Why Do Pentecostals Use Anointing Oil in Prayer?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

The practice, and the short answer: an express biblical teaching

• The host's frame, carried from the verbatim layer: people raised in the church don't give this a whole lot of thought, but people who come in from the outside sometimes have questions. At prayer time, especially if someone is sick or has some kind of need, the pastor or church leader gives people an opportunity to come forward for prayer — and during those times he will often anoint: dab some oil on the head of the person he's praying for, and lay hands on them. For somebody raised in the church, we don't really think much about that; for an outsider, it probably seems really strange — and that practice is the question put to him.
• Well, the short answer is: it's a biblical teaching. He reads from the Bible, the book of James — the New King James Version, as he states it: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So that is James 5, verse 13 to 15 — we do it because it's an express biblical teaching.

Scriptures: James 5:13-15

The heritage of the oil — and why it is not essential

• We also find in Mark 6:13: when Jesus sent out his disciples, they anointed with oil when they prayed for the sick. And this anointing with oil has a rich heritage: if you go back to the Old Testament, there were many times olive oil was placed on someone's head, or poured upon them — particularly consecrations of kings, priests, and various other types of ceremonies. And it seems that the oil represented God's spirit: when the oil was placed on someone, it represented that God was placing his spirit upon them. And that's how we understand it today.
• Now, we don't believe it's essential to anoint with oil. There are many examples in the gospels, and also in the book of Acts, of the apostles praying for the sick — they would speak the word, or lay hands on the sick, and they would be healed — and there's no mention of oil. So we don't think you can't be healed without it. But we think it's a positive symbol, and helpful, and it goes alongside the laying on of hands — which has a similar connotation, because the laying on of hands symbolizes God ordaining, or blessing, or putting his hand upon a person. We find both of these practices helpful.

Scriptures: Mark 6:13

Three reasons for the practice

• First of all, they're taught in the Bible — so even if we don't understand them, we should follow them. Faith in the Bible is always shown by obedience. We don't try to rationalize it, figure it out, decide whether we think it's good or not, or whether it's understandable in modern culture or not. We just obey it. That's the first reason.
• The second reason is to emphasize that our faith is in God, not in humans. God is invisible, and it's a little harder to believe on him without seeing him — especially for a new person, a visitor, someone with no understanding of Christianity. When you make an appeal — come and repent of your sins and be filled with the Holy Spirit, come and be healed — they might think humans are doing it. But when you lay hands on the person, or anoint the person with oil, you're trying to represent: I am just representing God. God is the one who's actually laying on the hands. God is the one who's pouring out his spirit. So don't worship, or put your faith in, the church, or the ritual, or the person. Put your faith in God. Of course, we have to teach that and explain that.
• The third reason is as a focus of faith — because it is more difficult to visualize, or have faith in, an invisible spirit. When you make an appeal to come and receive the Holy Spirit, or come and be healed, if you can have a definite point of contact, it's easier for people to believe. So you prepare their hearts: you teach them to repent and surrender their lives to God, teach them to open up to God and surrender. But then, when you feel they're ready to receive, that laying on of hands, or that anointing with oil, becomes the focal point where, at that moment, they can believe: they take their generic belief — yes, I think God can do all things; yes, I believe God can fill me with his spirit; yes, I believe God can heal me — to: right now I'm going to believe that when the leader lays hands on me, when the leader anoints with oil, that's my time to believe. And in actual experience, that does become a great focal point for faith. From the recipient's point of view, you're just humbly obeying God's word: if you're sick, call the elders of the church, have them anoint you with oil, have them lay hands on you, have them pray for you — and God will heal you. We're simply responding to God's word.

The form without the power — and praying in faith under God's sovereignty

• It's very interesting: the Roman Catholic Church, in many cases, has retained the structure — the original structure — but without necessarily the miraculous work of the spirit. In their case they use this to justify what they call extreme uncction, or last uncction — meaning anointing, or last rights — just before a person dies: if there are any sins that haven't been covered, they try to anoint them with oil and pray for them one last time, to prepare them for eternity. What he thinks is ironic: they have transformed this into — well, if you're sick and you're probably going to die, we're going to anoint you, not expecting a miracle but expecting you to die, to try to prepare you. So it's kind of like they have the form, but — as Paul explained of some — they deny the power.
• Whereas when we anoint, of course we know God is sovereign, and sooner or later it's everybody's time to die — a certain percentage of people we pray for are going to die; that's just the natural course of things. But we always look for God to intervene and do a miracle. Our job is not simply to throw up our hands and say, whatever happens happens; no — our job is to pray for healing. And if it's God's will to take the person, or God's will not to heal the person at that time, we accept that. God is sovereign; we can't push buttons and make him do anything. This is not a ritual designed to be a formula that guarantees God will act in a certain way. We still respect the sovereignty of God, and we humbly pray for his will to be done in all things.
• But nevertheless we have an expectation: we believe God's going to heal, and even in dire cases we believe healing is always a real possibility. We're praying in faith — and if you look at the Lord's prayer, all prayer should be subject, whether we say it or not, to: your kingdom come, your will be done. So even when we pray for healing, we understand it's subject to the will of God. But our job is to pray for healing, and to expect God to intervene and move by his spirit. And part of symbolizing that is the anointing of the oil, saying: Lord, we're believing in your presence, and your spirit is going to touch this person right now. And that's the significance.

Scripture index: James 5:13-15; Mark 6:13.