will not go into great detail here, because it would be a rather lengthy study (which I will do later); but now that we have established that impartation is indeed Biblical [read: it is shown consistently in Scripture], the next question to be answered is:
Does God still use impartation today?
Many groups within the Christian Community (worldwide) believe that many things in the Bible passed away when the Apostles died and/or when the Bible was canonized; i.e. God does not heal, speak (apart from Scripture), and do signs, wonders or miracles today, because He does not need to.
Most of the arguments against God doing these things today are not strongly supported in Scripture. As a matter of fact, NOWHERE in Scripture does it explicitly say that the God stopped doing these things or that they were meant to be temporary!
To avoid a lengthy diatribe here, I will simply state that all of the major Pentecostal denominations (Assembly of God, Foursquare, Church of God, International Pentecostal Holiness & Church of God in Christ) as well as Vineyard, Every Nation and other Charismatic denominations and independent Charismatic and Pentecostal churches believe that God still speaks today apart from the Bible and that He operates in the supernatural today (see list above).
So, to answer the above question: Yes, God still uses impartation today; it did not cease when the Apostles died or when Scripture was canonized.
If you would like REALLY in-depth and reliable information on this issue, I encourage you to read the following two books that were written by Jack Deere, former professor at Dallas Theological Seminary titled: Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and Surprised by the Voice of God.
How is anything imparted? (Holy Spirit, gifts, healing, etc…)
Let’s look at some other Scriptural examples of impartation and see how they transpired:
Jesus in John 20:22
“And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.”
Jesus breathed on His disciples and imparted the Holy Spirit. This is different than what we have already seen as impartation that happens through the laying on of hands. You might be led to think that this was a one time exception simply because this is “Jesus”; but let’s examine some other non-physical “impartations” that happened in the New Testament:
Acts 19:11, 12
“God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.”
So, we see here that “impartation” was happening even with inanimate objects (handkerchiefs and/or aprons) and then being imparted in those who needed healing or deliverance. We don’t know whether or not it was “gifts of healing, miracles” or simply “signs and wonders” through a strong anointing that was on Paul.
We don’t know if Paul prayed over these items or like the case with the ‘woman with the issue of blood’ and Jesus, if Paul simply had “power go out of him” when these items touched his body. But what we DO know is that this is a clear case of impartation.
Acts 5:15, 16
“…to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”
We have to recognize ‘faith’ as a part of the process in impartation. Just as we mentioned above with Jesus and the woman who had the issue of blood, it was the woman’s faith that released the impartation.
So, it’s not necessarily the person praying for someone or laying hands on someone who releases impartation, it can be the person seeking impartation, whether it’s healing or the Holy Spirit or a spiritual gift.
Matthew 10: 5-13
“These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.”
Jesus himself commissions his disciples and tells them to impart a verbal blessing of peace upon any house that they enter. It says that if the household is worthy then the impartation of peace shall remain upon it and that if it is not, then the disciples should let the impartation of peace return to them. (Cf. Proverbs 18:21; 12:18)
In Acts we have many other examples of impartation:
Acts 8:14-19
“Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
We know that this passage is referring to the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” as these converts had already become Christians (Romans 10:9, 10) and undergone “believer’s baptism.”
This is in contrast to Peter when he preached to the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house when the Holy Spirit simply “fell on them” while he was preaching (Acts 10:44-48). So, in this passage we see the Holy Spirit imparted through the laying on of hands by the Apostles.
Acts 19:1-7
“It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said to him, "No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" And they said, Into John's baptism."
Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men.”
Again, we know this is referring to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some might be inclined to look at the passage above (Acts 10) where the Gentiles first received the Holy Spirit and to make the argument that it was a one-time event (special circumstances) that God allowed to “confirm the gospel” to the Gentiles; but we see that this is the 2nd time in the book of Acts that the Apostles laid hands on people and they received an impartation (Baptism of the Holy Spirit).
Examples of impartation in the Old Testament:
Elijah and Elisha, directly from God / Double portion of Elijah’s anointing found in 2nd Kings 2
Ezekiel and the dry bones / Prophetic impartation spoken through Ezekiel found in Ezekiel 37
In Numbers 11, God says to Moses “I will take of the same Spirit that is on you…” and put it on 70 of the Elders of Israel. This was an impartation directly from God.
Isaac imparting the blessing to Jacob/ Spoken impartation found in Genesis 27
Probably the greatest example of an impartation that we have in the Old Testament is found in 2nd Kings 13: 20, 21
“Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.”
The double portion anointing that Elisha had received was still on his bones and it was so strong that it brought a dead man back to life! This was an impartation from a dead person’s bones to another dead person; talk about outside the box!
So, we have many examples of impartation both in the Old and New Testaments. It is clearly a pattern established in Scripture, which we cannot ignore or otherwise explain away. God is in the impartation business.
Is demonic impartation in the Bible?
Many people who oppose ‘impartation’ in specific or some of the manifestations of the Spirit in general believe we must be careful when it comes to ‘impartation’, because if we are not careful, when someone in the Church prays over you (or anyone) that you might be susceptible to, and possibly receive a “demonic impartation” when this takes place.
This particular belief never made sense to me for several reasons:
● Demonic impartation is not in the Bible. People, who make the argument that they don’t believe in impartation because they don’t see it in the Bible, then go on to say that we need to be careful of “demonic impartation” which is NOT in the Bible either.
I see a double standard here. If you are not going to believe in something because you don’t think it is Biblical, then it should apply to everything, not just that which is convenient for parts of your belief system (Romans 14:22).
Let’s face it: at least half of what happens on Sunday morning in ANY given Church can’t be found specifically in the Bible, so does anyone really want to ‘hang their hat’ on that position?
God will never contradict anything in His word, but we don’t operate under the ‘letter of the law’ (which kills), we operate by the Spirit.
Certainly nothing that we practice should be counter to the commands and principles of God we see in the Word or go against God’s character, but we cannot be like the Pharisees who were so dogmatic, they missed what the Lord was doing and ultimately missed the Lord himself!
● God is faithful. The Word tells us that He remains faithful, even when we are faithless (2nd Timothy 2:13). When God’s children are seeking Him, they will find Him (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
God gives good and perfect gifts (James 1:17). We see a great example of God’s character in Luke 11:
“Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
In other words, when the saints are sincerely seeking after God, wanting to be blessed by God and they are going to find God and potentially His blessing (if they have the right motives; James 4:3; Proverbs 16:2; 21:2), regardless of the vessel by which it may come.
Ideally, God wants to use “vessels of honor” (2nd Timothy 2:21), but He is not prohibited from blessing His children or giving to them if someone is a less than ideal vessel. We know that there will be no perfect vessels (Christ was the only one) and we know God used a lot of flawed ones in the Bible (Moses, David, Paul, to name a few).
As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that God raised up Pharaoh (Romans 9:17), spoke through a Donkey (Numbers 22:28) and prophesied through Caiaphas the High Priest who had given the order for Jesus to be killed (John 11:49-51).
There are several reasons why God uses flawed vessels. The word tells us that in addition to the truth that God is faithful, the gifts and callings of God are “irrevocable” (without repentance; Romans 11:29); so people can still operate with their gifts, even if they may be in sin or backslidden.
We see a great example of this in Ezekiel 44:
“The Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray and who wandered from me after their idols must bear the consequences of their sin. They may serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gates of the temple and serving in it; they may slaughter the burnt offerings and sacrifices for the people and stand before the people and serve them. But because they served them in the presence of their idols and made the house of Israel fall into sin, therefore I have sworn with uplifted hand that they must bear the consequences of their sin, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
“They are not to come near to serve me as priests or come near any of my holy things or my most holy offerings; they must bear the shame of their detestable practices. Yet I will put them in charge of the duties of the temple and all the work that is to be done in it.
But the priests, who are Levites and descendants of Zadok and who faithfully carried out the duties of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, are to come near to minister before me; they are to stand before me to offer sacrifices of fat and blood, declares the Sovereign LORD. They alone are to enter my sanctuary; they alone are to come near my table to minister before me and perform my service.”
Paul even talks about this very thing in relationship to preaching the gospel in Philippians 1: 15-18:
“It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.”
Again, in an ideal world, every minister and saint would operate in integrity and with he right motives, etc. but this does not always happen. While we don’t overlook these things and address these issues when they come up, we don’t cut ourselves off from receiving from the Lord when He chooses to use a vessel that we don’t care for, or ignore the fruit of it (or worse still, call it a work of the enemy!).
● God is bigger than the devil. I am amazed by some people’s faith in the devil. They have more confidence in the devil to do what he does, than they do God to do what He does! They have a greater expectation for the devil to deceive, than they do for God to speak to and protect His children!
Last time I checked the Bible said, “Greater is He that is in [us], than he that is in the world (1st John 4:4).”
As we mentioned above, God is faithful even when we are faithless. Even with that said, we know that He is a defender of the needy, the widow, the orphan, etc. He is our guard, our shield, our fortress.
There is no where in the Bible where someone received a demonic impartation, but let me show you where someone attempted to ‘curse’ the people of God, but ended up blessing them instead!
When Balaam attempted to bring a curse on the people of Israel in Numbers 22, God would not let him and he ended up blessing them instead.
Now having said that I want to say, that based on my experience, do believe that “demonic impartation” is possible, but not in the way the ‘Heresy Hunters’ believe.
It’s one thing when we go to God to receive from Him and He protects us from things we may be unaware of; it’s quite another when His children open doors for the enemy to come right in.
Most deception in the church does not come from false doctrines within the church, but rather from saints who are still messing with practices that are of the world: False religions, cults, “psychics”, witches and warlocks, idols… received by those who think occult practices are still ok.
The Biblical example of this is obviously King Saul in the Old Testament where he went to visit the ‘witch of Endor’ and is rebuked by Samuel for his act. In the New Testament, a recently converted ‘Simon the sorcerer’ attempts to buy the power of God and is rebuked by the Apostle Peter.
I could tell you story after story of people in the church that I have seen deceived in such a way: A church secretary that was praying using ‘rhune stones’ and was being attacked by demons in the night. Or another person in church that had Native American dream catchers in their house, attempting to ‘use them’ and was being heavily oppressed by the enemy as a result.
You will need to read my study on “Renewing the mind, Flesh patterns, Strongholds & Demonic oppression” to get a complete and in-depth breakdown on the issue of demonic impartation.
Also, stay tuned for my complete study for the basis of deception of the saints within the end times spoken of in the New Testament.
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