What Is the Use of Anointing Oil in the New Testament Church?
1) Direct answer
Anointing oil in the New Testament Church is used as a simple, God-given ordinance for the sick. It is a sign of consecration, pointing to the Holy Spirit, while the healing itself comes through faith in the Name of the Lord Jesus and the prayer of faith.
2) Scriptural explanation
- The Bible says, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up” (James 5:14–15).
- When the disciples were sent out, “they anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them” (Mark 6:13).
- The real anointing is the Spirit: “You have an unction from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20) and “the anointing…abides in you” (1 John 2:27). Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me” (Luke 4:18).
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Now notice, the oil itself has no healing virtue. The Scripture puts the emphasis here: “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” The oil is a token of obedience and a sign that this person is set apart to God for His intervention.
- You see, God uses simple tokens—water in baptism, bread and cup in communion, oil in prayer for the sick—to point to the unseen reality, which is the Holy Spirit working through the Word.
- James directs the sick to call for the elders. They anoint in the Name of the Lord, pray the prayer of faith, and the Lord performs what He promised. That keeps the glory with God, not with the ritual.
- This does not make oil a charm. Without faith and the Name of the Lord, oil is just oil. Nor should we throw it away as “just a custom,” because the command is given to the Church in the Epistle.
- For ordaining workers, the New Testament shows laying on of hands (Acts 13:3; 1 Timothy 4:14). For healing the sick, it shows anointing with oil and prayer. We keep each ordinance in its place.
4) Short reinforcing statement
Use it the Bible way: the sick call, the elders come, anoint with oil in the Name of the Lord Jesus, confess faults, pray the prayer of faith, and expect the Lord to raise them up. The oil is the sign; the Holy Spirit is the Anointer; the Word is the ground of our confidence.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Contending for the Faith
55-0220E §12
Then again, that... It isn't a personal contact: The ministry isn't to personally contact. That's one thing that's hurt the American people, and for my own ministry. They believe that they must have hands laid on them or something on that manner, because they've been taught that, especially among the Full Gospel people. The Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, Methodists, Baptists, so forth believes in the anointing of the oil. That's the way they've been taught. So they see something where you have to just look, like, and...
The unwelcomed Christ
55-0911 §76
Then, he's all washed down. He feels pretty comfortable. Then he goes into a little chamber. This man meets him at the door. Then he goes into a little chamber, there stands another servant, and he has a cruse of oil. And, oh, it's called spikenard, and what a famous stuff that is. And he puts a little in his hand, a little in the other hand, and he rubs it together, rubs it over his face and over his neck, because the direct rays of the Palestinian sun... Both men and women has to keep themselves oiled. It'll just...
The anointed ones at the end time
65-0725M §140
Notice. The light has to come; it's not in darkness. The light comes to the darkness, and the darkness perceives it not. Notice now. The anointed ones in this day... As Moses brought out those children of Israel, and they listened, and got all confused with that great nation up there... Now, Israel was interdenominational. It had no land, had no home; it was going to a home. We have no church, we're no... we're going to a church, the church of the first born, the church that's in glory, not the church that's on ear...
Seals 6: The Fourth Seal
63-0321 §24
Now, as oil symbolized the Holy Spirit... Then we find out that oil and wine is connected in worship---always connected in worship. And the wine, I said (which come to me) that the wine symbolizes that it was the power of stimulation by revelation, see. That's when something has been revealed. It gives stimulation to the believer, because it is presented by revelation, see. It is something that God has said. It's a mystery. You can't understand it, see. And after awhile, God comes down and reveals it and then vindi...
Ordination
62-1104E §29
The Bible said, "In like manner he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, 'This is the blood of the new testament.' As oft as you drink it, you show forth the Lord's death till he come." I hold in my hand the fruit of the vine that represents the blood of the Lord Jesus. It's been said by many that they wouldn't take wine, regular wine, because that it was an alcoholic, that it was a beverage, and they should not take the wine. They take grape juice. The reason we take wine is because the Bible said "wine."...