Impartation refers to the giving and receiving of spiritual gifts, blessings, healing, and Holy Spirit baptism, among other things, for the ministry's mission. It is the passing on of these “gifts” from one Godly man or woman to another, particularly through the laying on of hands.
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Where does Impartation come from?
For the first 31 days of the year, I was not physically prepared. I don't think I've gotten more than 5 hours of sleep in a day, and it's starting to show in my physique. Talk about exhaustion! It turns out that settling into a new area and work is more difficult than I anticipated, but I won't complain. Throughout it all, God has been faithful. The month of January was dedicated to trail running. In February, we begin again. I'm still bummed that I don't have access to WiFi and haven't been able to read my favorite blogs or update mine more frequently. Please accept my apologies for my absence from the blogosphere; I WILL RETURN.
I've been thinking a lot about impartation lately, almost every day since December, and I can't stop myself. I didn't know much about it until God began to show what it is and why it is significant to me. This past month, the term IMPARTATION kept popping up in my head, to the point that I was just like, “OK, Lord…I'll write.”
Have you ever felt the need to connect with someone who has more life experience than you? Someone who possesses biblical wisdom, prophetic insight, and is a God-anointed man or woman? Someone to walk beside you, guiding, teaching, and equipping you to grow in faith and flow into your destiny? I admit that I've been feeling this way a lot lately, and based on my conversations with a few people who were also looking for that figure in their lives, it appears that we're not alone! If you're still undecided about whether or not you need to submit to a spiritual mentor, I hope this article will help you make a firm decision. So, first and foremost, what does impartation entail?
In the ancient testament, impartation was God's technique of appointing Kings and Prophets, which was done by an anointed Man of God, for example, using anointed oil. God understood that if a King was chosen, he would be unable to reign without the Holy Spirit. To receive the anointing to lead, they needed to submit themselves to a prophet. God also gave the Holy Spirit to certain men and women in the Old Testament. This can be seen in Samuel's appointment of King Saul ( 1 Samuel 10). Samuel anointed his head with oil, gave him specific instructions, and told him that God's spirit would come upon him powerfully and he would prophesy. You'll observe that Saul received an impartation as soon as he departed that location. God immediately transformed his heart. When he was among the prophets, the Holy Spirit overcame him and he began to prophesy. What happened here, exactly? Impartation.
The Holy Spirit is now within every human being who believes in Jesus, not just a select few, according to the new testament (which is what we have today). This was only activated after Jesus was crucified and resurrected. Because even before he could begin his ministry, Jesus had to submit to a Prophet, John the Baptist, to obtain the anointing. Despite the fact that John baptized Jesus with water, it was God himself who anointed him as the Holy Spirit rested on him. Because the holy spirit now resides within us, even the laying of hands, rather than just employing anointing oil and water baptism, might bring an impartation.
So God can either impart personally or through his servants (pastors, prophets, evangelists, teachers, apostles, and so on). You may also possess the Holy Spirit yet lack the grace to achieve breakthrough in your life. You may have the Holy Spirit, but you lack spiritual gifts to further God's kingdom. As a result, even if you already have the Holy Spirit, there is still potential for impartation.
Let me give you a few examples of relationships in the Bible that lead to impartation so you can better grasp what I'm talking about.
1. Friendship as a means of imparting knowledge
We're all aware of David and Jonathan's strong connection. David's life was anointed since he was the king. Jonathan, on the other hand, earned generational benefits, favor, and protection as a result of his loyalty, submission to David's authority, and readiness to remain his most trusted friend. David remembered that he vowed to look after his family when he died. That's how Jonathan's crippled son ended up in David's care at the palace.
9:1 2 Samuel “Is anyone in Saul's family still alivesomeone to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan's sake?” David wondered one day.
7 ” As a result of my pledge to your father, Jonathan, I plan to treat you with kindness. I'll give you all of your grandfather Saul's possessions, and you'll sit at the king's table with me!”
2. Dispensation through Anointing
This is when a Godly man or woman anoints you for a certain work as directed by God, giving you the grace to complete it. This could include church elders, apostles, evangelists, prophets, and other leaders. You may be called to be a healer, an evangelist, or a prophet, but your gift may not yet be active. An impartation will release the strength of God upon you, activating your gift or placing one within you that has never existed before.
What is an apostolic impartation?
RATOLF, Our primary goal is to serve as an Apostle, imparting our generation at this critical juncture in history. We will hold Apostolic Summits on a regular basis to train and teach ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Teaching and training them in Apostolic Doctrine and spiritual gifts will enable them to perform effectively in their areas of service/calling and ministry.
Israel Onoriobe's apostolic impartation is not a religious ceremony or a ceremonial act. Apostolic impartation is the transmission and retention of Christ's life and the mysteries of His Kingdom for the aim of spiritual establishment and development. Impartation is the process of transferring a portion of our God-given Spiritual Gifts to another person. As a result, we must be cautious about who places their hands on us, lest we be corrupted and defiled by alien spirits who oppose God's plans and His message in us. Apostolic impartation is an apostolic function that prepares us to fulfill our God-given responsibilities. This deposit of spiritual truth and gifts has the power to break past and present restrictions in the Church and to bring out fruitfulness. A unique relationship with God allows for an endless sphere of Kingdom establishment and fruitfulness to be delivered apostolically. It doesn't come from man; he's just a conduit. It comes from God through the Holy Spirit.
“For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that I never cease to mention you in my prayers; making desire, if by any means now at last, by the will of God, I could have a prosperous journey to come unto you. For I yearn to see you, in order to bestow upon you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established;” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-11).
Paul's purpose and prayer was to impart (hand over or plant) spiritual gifts through his teaching, and his impartation created and supported the Church in Rome for around 1260 years. Historically, the Church in Rome was the “established Church” until the papacy led it into apostasy.
We can't give away something we don't have. Spiritual and apostolic leaders do not pass on eschatological knowledge garnered via extensive research. They pass on spiritual knowledge. The establishment of the foundation in conformity with the will of the heavenly Father is the planting of the kingdom of heavens in us (GOD). Our foundation is established through apostolic impartation, and we are also released into a new level of establishment. The Kingdom's purpose is divinely implanted.
Apostolic ministries are distinguished by their access to heavenly mysteries and revelations that other ministry gifts are unable to access owing to their grace and functional limits.
“How He (God) revealed the mystery to me by revelation; (as I wrote afore in few words, so that when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which was not revealed unto the sons of men in other ages, as it is now revealed unto His (God's) holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;” (Some brackets in Ephesians 3:3-5 are mine.)
What does the Bible say about imparted righteousness?
The work of N. T. Wright in “What Saint Paul Really Said” is summarized in this section.
Although the terms “righteousness of God” and “righteousness from God” have been mistaken and confounded in the past, they are different concepts, according to N. T. Wright, one of the most well-known proponents of the New Perspective on Paul. He compares the Hebrew court to a courtroom, pointing out that there are three parties in the Hebrew court: two disputants and one judge (there is no “Prosecuting Attorney”). The conclusion of the dispute between the parties is decided by the court, who declares one party to be correct and the other to be erroneous. In the case at hand, the person who is certified “correct” in court is referred to as “righteous.”
God's (the judge's) “righteousness,” which relates to His (the judge's) loyalty to the covenant relationship, cannot be ascribed or transferred to anyone, but only refers to His function as judge.
“Righteousness from God” is approximately identical to “vindication,” implying that God declares one party to be correct, vindicated, righteous, or acquitted in their conflict with the other.
In Christian theology, the conflict is between those who believe (in God's promises: the covenant, the Messiah) and “the wicked,” which refers to anyone who opposes those who believe. When Messiah returns, the people of such faith will be declared “righteous” (or, in other words, vindicated for their stand), which, according to N. T. Wright, is exactly what the Biblical term “justified” means.
This means that, unlike the classical Evangelical vernacular, we do not “get” God's righteousness (or, as it is sometimes described, “of Jesus”), nor is it “infused” as the traditional Roman Catholic vernacular states. God's “righteousness” is His alone, and we are recognized to be “of” the people of God because of our “righteousness from God.” Paul claims that this has always been the case, but that things have changed now that the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, has emerged.
“For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we could become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:21 is an important verse to remember. (ESV), which has generally been read to suggest that in exchange for Jesus' sinlessness, the Christian has become righteous in some way (via impartation or imputation). In reality, according to N. T. Wright, Paul is speaking about the apostles here, emphasizing that their activity as apostles is essentially God's righteousness (covenant faithfulness) in action ( “We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is appealing to us through us. Be reconciled to God, we entreat you on Christ's behalf “- verses 20-21). When viewed in the light of verses 11 through 21, this interpretation makes sense.
What is the effect of the Holy Spirit?
In some Christian groups, Luke's theology of the Holy Spirit's direct and tangible experience, as portrayed in Acts, has had a significant influence. Luke mentions the Holy Spirit ‘dropping' on people, being ‘poured out' on people, and being “delivered” to individuals on multiple occasions, and while he doesn't always explain what happens, the consequences are apparent and audible. The disciples are given the ability to communicate in a variety of languages at Pentecost, and Cornelius, a Roman gentile centurion, and his associates speak in “tongues” when the Holy Spirit falls on them. Luke doesn't indicate whether the remarks were understandable to those listening or if they were what charismatic Christians call “glossolalia,” a jumble of words that aren't commonly understood by those who hear them.
The powers of the Holy Spirit are so exhilarating that Simon the Magician offers to pay Peter and John for the ability to lay on hands and elicit these reactions on one occasion in Acts.
Luke records that the Holy Spirit speaks unequivocally to guide matters at several stages in the story. The church at Antioch, for example, is directed by the Holy Spirit to lay hands on Paul and Barnabas and commission them for their task. Prophets are also used by the Holy Spirit to communicate.
All of these events are described in a matter-of-fact manner by Luke, with no explanation as to why they occur. He seems to assume that Theophilus and his group, to whom the book is intended, are aware of the events he is detailing. The book isn't about these encounters, but rather what they accomplish in terms of church growth.
Some aspects of Luke's theology of the Holy Spirit have been abstracted from the context of what Acts says about the Holy Spirit, to the point where the visible coming of the Holy Spirit at baptism, as well as the presence of phenomena like healing and prophecy, have become markers of genuine Christian discipleship. Individuals and congregations who do not demonstrate the Holy Spirit's operation in these ways are considered faulty.
However, it would be hilarious if the Holy Spirit's experience got divorced from the Holy Spirit's mission in Acts theology. The result of the Holy Spirit's presence in Acts is the spread of Jesus' good news and the formation of a new human society. This new community is especially welcoming to people who are not welcome in conventional, self-selecting human organizations, according to Luke's gospel and Acts. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… to bring good news to the poor… to proclaim release to the imprisoned and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free,” Jesus says in Luke 4. It becomes a feature of Jesus' ministry that he addresses sinners, such as Levi the tax collector, fallen women, and those with incurable diseases.
In Acts, the pattern continues. The earliest Christians, too, treat the sick (Acts 2:6), value women (Acts 9:36-41), and embrace the impoverished (Acts 9:36-41). (Acts 4:34). Paul portrays the new society as one in which “Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female” (Galatians 3:28), and this is the community whose birth is described in Acts. People's walls between those who are “in” and those who are “out” are challenged by the Holy Spirit.
Acts isn't claiming that the Holy Spirit creates a new community that has no shape or definition at all, but rather that its shape and definition aren't created by humans. Because Jesus gives the apostles the dramatic commission of making disciples of all countries, this society has the potential to be all-inclusive. However, in order to belong, people are frequently forced to give up their most prized and holy self-definitions. In Acts, Jewish Christians are required to join a community that does not share the food and sanitary rules that indicate God's holiness, and gentile Christians are required to give up sacrifice and sexual traditions that testify of matter's sacredness. To become a part of the Holy Spirit's history, everyone must relinquish their sense of control over their own fate.
Acts contends that this new society is not a human concept and will not be a human achievement. It is the Holy Spirit's act wherever even the tiniest remnants of it can be found. Acts is a hopeful book, not because it portrays humans in a rosy light, but because it depicts a history that should have been impossible.
What is in the anointing?
The act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or complete body is known as anointing.
By extension, the term refers to the act of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing any fragrant oil, milk, butter, or other fat on a person or thing. Perfumes are made from scented oils, and sharing them is a kind of hospitality. Anointing has been used to impart a heavenly influence or presence since the beginning of time; it was also employed as a sort of medicine to rid people and objects of dangerous spirits and demons that were considered to cause disease.
The term “anointing” is now most commonly associated with ceremonial blessings such as the coronation of European rulers. This is a continuation of an ancient Hebrew practice, which was most famously seen in the prophet Samuel's anointings of Aaron as high priest and both Saul and David. The figure of the Messiah or Christ (Hebrew and Greek meaning “The Anointed One”), who appears prominently in Jewish and Christian theology and eschatology, is central to the notion. Anointingparticularly the anointing of the sickis sometimes known as unction; in the Catholic church, the anointing of the dying as part of final rites is frequently referred to as “extreme unction.”
Is imputed righteousness biblical?
Imputed righteousness is the Protestant Christian teaching that a sinner is pronounced righteous by God alone by God's grace via trust in Christ, and that consequently everything is based on Christ's merit and worthiness rather than one's own. On the one hand, God is endlessly merciful, “not desiring any to perish, but all to repent.” (See 2 Peter 3:19) - Though many Protestants interpret this passage to refer only to Christians, the context of the epistle indicates that Peter's audience was believers, and the first half of the verse indicates that God's promises to believers are not late, but patiently enduring the unfolding of history as God sovereignly saves His own through time. On the other hand, because God is infinitely holy and just, he cannot approve of or even look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13), nor can he justify a wicked person (Book of Proverbs 17:15). This is a typical theological tension because the Bible characterizes all men as sinners and claims that there are none who are righteous (Epistle to the Romans 3:23, 10). How can God be “just and the justifier of those who believe (Rom. 3:26),” as St Paul put it? God, according to this argument, cannot ignore or overlook sin in any way.
According to followers, God the Father addresses the problem by sending Christ, who is spotless and indestructibly perfect in character, to live a perfect life and die for mankind's sins.
The repentant sinner's sins are put upon Christ, who is the perfect sacrifice. First and foremost, they point out that the means of man's salvation is described in the New Testament as “God's justice” (Rom. 3:21, 22; 10:3; Philippians 3:9). They go on to say that this imputed righteousness belongs to Jesus Christ in particular (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30). When they talk about Christ's “imputed righteousness,” they're talking about both his intrinsic character and his life of sinlessness and perfect obedience to God's rule on Earth, which is typically referred to as his active obedience. Christ, who is God, had to become incarnate (take on human flesh) and live as a human person because he needed to live a human life of complete obedience to God's rule. The fourth phase in the argument that this righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer's account is based on Paul's assertion in Romans 4:6 that God “imputes righteousness apart from works.” By using this word, they mean that God officially credits the believer with Christ's righteous works while on earth. Luther describes this concept as a “fortunate exchange,” a term he borrows from St Paul's imagery in Colossians 3. In compensation for human sin, Christ trades his “garments,” holiness, righteousness, and being blessed by God the Father. For sinners, this is fantastic news: Christ bears their guilt, and believers get His wonderful condition and righteousness.
Adoption is a good analogy for Christ's righteousness and its relationship to the recipient.
Adoption makes a child the son or daughter of someone who is not the child's biological parent.
In marriage, the married partners are legally considered one entity. Sinners who believe in Christ are spiritually linked with him, and this connection allows God to credit believers with Christ's righteousness without resorting to “legal fiction.”
Where is laying on of hands in the Bible?
The laying on of hands is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible several times to precede the giving of a blessing or authority. Semikhahthat is, the laying on of handswas used by Moses to appoint Joshua: Num 27:1523, Deut 34:9. Joshua was also “infused with the spirit of wisdom,” according to the Bible. The 70 elders were likewise ordained by Moses (Num 11:1625). In this manner, the elders later appointed their successors. Others were ordained by their successors. This cycle of hands-on semikhah lasted until an unspecified time after the Second Temple was destroyed. It's impossible to say when the original semikhah succession ended. Many medieval scholars claimed it happened around 360 CE, under the reign of Hillel II. It appears to have lasted at least until 425 CE, when Theodosius II put an end to Gamaliel VI's reign and suppressed the Patriarchate and Sanhedrin.
According to Leviticus 4:24, “And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat,” laying on of hands can also allude to the practice of laying hands over one's sacrifice animal (sin-offering) before slaughtering it. “And he shall put his right hand with force on the head of the goat,” the translator of the verse explains in Pseudo Jonathan's Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch. According to Philo of Alexandria, laying on of hands was done in connection with a declaration, in which the animal's owner would proclaim, “These hands have not taken a bribe to corrupt justice, nor have they split the spoil, etc.” According to Jewish tradition, the first disagreement in Israel was about whether it was allowed to lay hands on one's sacrifice animal on a Festival Day by applying one's full body weight.