The Anointing

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 25, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 21.

There is another scripture which, perhaps, is more frequently perverted by the enemy, and is made a snare to overzealous souls; and that is 1 John 2:27, which thus reads: “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.” 1 John 2:27. And all this is true; the spirit-filled Christian will not accept the word of man for a doctrine. He must know that it is of God. He will not feel sufficient in himself; for the very epistle in which the above is found is careful to instruct that the spirit will not lead from obedience to God’s commandments. The Lord particularly teaches those to whom the above language is addressed in the following: (1) That they are not of themselves sinless; for “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8. (2) That to get rid of these sins, we must in faith in Jesus Christ confess them; for “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Verse 9. (3) That the proof of our knowing Him is not our “claim,” “profession,” or “testimony,” but the test of obedience to what He has commanded; for “hereby we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments,” while “he that saith I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Ch. 2:3, 4. (4) That this service for God, the doing of His commandments, not in our way, will not be a hard, slavish duty, but a task of love; “for this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.” Ch. 5:3. (5) That there will be spirits abroad in the earth, teaching various things, which we are to test by what God has revealed to us in His Word concerning Jesus Christ. Ch. 4:1-3. Exalting one’s self, or one’s conception of the truth, will always turn one away from the written Word of God, and take from one the only balance which can hold a vacillating humanity.