The Anointing

Just the word “anointing” is enough to start many Charismatics foaming at the mouth. They want “a greater anointing,” “a double portion of the anointing,” and to “learn to flow in the anointing.” Many books and articles have been written on the subject: e.g., Understanding the Anointing by Kenneth E. Hagin, The Anointing by Benny Hinn, and The Anointing of His Spirit by Smith Wigglesworth.

While all of this sounds grand and wonderful, it is built around a flawed understanding of the anointing per se and a set of out-of-context texts for so-called Biblical support.

We must first concern ourselves with a definition of the anointing. Generally, it is defined as the “power of God in a person’s life to do what needs to be done.” According to Kenneth Copeland Ministries website the “Anointing, as described in the Bible, can be defined as ‘God on flesh doing those things that flesh cannot do.’ It is God doing those things only He can do, and doing them through a flesh-and-blood, earthly vessel….” [http://www.kcm.org/real-help/article/understanding-anointing]

Even a cursory study of Scripture should be sufficient to dispel the notion that this is the proper definition of the anointing. In the Old Testament, priests, kings and prophets were anointed. This leads many to speak of the “different anointings.” But was this their empowerment, God coming on them to do things flesh couldn’t do? The answer is a resounding “NO!” What is often overlooked is the fact that the Tabernacle, the altar, the candlestick, and all the implements of the Tabernacle were also anointed. Do we think they were being empowered to do what flesh couldn’t do? Were they human flesh?

The truth is the anointing was not for empowering but for consecration. It symbolized the setting apart of a thing or person to the exclusive service of God. When something or someone was anointed for a task, they were separated solely to the purpose for which God called them.

One Scripture that shows the set apart aspect of the anointing is Leviticus 10:7—”And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the LORD is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses.” The priests were disallowed from defiling themselves with the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu not because they were empowered but because they were set apart. The anointing distinguished them from the ordinary person.

So now that we know what the anointing is not, we should look at the fact that many are encouraging people to seek the anointing, to pray for more anointing, and to “pay the price for the anointing.” Is any of this Biblical? Is it necessary?

The most significant New Testament verse in this regard is found in I John 2:27—“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

The words “which ye have received” tell us something that we must never forget: if we have been saved, we have been already anointed. There is no talk of more, double, praying for, or paying the price for the anointing. We are already anointed by virtue of being a Christian. Further this verse says that the anointing teaches, trains and instructs us. This leads us to ask a most pertinent question.

What then is this anointing anyway? It is the presence of God within a person—in other words, the Holy Ghost that dwells in every believer is the anointing. John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

While there are many Pentes who believe that the other denominations who do not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues do not have the Holy Spirit, this is sheer ignorance and stupidity. When a person is saved, the Spirit of God comes to live in that person. In fact, as Romans 8:9 pointedly states: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

We can see from the foregoing that the anointing is not something we Christians should seek but someone that we should realize lives in us. When we became believers the Holy Spirit became resident in us and thus, from that moment we were anointed.

Some say they wanted anointed preaching, anointed singing, and anointed services. For the most part they mean emotional preaching, emotional singing and emotional services. The anointing has nothing to do with emotion—it has everything to do with the presence of the Spirit of God within a person.