18: Common Ways the Holy Spirit Manifests Himself in All Believers – Anointing

Anointing seems to have four different uses in Scripture:

• Medicinal – The good Samaritan poured oil on the wounds of the robbery victim (Luke 10:34), and so it might be a symbol of healing when anointing someone praying for healing (James 5:14).
• Sacramental – People being healed from a skin disease and making sacrifice were anointed on parts of their bodies as a symbol of cleansing (Leviticus 14:15–18), was used in making sacrifices (Exodus 25:1-8)
• Social – At Simon the Pharisee’s house he failed to anoint Jesus’ head as his guest but the sinful woman anointed his feet (Luke 7:36-39). Hospitality was commonly shown by the host anointing the guest, perhaps because it improved their aroma (Matthew 6:17) or just as a way of honoring them (Psalm 23:5).
• Consecrating – Moses anointed Aaron and sons to serve as priests (Exodus 40:12-15), Samuel anointed Saul and David as kings (1 Samuel 10:1; 16:12,13), Zadok anointed Solomon as king (1 Kings 1:39), Elijah anointed Elisha as prophet (1 Kings 19:15,16).

Which use does Paul have in mind when he speaks of us being anointed by God with, we presume, the Holy Spirit?

^{2 Corinthians 1:21} Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, ²² set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Medicinal does not seem to fit, nor does social (though it could be God’s way of honoring us), but sacramental or consecrating could possibly fit, and they are very similar. It could be that the Holy Spirit is like the ritually cleansing force that makes us pure before God and sets us apart for service as prophets or priests of God.

However, the apostle John makes an unusual comment about his readers in 1 John that might suggest the consequence of the Spirit’s anointing:

^{1 John 2:18} Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

If this is talking about the anointing of us that God does with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, Jesus calls him, it may be that giving us the Spirit in our lives gives us a discernment of what is the true gospel.

I recall doing door to door evangelism in Ecuador and seeing Jehovah’s Witnesses also going door to door, and speaking with a lady who, when we shared the gospel with her, proclaimed, “I knew those Jehovah’s Witnesses weren’t really giving me the truth.” The Spirit’s anointing helps us recognize the truth.