Anointing; 1 John 2:20-22

1 John 2:20 ^NASB “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.” “But” here is a coordinating conjunction, not a contrasting conjunction. Although kai [kai] can have a contrastive sense it is not its; usual meaning. It should be translated “And you have,” he is adding something to his previous statement. He is talking about these children: “And you have an anointing from the Holy One.” The word “one” is not in the original, all we have is the genitive of hagios [a(gioj], “from the holy.” It is normally taken to refer to the Holy Spirit but the term “holy” is not accompanied by “spirit,” and it probably refers to God the Father. This is not a reference to the Holy Spirit but a reference to God the Father and what we receive at the instant of salvation; “and you know all things,” literally, is a reference to potential knowledge and something that is related to this concept of anointing.

The doctrine of anointing

1. There are two types of anointing in the Old Testament, the common anointing and the ceremonial or ritual anointing. There is the everyday anointing, for example, when soldiers would anoint their shields with oil, on the leather to keep it from drying out and cracking, 2 Samuel 1:21. Ceremonial or ritual anointing is that which has to do with the observance of a ritual under the Mosaic Law.

2. Common anointing included the use of olive oil for medicinal, preservative and cosmetic reasons. It was used to protect skin, applied after a bath, Luke 3:3; Ezekiel 16:9. It was used for balm to put on wounds, according to Isaiah 1:6. Corpses were also anointed with oil, Luke 23:56. A guest in a home would anoint his head with perfumed oil as a sign of respect, Luke 7:46.

3. The ceremonial anointing occurred in the Old Testament at the initiation of a person’s ministry or office. It occurred one time only. As such it symbolised being set apart for the service of God. It is a picture here of positional sanctification. Not only persons but objects were anointed, Exodus 30:22-33; 40:10, 11. Priests were also anointed but only when they were initially installed in office, Exodus 28:40-42; 29:1-46. Prophets were anointed, cf. 1 Chronicles 19:16; Isaiah 61:1. Kings were also anointed, 1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13.

4. The significance of anointed is connected to being set apart to the service of God at the beginning of ministry. As such that is analogous to our positional sanctification. E.g. Exodus 29:21 ^NASB “Then you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle {it} on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he and his garments shall be consecrated, as well as his sons and his sons’ garments with him.” The word there for “consecrated” is the Hebrew qal perfect of qodesh, the word for holiness, and holiness is comparable to hagios [a(gioj] in Greek, and it has to do with sanctification, holiness, being set apart unto God. It is at this point that Aaron and his sons are being ordained or initiated into the priesthood. Other passages that use the same terminology include Exodus 40:9ff. So what we see here is that anointing occurred one time and is not repeated. It doesn’t indicate at any time some kind of infusion of power.

5. Kings were also anointed. It occurred once and was never repeated, and it signified their appointment to kingship. David is anointed twice. He is initiated initially by Samuel in 1 Samuel 16 and then the tribes, when they actually make him king, they anointed him again. But both times it indicates his appointment and the beginning point of his ministry. Saul was anointed, 1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1. Another example is in 1 Kings 1:34 where Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet is anointing Solomon as king over Israel. In 1 Kings 19:16 we have the only clear mention on the anointing of a prophet. Also the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were mentioned as anointed ones if we compare Psalm 105:15 with Genesis 20:7. Those who had specific tasks in relationship to the spiritual life of Israel and in relationship to the leadership were anointed. That was the divine appointment and it symbolised the fact that they were set apart to the service of God at the inception of their ministry, and it only occurred one time.

6. What exactly was anointing? It was the physical act of pouring oil on the object or head of the person. It was a ritual act that was designed to portray a spiritual reality. So what we have in the New Testament is the spiritual reality that it portrays.

7. As such ceremonial anointing symbolised being set apart for divine service and the appointment to a specific role. When we come to apply that to a believer this takes us away from post-salvation filling ministry of the Holy Spirit or teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit to what would happen one time, a non-repeated action, which occurred at the beginning of the spiritual life that occurred at the instant of salvation.

8. Again for emphasis, anointing occurs once at the beginning of a ministry. So at the point of salvation every believer enters into full-time Christian ministry. It may not be professional service but every believer is in full-time Christian ministry from the point of salvation. Scripture says that God has given each of us spiritual gifts that are designed to be used for Him, we are to be set apart by our sanctification to serve in some kind of ministry related to that spiritual gift.

9. The idea of initiation, that which occurs at the beginning of salvation, reminds us of Paul’s doctrine of baptism by means of the Holy Spirit. That is our initiation into the body of Christ as well as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. These two facets of the Holy Spirit’s ministry to the church age believer also relates to our positional sanctification. The case we are building is that anointing relates to positional truth, to what happens at the inception of our Christian life at salvation.

10. In the New Testament the term “charisma” is only used in 1^st John, and so we have to gain its meaning from Old Testament background. In 1^st John it seems to have the idea of not simply our positional relationship only but it is tied to the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. That tells us that because of our position in Christ we are given the potential to understand the Scripture. It doesn’t mean that we automatically understand it.

11. This term primarily relates to the ministry of Jesus Christ during the incarnation. Outside of this passage in 1 John it relates to Jesus Christ in terms of His messianic ministry. Luke 4:18, where Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61:1 ^NASB “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR…” Anointing and being sent are comparable concepts here; they have to do with the designation of His mission as Messiah. Acts 4:27 ^NASB “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.” Acts 10:38 ^NASB “{You know of} Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and {how} He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” That was at the inception of His ministry.

12. As such, anointing for John represents God’s gift of the Holy Spirit at salvation. The baptism of the Holy Spirit which identifies the believer positionally in Christ and brings with it everything the believer needs in the spiritual life. We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with its potential for filling through teaching. It occurs only once and is the same for every believer and it relates to our understanding of Scripture. Because of our position and what we get at salvation we have the potential to understand all the Scriptures. John 14:26 ^NASB “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

1 John 2:21 ^NASB “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” They had been taught the truth by John when he was present as their pastor, and they had learned the truth through the operation of the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The “no lie” that he is referring to is that of the false teachers: that Jesus Christ had not come in the flesh. [22] Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.” That is the foundational message, that Jesus is the Messiah. Cf. 1 John 5:1 ^NASB “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…” John 20:30, 31 ^NASB “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” So in verse 22 John is saying that the liar is the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, i.e. that He has come in the flesh, the incarnate Son of God. The is the antichrist, the one who denies Son, the one who denies the Trinity and who denies that Jesus is the eternal second person of the Trinity. [23] “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.”