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 projecting His Love
57-0806 §2
...we have on the pulpit tonight several letters. It's perhaps handkerchiefs to be prayed over; I do that each night, try to pray over them. And now, I usually wait until the anointing of the Spirit is in the room that we feel so definitely; then we feel that it'll be more forceful to do that. It's not a superstition. If it is, then Saint Paul had superstitions. For the Bible teaches this and we're to practice what the Bible teaches. And they taken... Now many people anoint them with oil---the handkerchiefs. Well, th...
The impersonation of Christianity
57-0120M §39
And when the leaven of the human element, that's brought into the new wine, that seeks to burst the bubble to spread forth the strength of the alcohol, it shoves from the church all the worldly elements like that, and preserves the church. Grape juice will sour in twenty-four hours, but wine will never sour, because the germ of life is in the wine fermenting, and pushing, and sterilizing. And the older it gets, the better it gets. So much for that. The new wine! It can only be put in new Pentecostal bottles. God ha...
Church Dedication
59-0708M §38
Then what is the High Priest anointed with? For salvation and for healing. What is it? The bright and morning star that shines forth ever light in darkness! And Abraham had the oath confirmed to him as the little light went between those dark horrors and the sacrifices. The Lily of the valley. The Bright and Morning Star. The Rose of Sharon. The fairest of ten thousand to my soul. The minister then that stands in as a high priest to take the place of Aaron, must be anointed with fellowship. He cannot draw a denomin...
It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness
61-1001M §40
And before He was anointed, He had to fulfill all righteousness. See, He had to be washed with water before the anointing come upon Him. And it's a very beautiful type of us today, as priests unto God. We must be first baptized, confess our sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, washing away our sins; and then you shall receive the anointing, the gift of the Holy Ghost. See, washed first, and then anointed for the service. No minister should enter the pulpit without first being baptized in the name of Je...
The reaction to an action
59-0810 §32
Now, the meal was Christ. Christ is the meal offering. Any of you clergyman know that. When the meal was ground for the meal offering, it had to be ground with a certain burr; that every little burr had to grind the meal just exactly the same. Why? Because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He was then, He is tonight. What He is tonight, He will always be. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, the oil represents the Spirit. We know that by the Scriptures. That's the reason we anoint...