Why does the Bible warn, "Do not lay hands on anyone hastily" in 1 Timothy 5:22?

(V. 22). In Scripture to lay hands on another is the sign of fellowship, rather than the communication of authority as Christendom teaches. False liberality may affect large-heartedness by carelessly extending fellowship to those who are pursuing a wrong course. We may thus put our sanction on evil and partake of other men's sins. We are to keep ourselves pure, an injunction that clearly proves we may be defiled by our associations.

355 What you quote from 1 Timothy 5:22 demonstrates that, even when it is only the ceremony of laying on of hands which is in question, the reference is certainly to discernment and responsibility. The passage is as simple as your interpretation of it is false. Timothy was not to lay hands hastily on any one. It was therefore a question of discernment on his part, and grave responsibility with regard to the person to whom he gave the sanction of his solemn approval, which shews the very evident meaning of that which follows, namely, that if he did it lightly and the person was unsuitable for this charge, Timothy would have his share in the evil that he might do.

p479 [From the French.] BELOVED BROTHER, - I received your little note, and was glad to hear from you. As to 1 Timothy 5, verses 24, 25 relate to verse 22. Timothy was not to lay hands hastily on any. In the case where the walk of one on whom hands had been laid should turn out badly, Timothy would, although involuntarily, be concerned in the evil, through placing the man in a position which had his sanction. This exhortation gives the apostle occasion to add, "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment." Manifest to every one, they proclaim beforehand, like heralds, the judgment which awaits those who commit them. The sins of other men were more hidden, but would, nevertheless, come into open day. It is the same with good works. Now the fact that sins might be hidden, was to make Timothy prudent in laying on of hands on persons who presented themselves to him with this object.

All this bears testimony to the fact, that the apostle gives these directions with a view to outward order; for the maintenance of that which is respectable in the eyes of all, and of respect for all that ought to be respected. At the tame time, Timothy was to be careful not to give by the laying on of hands his sanction to any one who did not offer moral guarantees that, in the position he had taken, he deserved this mark of respect from others. It would be, on Timothy's part, to become a partaker in the sins of which such a one might be guilty. He was not to lay hands hastily on any one.

Timothy was to avoid haste in giving his sanction to any man lest later he should have to discover that he had accredited one who was unworthy, and thereby he might find himself in the unhappy position of having a share in his misdeeds. The believer is to be careful not only as to purity of a personal sort but also as to his associations.

He was to lay hands hastily upon no man, nor thus to be partaker in the sins of others. The laying on of hands was practised in various ways in the Church of old. It was essentially a sign of fellowship, not necessarily a communication of authority at all. Those who laid hands on Paul and Barnabas when they started for their mission among the Gentiles imparted no authority to those with whom they thus signified their fellowship. On the other hand, it is quite possible, although it is disputed, that hands were laid upon elders, and that the apostle refers to this in this case. Here it would still be the sign of fellowship, the recognition of one in a certain place of confidence, in his fitness for the place into which he was put. The responsibility implied in it is evident. If thus there should be a hasty recognition not justified afterwards by the conduct of those who received it, those who had committed themselves to it would have identified themselves with what in result was shame and dishonor. Timothy must keep himself pure.

The full bearing of this first command gives perhaps the more significance to the words that follow, "neither be a partaker in others' sins; keep thyself pure." Haste in according that well-known sign of fellowship, even if not the conveyance of spiritual power as sometimes, might accredit fair-seeming men, ere long to develop into enemies of the cross of Christ. What a sorrow would not this occasion to so sensitive a heart as Timothy's! Especially then he would do well to bear in mind the danger of sharing their sins by haste on his part.

Then follows the closing appeal: "Keep thyself pure." Chastity to which Wiclif and the Rhemish Version confine this last word is but part of what the apostle impresses on Timothy. The purity required emphatically in himself would the better help to guard against looseness in sanctioning formally men who would make sad havoc of the flock of God or dishonour the Master by forsaking the work through love of the present age, if they did not fall into gross sins or bring in privily heresies of perdition.

This same spirit of impartiality is a preservative from the dangers of identifying ourselves with any man with due knowledge and consideration. For the laying on of hands signfies willing identification in fellowship. If I do not know the individual either personally or reputation I may find myself identified with sins I did not suspect. To accept him in fellowship in the work of the Lord or in the worship of the Lord would make me a participator in that which he practices. This is a more serious matter than even saints of God generally think. If the man should be guilty of evil practice or evil doctrine, and I have associated myself with him, I make myself impure. Let us be watchful against such mixtures.

In 1 Tim. 5:22 Timothy is exhorted to "lay hands suddenly on no man," to identify himself with no man until he was clear as to his worthiness, whether for fellowship, service, or office.

Timothy gets another word regarding bishops. "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses," and then in verse 22 he is enjoined to "lay hands suddenly on no man." A little word, but very instructive. It has been said that elders were appointed by the laying on of hands. Scripture nowhere says so, that I am aware of, and the only passage that would seem to bear out such an idea is this, where Paul says, "Lay hands suddenly on no man." It is too vague to build a theory on, but the point clearly is that Timothy was to be very careful as to those with whom he identified himself, by laying on of his hands.