Is Snake-Handling in Church Biblical?

MARK 16:17,18

𝟏𝟕 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞; 𝐈𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐬; they shall speak with new tongues; 

𝟏𝟖 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬; 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫.

 

When I was a child an older relative took us out into the bush one day, showing us how to find snakes and how to pick them up. After that when my brother and I used to go out on our bicycles, I'd find snakes and pick them up - just because I could! I grew out of it though, fortunately.

 

On that part of Mark, I think that it was 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 not 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. It didn't mean the apostles should deliberately handle snakes in public to show they could not be harmed, as a 'sign' (as some churches in the Appalachian Mountains and southeastern US have done) - it simply meant that as they would go out preaching the gospel and inadvertently pick up snakes or unknowingly drink poison, they wouldn't be harmed, as a sign.

 

There's actually an example of this happening, in the Book of Acts. When Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Malita (modernday Malta), and had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, a viper came out of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the natives saw the venomous reptile hang on his hand, they said among themselves, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live." But Paul just shook off the snake into the fire, and he felt no harm. Meanwhile the locals kept looking at him expecting to see him swell up, or drop dead suddenly: but after observing him a long while, and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

 

The island chief's father also happened to be lying down sick with a fever and diarrhoea. Paul went in and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So after this others also who had diseases on the island came, and were healed. And they honoured Paul and his companions with many honours - and when they left they gave them all they needed.

 

Two of the signs mentioned in Mark left their impression with a whole island of people! And I've seen the sign of healing similarly impact a whole village. When I was 19 we visited a village in northern Thailand. The people were animist. The chief had such bad arthritis in his knees, he could scarcely bend his legs. My pastor at the time was with us. After prayer and the laying on of hands, the chief squatted up and down. A big smile came on his face. About a year later my pastor at the time traveled to Thailand and visited the village again. My pastor told me that as a result of that healing the whole village had converted from animism to Christ! 

 

I think it could also have been symbolic of the power of the enemy.

 

"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you," Jesus said (Luke 10:19).

 

In Acts we find examples of the apostles casting out demons and yet being unharmed, while others who attempted to do the same were attacked and stripped naked! That was a sign which impacted many.

In Mark, Jesus foretold of incidental protection when picking up snakes - He wasn't commanding it.

Plus, I suspect the grammar of the Greek itself in Mark may rule it out. I don't have any innate knowledge of classical Greek though. For most of us, our knowledge of Koine Greek is only as good as the person's we learned from. But my parents both studied it, and it was often table conversation over dinner growing up in my parents' home. Discussing a Greek word in a New Testament passage just went along with "pass the Worcestershire Sauce" or "the mint sauce" at my father's table. 

 

So, with that disclaimer, "they shall pick up serpents" (ὄφεις ἀροῦσιν) I 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 was in the indicative mood; and "if they drink any deadly thing" (ἐὰν + θανάσιμόν τι πίωσιν) I 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 was in the subjunctive mood - not imperative. So, ‘when’, and ‘if’—not ‘you must’. 

 

(Similarly with foot-washing. We don't find examples in Acts nor do we find instructions in the Epistles, of foot-washing as a prescribed ceremony to be done whether people need their feet washed or not. But we do find instruction concerning the Lord's table, and concerning baptism.)

 

The mention in Mark of the sign of picking up snakes and not being harmed, is therefore not a reason for someone to think that tongues mightn't be for everyone, or that it has passed away. In the epistles we don't find instructions to the churches about how to have snake-handling services. But we do find instructions concerning the ministry of healing, and concerning speaking with tongues. Statements like "Is 'any' sick among you? Let him call the elders of the church..."; and "I would that 'ye all' spake with tongues." 

 

If anyone hasn't spoken in tongues, they need not feel inferior. Rather, ask and receive. Because our good Father is willing. 

 

But we have to do the speaking: the Spirit only gives us utterance. Beginning therefore requires a moment, not of passive 'faith', but of active faith.