THE UNCTION AND THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1 John 2:20, 27 “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things . . . But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
A lot will be left unsaid about this subject because of the nature of the meditations. I would like to look at these statements contextually, expositorily, and then make a brief application.
FIRST LET’S LOOK AT THESE WORDS CONTEXTUALLY
John is combating error as he writes to believers (2:12-14; 5:13). The particular error that John was dealing with in this epistle was Gnosticism. Without going into it historically we know they denied that Jesus literally came in the flesh. They did not believe in the virgin birth, i.e., that Jesus is literally God manifest in the flesh (2 Cor. 5:19). John was concerned that these believers not be carried off with this error. In fact, he teaches that those who bought in to this lie, were never true disciples to begin with. This is what he is teaching in chapter 2 verse 19: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” This is a strong statement. But it is exactly what the Holy Spirit taught John to write for our benefit.
What this is not teaching. This verse is not teaching that a person is unsaved when they disagree with a pastor over some issue that has nothing to do with the gospel, and leave and join another church where the gospel is also being preached. I am not indorsing a person leaving a church, where God has placed them, over minor issues. That should not happen.
What then is this verse teaching? It is teaching that when a person is truly saved it is because he has believed the true gospel. The true gospel is faith in who the Bible says Jesus is which includes His virgin birth, i.e., the incarnation. It is faith in His substitutionary atonement, i.e., that God accepted His death in our place and counts it as our payment of the penalty of sin. It is faith in His literal resurrection and ascension into heaven. The Gnostics denied this. When those of whom John speaks followed these Gnostics who were denying the very sum and substance of the gospel they claimed to believe, John said, “They went out from us, but they were not of us.” John says they were never saved to start with.
How would this apply today? It applies when a cult that does not believe that Jesus is God incarnate in the flesh, died a substitutionary death for us, was raise gloriously from the dead and is now the One Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), solicits a person who CLAIMS TO BELIEVE the true gospel, and he withdraws from an assembly that preaches that truth, to follow the cult that denies that truth. John says if you are saved, you will not do that, that it would be an indication that you were never saved to begin with.
LET’S LOOK AT THE WORDS EXPOSITORILY
John says, “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” The word “But” is a conjunction connecting his statement with those remaining with the assembly that believed that “Jesus is come in the flesh.” (2:22-23; 4:2-3). The words “Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things” is given as a reason that the ones remaining did not follow the Gnostics and their teachings. The word “ye” is in the Greek text and emphasizes the plural “you.” Normally the personal pronouns are attached to the verb as endings as it is in this case. But when a special emphasis is being made on the personal pronoun, it is added. It is added here and has the effect of showing the difference between those remaining and those who left. The verb “have” translates “echo” and means, “to have, i.e.
