How Is Anointing Oil Used Biblically?

Question 4167.

Anointing oil runs right through the Bible, from the consecration of priests and kings in the Old Testament to the instruction in James that the elders anoint the sick with oil, and many believers are unsure what it actually means or whether the church should still use it. There is nothing magical in the oil itself, yet Scripture uses it again and again in ways that are rich with meaning, so the question deserves a careful answer.

Let us trace how anointing oil is used across the Bible, what it signifies, and how a church today can use it rightly without slipping into superstition. The oil is a sign, and signs are good servants and bad masters.

Anointing oil in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament anointing oil was used to set people and things apart for God. Priests were anointed at their consecration, kings were anointed at their accession, and the tabernacle and its furnishings were anointed to mark them as holy. When Samuel poured oil on David’s head, the text tells us the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward, which links the oil with the coming of the Spirit.

That link is the heart of the matter. The oil itself did nothing, but it pointed to something real, the setting apart of a person for God’s service and the empowering of the Spirit for that service. The special anointing oil of the tabernacle was even compounded to a particular recipe and reserved for sacred use, underlining that the act signified consecration to God rather than a charm to be used at will.

Anointing oil and the Spirit

Because anointing marked the coming of the Spirit upon kings and prophets, anointing oil became a natural picture of the Holy Spirit Himself. When the New Testament speaks of believers having an anointing from the Holy One, it is using this rich Old Testament background to describe the Spirit’s presence and teaching within us.

So the deepest meaning of anointing oil is the Spirit of God resting on a person for God’s purposes. Under the New Covenant every believer is anointed in this sense, since every believer receives the Spirit at conversion. This is why I am wary of any teaching that treats anointing as a special charge that only some possess or that can be transferred by gifted leaders, an error I address in my answer on impartation.

Anointing oil for the sick in James 5

The clearest New Testament instruction about anointing oil is in James, where the sick believer is told to call for the elders of the church, who are to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. This is the practice most churches have in mind when they ask about anointing oil today, and it is plainly commended.

Notice what carries the weight in James. It is the prayer of faith offered in the name of the Lord that is said to save the sick, not the oil as such. The oil accompanies the prayer as a visible sign that this person is being set apart and brought before God for healing, much as the laying on of hands does. I say more about that side of things in my answer on whether laying on of hands for healing is biblical.

What anointing oil is not

It helps to say plainly what anointing oil is not. It is not a medicine with spiritual power in the substance. It is not a charm that guarantees a result regardless of God’s will. It is not a commodity that special ministries can sell or that carries a stronger anointing if it comes from a famous preacher or a particular place. Treating the oil that way turns a biblical sign into a superstition.

The oil has no power in itself. Its whole value lies in what it points to, the setting apart of a person and the seeking of God’s help. Keep that clear and you will use anointing oil with freedom and without fear. Forget it, and the oil quietly becomes an idol, trusted in place of the Lord it was meant to signify, which is exactly the danger I warn against around healing claims generally in my answer on the gift of healing.

How a church can use anointing oil today

So may a church anoint the sick with oil today? Yes, and gladly, because James commends it plainly. When a believer is ill, calling the elders to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord is a thoroughly biblical thing to do, and it can be a tender and faith-strengthening moment for everyone present.

The way to do it well is to keep the focus where James puts it, on the prayer of faith and the name of the Lord. Use a little ordinary oil, make nothing of the substance, and make everything of the God you are praying to. Done that way, anointing oil becomes what it was always meant to be, a simple sign that draws the eyes of the sick believer to the Lord who heals.

The fragrance that pointed to the Messiah

There is a thread worth following from the Old Testament right through to the New, and it runs from the consecrated kings of Israel to the One they pointed toward. The very title we confess, the Christ, means the Anointed One, and the Hebrew Messiah carries the same sense. When Israel anointed a king, they were, without fully knowing it, rehearsing for the coming of the true King on whom the Spirit would rest without measure.

Jesus stood in the synagogue at Nazareth and read from the prophet, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me, and then sat down and said the Scripture was fulfilled in their hearing. His anointing was not a little oil on the head but the Holy Spirit Himself resting upon Him for His work. Every flask of oil poured out in the old order was a shadow of that reality, and seeing the connection makes the simple sign far richer than it first appears.

It also guards us from superstition by lifting our eyes to the right place. The oil was never the point. The Anointed One was the point, and the Spirit who rested on Him is the same Spirit poured out on all who belong to Him. When we use oil today we are handling a sign that has always pointed away from itself to the Lord and to His Spirit, which is exactly how a sign is meant to behave.

A tender moment, not a transaction

I have anointed sick believers with oil and prayed over them, and I can tell you that what makes those moments precious has nothing to do with the substance and everything to do with what is happening in the room. The people of God are gathered around one of their own who is suffering. The elders are praying in the name of the Lord. The sick believer is being told, in a way they can see and feel, that they are not alone and that their church is bringing them before the throne of grace.

That is the heart of it, and it is worth protecting from two opposite errors. One treats the oil as nothing, an embarrassing relic to be quietly dropped, and so loses a plain and tender instruction of Scripture. The other treats the oil as everything, a charged substance that guarantees a result, and so slides into the very superstition the Bible warns against. The path between is simple obedience, a little oil, much prayer, and all eyes on the Lord who heals.

Oil, the Spirit, and the whole story

It is worth standing back to see how one small thing, a little oil, gathers up so much of the story of redemption. It speaks of consecration, of kings and priests set apart for God. It speaks of the Spirit, poured out and resting on those God calls. It points forward to the Anointed One Himself, and it is pressed into the hand of the praying elder at the bedside of the sick. A sign as simple as oil carries all of that, which is reason enough to use it thoughtfully and never to despise it.

So, now what?

If someone you love is ill, do not be shy of asking the elders of your church to come, to pray, and to anoint with oil as James instructs. There is nothing odd or excessive about obeying a plain command of Scripture, and the gathering of God’s people around a sick believer to seek the Lord is a precious thing.

Just keep your trust on the Lord and not on the oil. The oil is only a sign. The God it points to is the one who hears, who heals as He wills, and who is good even when the healing waits. Bring your sick and your sorrows to Him, with oil or without it, and leave the outcome in His faithful hands.

Is anyone among you sick? 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.

James 5:14