“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.” - 1 Timothy 2:8

If you’re like me, when you hear someone reference this verse, you might squirm and sense that someone’s about to start a theological debate about lifting hands in worship. In fact, to my recollection, that’s about the only time I can recall anyone ever bringing this verse up.

But that’s not what I am going to do. I simply want us to look at our hands.

Go on. Look at your hands.

Take a moment, in the solemnity of your heart before God to consider the things you’ve done with these hands. Consider for a moment the evil that these hands have wrought. Perhaps these hands have been made to fly in fits of rage. Perhaps your hands have done unjust violence. Perhaps these hands have handled things they ought not to have handled, and done things they ought not to have done.

Perhaps your hands even bear scars to remind you of past sins -- maybe that time when you punched a door in anger, or perhaps you accidentally cut your hand and let loose a flurry of obscenities with your tongue. Maybe you bear scars from constantly sticking a needle in your wrist.

If we’re honest before God, and honest with our hands, we’ve all done sin with our hands, and they may even have the scars to remind us. When God condemns Israel through the prophet Isaiah, he needs to look no further than the people’s hands for evidence against them. “For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness ... Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.” (Isaiah 59:3, 59:7) Surely, the work of our hands speaks guilt and shame against us.

Now consider this.

These same hands that have wrought such iniquity are now proclaimed by God to be holy.

Think about that. Your hands. Holy. Those real, physical hands attached to your body were once stained with guilt and shame, and they have now been washed from all iniquity. They have been made holy, set apart for service to the Lord. They are clean and blameless, having been washed by the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:22).

Is that not marvelous to think about? I think this is so powerful, for at least three reasons.

1. Because our hands are holy, they are empowered to serve a Holy God.

Not only does the blood of Jesus completely atone for our sins, making us legally justified and righteous before God (Colossians 2:14), but it also empowers us, through the Spirit, to serve him in holiness with our physical bodies.

Paul argues in Romans 6 that since we have been set free from slavery to sin, we are to now present our members (that is, our physical capacities) as instruments of righteousness (Romans 6:15-19). He later charges each of us in Romans 12:1 to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” This is made possible only by the fact that our members have been cleansed by the washing of Christ.

In other words, if Christ’s blood were to have only cleansed me legally from sin, but not cleansed my members from sin, then while I would be free from condemnation on the last day, I would have no capacity to please him in this life. All the work of my hands would still bear the stench of sin in the nostrils of God. Without holy hands, nothing I do could be acceptable before him. It is only through faith in Christ that I can please him with my hands (Hebrews 11:6, Romans 14:23).

God did not appoint us to salvation simply to have us wait around for our resurrected bodies -- as if we’re still dirty now, waiting to be made clean later. Rather, he cleansed our mortal bodies through the blood of Christ to be set aside for holy service now.

2. Because our hands are holy, we can lift them in worship!

When this verse in 1 Timothy is used as a staging point for a theological debate about hand-lifting, I fear the integral point often gets missed entirely. The issue here has nothing to do with the propriety or the conformance to the notion of lifting your hands up during worship services -- as if the external act of hand-lifting had some measure of righteousness attached to it. Rather, the focus of this sentence, I think, needs to be laid on the fact that we have holy hands to lift at all! It is only because our hands are holy that we can offer them to God in worship without shame! Should this not impact us dramatically at the level of our emotions, and therefore spill over into expression? Can you feel this reality that your hands are acceptable to God?

If we didn’t have holy hands, we wouldn’t even be able to have the discussion about whether or not it’s proper leave them in our pockets during worship. In fact, in our pockets is exactly where they would belong indefinitely. Hidden. Covered. Out of sight in the presence of God. Just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their naked shame (Genesis 3:10), so would we do well to try to hide our naked hands.

3. Because our hands are holy, the bodily scars of past sin become a reminder of glory; not iniquity.

Even though our members are now made holy, some of us bear in our flesh the marks of past sin. But there is no longer any shame contained in those scars. For while your mortal body bears yet for a little while the scars of past guilt, Christ’s immortal body stands forever bearing the scars of your redemption. The power of death in your scars has been conquered by the power of life in the scars of Jesus.

I think it’s amazing to note that in many of the post-resurrection appearances or visions of Jesus, his body still bore the marks of the cross. He invited Thomas to feel his hands and his side (John 20:27). Not only this, but in Revelation, the Lamb appears on the scene with the look “as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). Why does Christ appear in his resurrection body bearing scars? Because the scars of Jesus stand as a constant, comforting reminder to us that he has bore our sin in his flesh, and it has all been taken away.

Are your hands scarred from past sins? Fear not. Christ’s hands shall bear your scars forever more. Your scars exist now only to testify to the power of the blood of the Lamb.


Consider, therefore, your hands, Christian. Think not little of the gifting that has been given to them. Lay those holy hands on the sick (Mark 16:18). Use them to prepare meals. Use them to change diapers. Use them to comfort the hurting. Use them to write words of encouragement. Use them as a skilled workman in your trade. Use them to praise your Redeemer! Lift them up in holy prayer and worship, free from the pollution of sin. Do all these things to the glory of God, who has cleansed you by the sprinkling of his blood, and given you his Spirit that you may bear fruit!