- Jul 12, 2004
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The word “anoint” has cropped up in recent threads, lately. The word “anoint” is a biblical term and, as such, should be used biblically (wouldn’t you think). On closer study it appears that the word must be one of the most overused and misunderstood words in the P/C Christianese vocabulary.
I hear the word a hundred times daily on TBN (when I actually do watch TBN) and in almost every P/C service I attend. By the number of times it is used, you would think it is found on every page of the New Testament. It seems to mean, on TBN, any high emotion or strong feeling which is often confused or some person who wants to be elevated (“anointed”
or self-promoted above his brethren – you know, “Brother Bob is a truly anointed preacher - at least that’s what the newspaper ad said.” Someone, like Bob, who has a special “anointing”, is someone who can deliver the perceived goods when he ministers – enthusiasm, antics, interest, well-timed emotionally-charged tear-jerking stories, funny jokes, and puts on a good show. Such a preacher is considered “anointed”. For the rest of us “anointing” is used to define what is sometimes called the “moving of the Holy Spirit” or the “power of God”.
Only this is not how the NT uses the word. While the word is found 22 times in the NT (NKJV) it is used in a spiritual sense (as we always used it) in five passages (below). Three of them relate to the anointing of Christ as Messiah:
, nor on just certain naturally-talented, attractive people (when the alleged “power of God” is on them) who are do extraordinary things God means for us ordinary Christians to do in ordinary ways (healing is, after all, the children’s bread, the staple ministry of every believer in the body of Christ, not just the evangelists). We are all “anointed” by God, as the only two verses in the NT that use the word in relation to us shows:
Anointing is never used in God’s vocabulary for the moving of the Holy Spirit or for specially gifted people or for functions we perform in religious services. All believers are anointed all the time and in every place. We are exclusively His. The grace, blessing and favor of the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah [the Anointed One] be with all the saints, God's holy people, those set apart [i.e., anointed] for God, to be, as it were, exclusively His [i.e., anointed]. Amen! (Revelation 22.21 AMP)
So, I wonder what God thinks when we consistently misuse the terms He gave us in His Word and willfully add our own definitions to them?
What do you think?
~Jim
I hear the word a hundred times daily on TBN (when I actually do watch TBN) and in almost every P/C service I attend. By the number of times it is used, you would think it is found on every page of the New Testament. It seems to mean, on TBN, any high emotion or strong feeling which is often confused or some person who wants to be elevated (“anointed”
or self-promoted above his brethren – you know, “Brother Bob is a truly anointed preacher - at least that’s what the newspaper ad said.” Someone, like Bob, who has a special “anointing”, is someone who can deliver the perceived goods when he ministers – enthusiasm, antics, interest, well-timed emotionally-charged tear-jerking stories, funny jokes, and puts on a good show. Such a preacher is considered “anointed”. For the rest of us “anointing” is used to define what is sometimes called the “moving of the Holy Spirit” or the “power of God”. Only this is not how the NT uses the word. While the word is found 22 times in the NT (NKJV) it is used in a spiritual sense (as we always used it) in five passages (below). Three of them relate to the anointing of Christ as Messiah:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed MeTo preach the gospel to the poor;He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captivesAnd recovery of sight to the blind,To set at liberty those who are oppressed.
Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Hebrews 1:9 You [Christ] have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
Only two passages relate to the anointing on believers and from those passages (below) it appears all believers are “anointed” by God, not just at special moments or times (as when the “Spirit is moving”Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Hebrews 1:9 You [Christ] have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
, nor on just certain naturally-talented, attractive people (when the alleged “power of God” is on them) who are do extraordinary things God means for us ordinary Christians to do in ordinary ways (healing is, after all, the children’s bread, the staple ministry of every believer in the body of Christ, not just the evangelists). We are all “anointed” by God, as the only two verses in the NT that use the word in relation to us shows:2 Corinthians 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. +
1 John 2:20, 27 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. . . . But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Anointing is the act by which a person or instrument is consecrated to God for His exclusive use. In the OT kings, priests and prophets as well as Temple furnishings were “anointed” when they were set aside for (consecrated to) God’s use. Jesus was the “Anointed One” because He was, of all people, set aside for the special use of God – Messiah means “Anointed One”. All believers (according to 2 Cor. 2 and 1 John 2) are set aside for God’s exclusive use when they are saved. When we are saved we are consecrated to God by the Holy Spirit, who puts His seal on us (Eph. 1.13). 1 John 2:20, 27 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. . . . But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Anointing is never used in God’s vocabulary for the moving of the Holy Spirit or for specially gifted people or for functions we perform in religious services. All believers are anointed all the time and in every place. We are exclusively His. The grace, blessing and favor of the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah [the Anointed One] be with all the saints, God's holy people, those set apart [i.e., anointed] for God, to be, as it were, exclusively His [i.e., anointed]. Amen! (Revelation 22.21 AMP)
So, I wonder what God thinks when we consistently misuse the terms He gave us in His Word and willfully add our own definitions to them?
What do you think?
~Jim
to Jim M. Let's hear it for the boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
