“Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.”
My Notes
What Does Acts 6:6 Mean?
"Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." The church commissions the seven deacons through prayer and the laying on of hands. This wasn't a casual gesture — laying on of hands was a formal act of authorization, blessing, and spiritual empowerment that traced back to Moses commissioning Joshua (Numbers 27:18-23). The church wasn't just giving these men a job; they were setting them apart for sacred service.
The order matters: prayer first, then hands. The apostles sought God's blessing before imparting their own. The public nature of the ceremony also matters — the whole congregation chose these men, and the whole congregation witnessed their commissioning. This establishes a pattern for church leadership: community selection, apostolic prayer, and formal commissioning.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does your community commission and pray over people in 'practical' roles, not just 'spiritual' ones?
- 2.What would change if every form of service in your church was treated with the same gravity as preaching?
- 3.Have you ever been formally prayed over and commissioned for a role — and how did that affect how you approached it?
- 4.Why do you think the early church treated food distribution with apostolic-level commissioning?
Devotional
They prayed. Then they laid hands on them. The order reveals the priority: seek God first, then act. The commission comes from heaven before it comes from human hands.
This moment established a pattern the church has followed for two thousand years. When you set someone apart for service, you don't just hand them a job description. You pray over them. You lay hands on them. You publicly acknowledge that what they're doing carries spiritual weight, even if the task is distributing food to widows.
There's a democratizing power in this scene. These seven men weren't appointed to preach or lead worship. They were managing a food program. And the apostles treated their commissioning with the same gravity as ordaining a prophet. Because in God's economy, serving widows lunch isn't less spiritual than preaching sermons. It's just different. And both deserve prayer, blessing, and the community's affirmation.
Whatever role you fill — whether it's visible and celebrated or behind the scenes and unnoticed — it deserves to be prayed over. It deserves to be taken seriously. If the early church laid hands on food distributors with the same reverence they gave to the ministry of the word, then your "ordinary" service is anything but.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Whom they set before the apostles,.... They did not barely nominate and propose them to them, but they brought them into…
And when they had prayed - Invoking in this manner the blessing of God to attend them in the discharge of the duties of…
And when they had prayed - Instead of και, and, the Codex Bezae reads οἱτινες, who, referring the act of praying to the…
Having seen the church's struggles with her enemies, and triumphed with her in her victories, we now come to take a view…
whom they set before the apostles That they might confirm, as they had proposed to do, the selection made by the whole…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture