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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Acts 8:17 - 8:17
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Laid they their hands (epetithesan tas cheiras). Imperfect active, repetition. The laying on of hands did not occur at the great Pentecost (Act 2:4, Act 2:33) nor in Act 4:31; Act 10:44 nor is it mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12; 14. It is mentioned in Act 6:7 about the deacons and in Act 13:3 when Barnabas and Saul left Antioch. And in Saul’s case it was Ananias who laid his hands on him (Act 9:17). Hence it cannot be concluded that the Holy Spirit was received only by the laying on of the hands of the apostles or by the hands of anyone. The so-called practice of “confirmation” appeals to this passage, but inconclusively.
They received (elambanon). Imperfect active, repetition as before and pari passu with the laying on of the hands.