When you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, God seals you and deposits His Spirit in your heart and clothes you with power. But that’s not all. Along with being sealed and filled, you are also anointed.
21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. –2 Corinthians 1:21–22 NIV
Those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit have received an anointing from Him, just like Jesus received (see Luke 4:18).
The Apostle John wrote about this anointing in two books of Scripture. Let's look at the passage from his first epistle:
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. –1 John 2:20 NKJV
Note two things in this verse:
- This anointing comes from the “Holy One,” a name which refers only to Christ Jesus in the New Testament (see Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 13:35).
- Because John’s readers had this anointing, they knew “all things.”
This verse is reminiscent of what John wrote in his Gospel concerning Pentecost. In the Gospel of John, also note two things:
- Jesus said that when He ascended to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to His disciples: “‘When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth’” (John 15:26 NASB), and, “‘if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you’” (John 16:7 NASB).
- When the Holy Spirit came, He would teach them “all things” (John 14:26) so that they would know the truth. (See also John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13.)
Therefore, this “anointing from the Holy One” in John’s first epistle refers to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which he wrote about in his Gospel. It is the same anointing that Jesus received when He was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21–22). This is the Christ anointing!
And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. –1 John 2:27 NASB
If you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you were marked with a seal and you received an anointing from Him. It is the same anointing that belongs to Christ Jesus. This anointing remains and dwells in you as a deposit. (See 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14.)
What John had written about the Holy Spirit before Pentecost—“He... will be in you” (John 14:17 NIV)—had come to pass: “the anointing which you received from Him abides in you” (1 John 2:27 NASB). It dwells in the Spirit-baptized Christian.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? –1 Corinthians 3:16 NASB
Next time, we'll take a look at the baptism in the Holy Spirit as "drinking" of the Spirit.