What is the anointing of the Spirit?

The Holy SpiritIn theological review

The short answer

The anointing of the Spirit is God's act of setting a person apart and equipping them by his Spirit, pictured in the Old Testament by oil poured on priests, kings, and prophets. John taught that all believers have received an anointing from the Holy One that teaches and guards them in the truth. Jesus himself was anointed by the Spirit for his ministry of preaching good news to the poor.

The fuller answer

Anointing began as a physical act with a theological meaning. In Israel, oil was poured on the heads of priests, kings, and sometimes prophets to mark them as set apart for God and equipped for an office they could not fill by talent alone. Behind the oil stood the reality: the Spirit himself coming on a person for a task. Isaiah's great promise gathers this up, speaking of the Spirit of the Lord resting on God's coming servant because the Lord had anointed him to bring good news to the poor, in the words Jesus later claimed as his own.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,

Luke 4:18 (BSB)

Jesus opened his public ministry by applying that promise to himself. Reading Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth, he declared that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him because God had anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to captives, and sight to the blind, in Luke 4:18. His anointing was the Spirit's visible equipping for a mission of rescue. Paul uses the same word for what God does in Christ generally, writing that God anointed and sealed believers and gave them his Spirit as a guarantee, in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.

And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught.

1 John 2:27 (BSB)

John's letters bring the anointing home to ordinary believers. He tells his readers they have an anointing from the Holy One and that this anointing teaches them and remains in them, in 1 John 2:20 and 1 John 2:27, arming them against teachers who denied Jesus. The point is pastoral, not elitist. John's anointed ones are not a spiritual upper class with secret knowledge; they are regular Christians whose indwelling Spirit keeps them in the truth they first heard. In the New Testament, anointing is less a level to reach than a gift already given to everyone in Christ.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

Isaiah 61:1 (BSB)

Isaiah's original words are worth hearing in full, because they define the anointing by its mission rather than by any feeling attached to it. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon the anointed one because he has been sent to bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives, and comfort those who mourn, in Isaiah 61:1 and its following verses. Wherever the Spirit anoints, in the Old Testament, in Jesus, or in his church, the purpose is the same pattern of rescue. Anointing in Scripture is therefore measured less by sensation than by assignment: a person set apart by God for God's work among needy people.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

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Who is the Holy Spirit?The Holy Spirit is God himself, the third person of the Trinity, not a force, a feeling, or God's power in the abstract. He is there at creation, hovering over the waters. He speaks, teaches, and can be lied to, and when Peter confronts Ananias he says the lie told to the Holy Spirit was a lie told to God.What does the Holy Spirit do?He convicts the world of sin, guides believers into the truth, teaches and reminds them of Jesus's words, and produces a different kind of life in them: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. His work always points to Jesus rather than to himself, and its fruit shows up in character, not in show.What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?The gifts of the Holy Spirit are abilities God gives to believers for serving others and building up the church, not for status or display. Paul lists wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation in 1 Corinthians 12, with further lists in Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. The same Spirit distributes them as he wills, so every Christian has a part and no one has everything.How do I know if the Spirit is leading me?You know the Spirit is leading you chiefly by Scripture, since he never contradicts the word he inspired, and by the inner witness and fruit that agree with it. Romans 8 describes those led by the Spirit as God's children who cry out to the Father and are being put to death to sin. Impressions and circumstances can play a part, but every leading is to be tested, not trusted blindly.Bible Character: JesusThe Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, who preached the kingdom of God, was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised on the third day.Bible Character: IsaiahThe prophet who saw the LORD high and lifted up in the temple, volunteered to be sent, and foretold the child to be born and the servant pierced for our transgressions.On the map: NazarethFind it in the Lands of the Bible, with the verses that place it there.