Breakin' Out the Oil, Part 1

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Since we are winding down our “FaithWorks” sermon series on the book of James, this will be the last 4-5 days of our daily devotions for a while. As we evaluate this tool, please leave a comment below with your name so that we can discern who has been reading the blog postings and plan for the future. Thanks!

Breakin’ Out the Oil, Part 1

“Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.” –James 5:14

Since this passage has its fair share of difficulties and intriguing notions, we’re going to spend a few days on it. The first is simply asking the question, “What does it mean to anoint someone or something?”

The concept of anointing is very simple: It takes place whenever we set someone or something apart for God’s service. This was often done by pouring oil on a person’s head. Whenever someone was to become the king, they would be anointed. There are also many prophecies of Christ where he is referred to as the ‘anointed one.’ In fact, in the New Testament, the original word for anoint in Greek is chrio, which is where we get the name Christ (No, Christ is not Jesus’ last name).

So, it seemingly makes this passage simple. James is talking about a spiritual anointing here, right? Well, it would be that easy except for the fact that James doesn’t use chrio, he instead uses another generic word that can be used for a spiritual anointing, but is more commonly used for any type of the rubbing of medicine on a person’s body. For example, in the story of the Good Samaritan, it says that he anointed the person’s wounds. In modern words, he broke out the first aid cream.

So, is this referring to a physical or a spiritual anointing here? Well, there is more evidence to be examined later, but for today let us simply reflect on Christ, the anointed one. God set him apart so that we might be saved.