You
have an anointing from the Holy One and you know the truth. The anointing you
received from him remains in you…as his anointing teaches you about all things,
and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as I have taught you,
remain in him.
1 John 2:20, 27-28
A chrisma, the Greek word for anointing—that’s what you have to make
you holy!
In Old Testament times the
priests were anointed with a special mix of oil and aromatic herbs to consecrate them so they will be most holy,
and whatever touches them will be holy (Exodus 30:29). We have an anointing
from the Holy One Himself the moment we come into a saving relationship with
Jesus. Remember what Eugene Peterson said in the introduction to Leviticus
(MSG): “Holy refers to life burning with an intense purity that transforms
everything it touches into itself.” Jesus, intensely pure, touched us and
transformed us. We are consecrated, sanctified, holy, set apart, sacred—anointed!
And we know the truth, will
always know the truth. The anointing we received is neither fleeting nor
counterfeit. Christ in us means Truth in us (John 14:6). Truth gels holy living.
Our problem—we aren’t always in tune with Truth/Jesus.
So Jesus promised to help us
with the truth dilemma: “The Counselor,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all
things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
Add them up: we have Truth in
us, the Holy Spirit to teach and remind us of all the truth Jesus taught, and godly
teachers like John. In fact, the entire scope of the written Word of God can be
laid open by His Spirit, to our spirits, to solidify our holiness.
As the apostle Paul tells the
Ephesians, it is high time we too “no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the
futility of their thinking” (4:17). We are “made new in the attitude of our
minds” as we “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness
and holiness” (4:24). Truth and
anointing and holiness are intrinsically intertwined.
Nancy P
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