annointing with oil

[Mary_Magdalene]

is annointing with oil biblical? Please help me understand about annointing a sick person with oil and also, is it biblical to annoint a piece of furniture (like a child's bed)?

I have someone at church that annoints her childs bed every night with oil. i used to go to an assembly of God church and saw annointing of sick people with oil but i never heard of doing this to objects (furniture). Is annointing oil only for sick people? what about for someone who is well-just to place protection upon your child?

thanks.

 

[Dust and Ashes]

is annointing with oil biblical? Please help me understand about annointing a sick person with oil and also, is it biblical to annoint a piece of furniture (like a child's bed)?

I have someone at church that annoints her childs bed every night with oil. i used to go to an assembly of God church and saw annointing of sick people with oil but i never heard of doing this to objects (furniture). Is annointing oil only for sick people? what about for someone who is well-just to place protection upon your child?

thanks.

James 5:14 deals with annointing sick people but I'm not sure about inanimate things, though I personally practice it as I feel led. I annoint the tops of the doorways in my house to bless that room. I will do some research into this and let you know what I find.

 

[Under_His_Shadow]

is annointing with oil biblical? Please help me understand about annointing a sick person with oil and also, is it biblical to annoint a piece of furniture (like a child's bed)?


thanks.

Oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. In the New Testament, Jesus' 12 disciples were sent out by Him and "were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them" (Mk.6:13, NASB). Also, church elders (those in leadership roles, appointed by the pastor) are told to anoint with oil and pray for believers who are sick, and who ask them to (Jas.5:14). Neither the disciples nor oil by itself can heal anyone, but in both cases the oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, who is the One who actually performs the healing.

Moses, obeying God's directive, anointed Aaron (as High Priest, which was a "type", of Christ, the True High Priest who would come - Heb.3:1,4:14) and his sons, the tabernacle and it's furnishings, and the altar and it's utensils with oil (and blood, typifying Christ's coming sacrifice) when consecrating them for the Lord's use (Lev.8:10-12,30; Num.7:1).

Since Paul said that events in Israel's history "happened to them as an example, and they were written for our [ New Testament believers'] instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Cor.10:11), I wouldn't forbid anyone to anoint with oil, as long as they are doing it in faith, believing Christ's promises regarding healing, protection over a child's room, etc., as opposed to trusting in some "magical" power of the oil itself to accomplish anything!

 

[Filia Mariae]

Anointing the sick with oil is Scriptural.
St. Mark's Gospel describes how Jesus sent out the twelve disciples to preach, and "they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them" (Mark 6:13). In his epistle, St. James says, "Is any 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; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (Jas. 5:14–15).

Anointing inanimate objects is kind of bizarre, IMO. You wouldn't baptize a bed, so why would you anoint it?

 

[Jim B]

Good question, girl.

What first interested me when I first looked into this subject years ago, was how infrequent the practice of anointing the sick with oil was. Only two instances that I can find in the New Testament. And not a single instance of Jesus, our great example, ever doing so himself. This was amazing to me, because the church I was saved in would not pray for the sick without anointing them with oil first. In fact, they anointed almost everything with oil (pews, houses, cars, etc.) I thought the NT would be filled with the practice. It’s not.

When I was a young pastor, I was once called to the home of sick woman to pray for her. When I arrived to lay hands on her and pray for her healing, she asked where the oil was. I hadn’t brought any. I asked her if she had any vegetable oil. That would not do. It had to be “anointing oil” from the church. So she sent me back to the church to get the oil before I prayed for her. Not only was I a little peeved but later I wondered if she missed the point of James 5. It is the “prayer of faith” that “heals the sick,” not the oil.

Not that I have anything against anointing with oil and occasionally use it, but I have come to believe that in some churches anointing the sick with oil has deteriorated to not much more than a religious rite and too much emphasis is placed on the ritual than in the the actual grace of healing.

I was taught that anointing in the Old Testament was a ceremony of setting aside something/someone for holy use. Furniture in the tabernacle and temple was anointed when it was consecrated for God’s use, so were prophets, priests, kings, etc. The anointing of the sick with oil was, to follow the symbolism of anointing from the OT, a consecration of the healing for God’s glory and purpose. In other words, a person was asking the for healing in order that the desired achieved health might be used for God’s glory and purpose - in other words, healed to serve. This is what the application of the oil symbolized.

Anyhow, this seems a better interpretation than most I have heard.

Jim

 

[Beauty4Ashes]

As far as annointing non living objects, the only thing I know of scripturally is the annointing of door posts in the old testement to prevent the angel of death from entering the christians homes and killing their first born. In which case the oil is really symbolic for the blood of the lamb used in this scripture:

6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire-head, legs and inner parts. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD's Passover.
12 "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn-both men and animals-and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD . 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

Exodus 12:6-14

 

[enoch son]

Yes we use myrrh and spiknard oil.

 

[Trish1947]

An experience that happened once in our church, I got a phone call from the Pastor of our church, he told me about a women that was a member of our church was dying and in the hospital. He asked me and one other, if we would go and lay hands on her and pray.. I always carried anointing oil in my purse, so I never thought about not having it. But in my haste to get to the hospital, I had forgot that I had changed purses the night before. And did not have it. I was so convienced that I had to have it, as we entered the womans hospital room, we were set to annoint her and pray. But no oil... we told the women that we wanted to do exactly as the Lord as said, and she agreed, so I left and went home and got the oil and returned. To make a long story short, the Lord healed that women instantly, she had a cancerous tumor in her stomach the size of an orange. We saw the swelling go away, they X-rayed her the next morning and it was gone. Now I'm not saying that the oil made any difference. But I think it was everyone wanting to be obediant to the word.

 

[Jim B]

An experience that happened once in our church, I got a phone call from the Pastor of our church, he told me about a women that was a member of our church was dying and in the hospital. He asked me and one other, if we would go and lay hands on her and pray.. I always carried anointing oil in my purse, so I never thought about not having it. But in my haste to get to the hospital, I had forgot that I had changed purses the night before. And did not have it. I was so convienced that I had to have it, as we entered the womans hospital room, we were set to annoint her and pray. But no oil... we told the women that we wanted to do exactly as the Lord as said, and she agreed, so I left and went home and got the oil and returned. To make a long story short, the Lord healed that women instantly, she had a cancerous tumor in her stomach the size of an orange. We saw the swelling go away, they X-rayed her the next morning and it was gone. Now I'm not saying that the oil made any difference. But I think it was everyone wanting to be obediant to the word.

I really appreciate you desire to serve God, Trish, and your willingness to serve others.

However …

I think you are missing the point of the anointing with (i.e., applying) oil. Like so many people, you are spiritualizing something that was never meant in scripture. James, I think, would be amazed at the lengths people have gone to find deeper meaning in his words “anoint the sick with oil in the name of the Lord.”

You said

Now I'm not saying that the oil made any difference.

But that is sure what you said. The fact that you refused to pray for a sick woman until you ran home for your anointing oil sures sounds like you were placing some sort of significance to the anointing with oil. Of course, you did qualify this by marking it up to just being obedient, saying

But I think it was everyone wanting to be obediant to the word.

Consider this …

Nowhere in scripture (NT or OT) are we COMMANDED to anoint the sick with oil. In Mark 6, the Twelve took oil to anoint the sick, but there is no indication (one way or the other) that it was at Jesus instruction. The only other mention of anointing the sick with oil is in James 5 where the custom (see below) was mentioned.

We tend to get real spiritual around the word “anoint” but it simply means “apply,” “rub,” “spread,” "put on," “smear.”

Cosnider ...

1. There is no record that Jesus ever commanded us to anoint with oil, although He did commission us to “lay (place) hands on sick people” (Mark 16.18) which was one of His most frequent procedures in healing the sick.

2. Nowhere in Acts is there any record that anointing oil was used in ministering healing to the sick.

3. Except for the lone reference in James, none of the Apostles either commanded or even suggested that we anoint the sick with oil.

4. The emphasis in James 5.14 should be on the word “pray” not “anoint with oil” because the following verses 15-18 put the emphaisis ther: “And the PRAYER OFFERED IN FAITH WILL MAKE THE SICK PERSON WELL; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and PRAY FOR EACH OTHER SO THAT YOU MAY BE HEALED. THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE. Elijah was a man just like us. HE PRAYED earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.” It is the “prayer offered in faith" that brings healing to the sick. The oil is incidental.

As you say ...

Blessed are those that hear the Word of God, and Do It.

What was the purpose of the oil? From what I have learned, rubbing sick people with oil was a custom of that day. As Isaiah 1.6 indicates, oil among the Jews and other Mideastern people was used as a soothing curative agent for the ill: “From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness- only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged OR SOOTHED WITH OIL.” Even in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.34) this function of applying (anointing with) oil is mentioned when it says of the Samaritan that he went to the injured man “and bandaged his wounds, POURING ON OIL and wine.” To the seventh church in Revelation 3.18, the Lord instructs them to use “salve (oil) to put on (anoint) your eyes, so you can see.”

In ancient times there was not as clear a distinction made between medical and divine healing. Medicine in ancient times must have been relatively ineffective and, to ancient minds, all healing was divine, so they would not have had the problem many modern faith healers and practitioners have in combining medicine and faith. I imagine it would not have been as unusual to do both as it is today. So, the elders would have applied soothing oil when they prayed.

Trish, I have prayed for the healing of many hundreds of people over the years with some moderate success (through no credit ro me) and I have witnessed the Lord do many miraculous things in answer to the fervent prayer of His people, but I can honestly say that I have seldom used oil, preferring the Lord’s method of simply laying on hands. In fact, I only use oil when someone requests it.

My concern is that you not overemphasize the oil and rather rely on your prayers and faith when you minister to sick people. If you feel led to apply oil, by all means do so, but do not do it as a religious sacrament or duty. I do not think James ever intended us to carry bottles of oil around with us (although I am not saying it is wrong) and I think he would be amazed at how we have misunderstood what he was saying in James 5.14.

Anyhow, that’s my opinion for what it's worth.

Jim
\o/

 

[Trish1947]

But that is sure what you said. The fact that you refused to pray for a sick woman until you ran home for your anointing oil sures sounds like you were placing some sort of significance to the anointing with oil. Of course, you did qualify this by marking it up to just being obedient, saying

Quote:

But I think it was everyone wanting to be obediant to the word.

I have prayed for people without the oil since, and got the same results. Its not the oil.. and no I never refused to pray for her. I just had never laid hands on the sick before that time with out annointing with oil. Why mess with success. She got healed!!