Christian Pure

What Does Oil Represent in the Bible? Anointing, the Holy Spirit, Healing and Joy

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • In the Bible oil, nearly always olive oil, stands for God setting a person apart, for the Holy Spirit, for healing, for light and for joy.
  • Priests, kings and sometimes prophets were anointed with oil, and the holy anointing oil of Exodus 30 blended myrrh, cinnamon, calamus and cassia into olive oil.
  • Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek both mean “anointed”, and John 1:41 says the Messias is, “being interpreted, the Christ”.
  • When Samuel anointed David, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward” (1 Samuel 16:13), and God anointed Jesus “with the Holy Ghost and with power” (Acts 10:38).
  • James 5:14 tells the sick to call the elders of the church to pray and anoint them, and credits the healing to the Lord and “the prayer of faith”.
  • “Fresh oil” comes from Psalm 92:10, where the Hebrew word means green and flourishing, and the psalm uses the same word again of the righteous in old age.
  • Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran (ELCA) and Pentecostal (Assemblies of God) churches all anoint with oil, for the sick and in some churches at baptism and confirmation.

In the Bible, oil marks a person as chosen for God’s work and filled with his Spirit to do it, and it stands for healing, for light and for joy as well. It is nearly always olive oil, and the titles Messiah and Christ both mean “the anointed one”. The first time oil is poured in Scripture, it is poured on a stone. Jacob woke from his dream of the ladder, “took the stone that he had put for his…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • King James Version: Genesis 28:18–19; Exodus 27:20; 29:7; 30:22–33; Deuteronomy 8:8; 1 Samuel 10:1; 16:13; 1 Kings 17:12–16; 19:16; 2 Kings 4:1–7; Psalm 23:5; 45:7; 52:8; 92:10, 12–14; 104:15; 133:2; Isaiah 1:6; 61:1–3; Daniel 9:25–26; Zechariah 4:1–6, 11–14; Matthew 25:1–13; Mark 6:7, 13; 14:3–8; 16:1; Luke 4:18; 7:46; 10:30, 34; John 1:40–41; Acts 10:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; Hebrews 1:9; James 5:14–15; 1 John 2:20, 27, BibleGateway; verse counts from BibleGateway’s KJV search for “oil” and for “Messiah”.
  • Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew 4886 (mashach), 4899 (mashiach), 7488 (ra’anan) and 8081 (shemen), Bible Hub.
  • Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Greek 218 (aleipho), 5545 (chrisma), 5547 (christos) and 5548 (chrio), Bible Hub.
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 695, 1293–1294, 1297, 1300 and 1513, vatican.va.
  • Orthodox Church in America, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, “Chrismation” and “Holy Unction”.
  • The Church of England, Common Worship: Pastoral Services, Ministry to the Sick.
  • Philip Melanchthon, Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XIII, in the Book of Concord, translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau (Concordia Triglotta, 1921), Project Gutenberg.
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor, social statement adopted 15 August 2003.
  • General Council of the Assemblies of God, Position Paper on Divine Healing, adopted 2010; Thomas E. Trask, Defining Truths of the Assemblies of God: Divine Healing.
  • Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, “Menahot 86a-b: The finest olive oil”, Steinsaltz Center, 2011, on Mishnah Menahot 8.
  • Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 43 on the New Testament, and John Chrysostom, Homily 78 on Matthew, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vols. 6 and 10 (1888), New Advent.

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