Later text
Acts 6:6BSB
They presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Acts 6:6BSB
They presented these seven to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
Earlier text
And the LORD replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man with the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.
Earlier text
“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
Earlier text
Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
The seven are set apart when the apostles "laid their hands on them" — the covenant gesture of commissioning that goes back to Moses' ordination of Joshua, "a man in whom is the Spirit" (Num 27:18), who was thereby "full of the spirit of wisdom" (Deut 34:9). Authority and Spirit-endowment for service are passed on within the people of God by this laid-on hand. Christ-terminus: all such delegated authority serves the one from whom the Spirit is poured out — the risen and ascended Christ, who alone gives gifts to His church (Eph 4:8-11). The laying on of hands does not create the Spirit's presence but acknowledges and commissions those the Lord has already filled, ordering His people for the work of the gospel until He comes.