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.
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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.
God's provided approach to divine fellowship
60-0630 §31
Now, you cannot do that by your creeds. You cannot... Creeds will never satisfy a hungry soul. They're all right. I've nothing against them, but what we need today is Divine fellowship. There's only one way to get it: through the Blood, into the Shekinah Glory. In the Old Testament, the high priest went in once a year, once a year, and that, bearing the blood before him. He was anointed. Oh, I like to study that, how he was anointed with the--with the anointing oil. I believe David cried, "How sweet it is for breth...
The Seven Church Ages
54-0512 §68
Now, in the holy place, where the shewbread; and many of you clergymen understand. And you people here at the tabernacle, being taught with a good teacher here, you know these things. The seven golden candlesticks, they had little lamps on top of them, that burnt oil. Over in Zechariah, where he saw the vision, I believe it was, and he saw the wild olive tree and the tame olive tree; the Jew and the Gentile, way before the dispensation of the Gentile. They had golden censors, and both of these golden censors run in...
Daniel 9: The sixfold purpose of Gabriel's visitation
61-0730E §72
Now, the eighth chapter of Leviticus. Now, I've got marked down here the tenth verse. Note Leviticus eight and ten. Let's see. And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. And ... sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, ... anointed the altar and all the vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured ... anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. Moses in the wilderness sanctifying, or anointing, th...
It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness
61-1001M §39
See, Aaron, the high priest, before he could ever be anointed he had to be washed with water. Therefore, when Jesus, before He could be anointed our high priest, He was washed with water. And then, not anointing oil poured upon Him, to anoint Him, like Aaron was anointed with oil, He was anointed with the Holy Ghost. "For John bare record, seeing the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and going upon Him; and a voice saying, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am pleased to dwell in.' " So the Bible said that "Jesu...
The unwelcomed Christ
55-1002 §34
Now, the next thing: the Palestinian sun, the direct rays of there, makes a real hot and blisters the face. And they had oil that they would anoint. And the next man, when he come into a little place, why, they would anoint you, your hands, give you some oil, and you'd rub that---put it on your neck and around your face like that, and it was soothing. Now, oil will get old in a few days; we know that. But they had some sort of a little bean, that comes out of Arabia, like a rose when it's done, and there's a little...