1 John 2:20

‘And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all the things (or ‘you all know').'

Unlike these men, the orthodox church leaders, who followed and looked to the apostolic teaching, retained the basic truths, and all their true followers did so too. And that was because they had ‘an anointing from the Holy One'. This meant that they ‘know all things'. This last phrase, if correct (see below), echoes John 14:26 and suggests that here John is speaking of the Holy Spirit as having been given to them and as illuminating them and keeping them in the truth. The Holy Spirit was the seal that a man was a Christian (Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30), and the revealer of truth (1 Corinthians 2:10). We shall now consider the matter in more detail.

The antichrists, by virtue of their title, were in some way anointed ones, for christos means anointed. Thus John reminds the true people of God that they too are anointed ones, and are anointed with One Who is true.

‘You have an anointing from the Holy One.' The word for ‘anointing' appears only three times in the New Testament, here and twice in 1 John 2:27. It signifies ‘that with which someone is anointed'. It initially had within it in the Old Testament the idea of the application of oil for the purpose of setting a man aside in God's service. The question therefore here is whether it refers to such a literal ‘means of anointing' (that is, the oil or ointment itself which is applied to someone), or an anointing with the ‘anointing', that is, with the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit replaces the oil.

The Old Testament background to the term includes the use of anointing oil for purposes of consecration, but that that anointing could be connected with the coming of the Holy Spirit on a man is demonstrated in 1 Samuel 16:13. There Samuel anointed David, and the Spirit of Yahweh came on him with power. Even more significantly, in Isaiah 61:1 the coming of the Spirit on the Servant of Yahweh was paralleled with his having been ‘anointed' in order to proclaim the good news and exercise delivering power. The Spirit seems now to have become the means of anointing, or at least very closely associated with it.

This figurative use is clearly demonstrated in the New Testament. In Acts 10:38 Peter says that God ‘anointed Him (Jesus) with the Holy Spirit', while in Acts 4:27 the whole group speak of ‘your Servant Jesus Whom You anointed', a probable reference back to Isaiah 61:1 (compare Luke 4:18), and probably having in mind His experience of the Holy Spirit at His baptism (emphasised in all four Gospels - Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32). This word in Acts 4:27 was followed by the whole group being ‘filled with the Holy Spirit'. On the basis of these references it seems highly probable that the use of the word ‘anointing' here refers not to a literal anointing with oil (as in James 5:14) but to an anointing with the Holy Spirit in line with what we have seen above.

This would seem to be confirmed by the fact that 1 John 2:27 speaks of ‘the anointing which you received of Him -- as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is no lie'. Note the emphasis on the fact that the anointing is ‘received', that it teaches ‘concerning all things', and that it is ‘true', the very antithesis to the lie. This reflects the language in John 14:17; John 15:26 (‘the Spirit of truth'); John 14:26 (‘will teach you all things'); John 16:13 (‘will guide you into all truth'); John 7:39 (‘this spoke He of the Spirit which those who believed on Him were to receive') and John 20:22 (‘receive Holy Spirit'). Compare also Acts 2:33; Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 1:22. This is further confirmed by the fact that in 1 John 5:7 it is the Spirit Who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth

Some have suggested that the anointing was to be seen as signifying the word, but it is noteworthy that John in fact did not refer to the ‘word' spoken at Jesus' baptism (John 1:32), his concentration being on reception of the Holy Spirit, and anointing is never actually spoken of as ‘of the word'. But certainly the Holy Spirit was regularly received as a result of the preaching of the word (e.g. Acts 10:44), and Jesus' reception of the Spirit was accompanied by God's word from Heaven in the other Gospels. And here in 1 John 2:24 in context there is the thought of the word which they first heard. We may therefore see the anointing as the Spirit coming through the word. For none would doubt that that word came through the Spirit, so that we may see Spirit and word as going together. It was the Spirit revealing God through the word that was the basis of men's reception of salvation, and was the evidence that they were Christians (Romans 8:9) and the word of the cross was the power of God to salvation (1 Corinthians 1:18). When the Spirit had anointed them it had been through their reception of the word.

Thus what John is saying here is that those who are true believers have an anointing with the Holy Spirit which has confirmed in them the truth through His word so that they have not been led astray. Those who are His have received the Spirit and the word. It should be noted that John says of those who have departed that they ‘were not of us'. Thus while they may well have been in membership of the church he did not see them as ever having been genuine Christians, the implication being that they had not been anointed in the Spirit through the word while the true believers had. The further implication is that those who have been so anointed will be kept in the truth.

‘From the Holy One.' Of Whom was John speaking when he spoke of ‘the Holy One'? It is unlikely to signify the Holy Spirit because He is never described elsewhere as the Holy One, and had he meant the Holy Spirit he would surely have said so. Indeed the use of the title strongly suggests that it is so used precisely because the anointing is with the ‘Holy' Spirit.

Thus we are faced with two alternatives. The reference may be to God, or to Jesus. A reference to God has been suggested here because: (1) in the Old Testament there are references to God as “the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 1:4 and often in Isaiah; Psalms 71:22). (2) There is at least one clear reference in the LXX which uses this very phrase (Habakkuk 3:3). (3) In 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13 it is God who gives the Holy Spirit to believers. (4) In the two passages from the Gospel of John which are most parallel to 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27 (John 14:16; John 14:26) it is the Father who sends the Holy Spirit.

But it can be argued most strongly that a reference to Jesus Christ is most probable here for the following reasons. Firstly that Jesus is called ‘the Holy One of God' in Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34, and John 6:69, and is called ‘the Holy One' exactly as here in both Acts 3:14 and Revelation 3:7. Thus Jesus was well known as ‘the Holy One', and is so depicted by John. Secondly because in John 15:26; John 16:7 it is Jesus Who is depicted as sending the Holy Spirit. Thirdly because in Acts 2:33 it is Jesus Who is again portrayed as pouring out the Holy Spirit, and finally because 1 John 2:27 speaks of ‘the anointing which you received from Him' where ‘Him' seems to refer to Jesus, for the promise of eternal life in 1 John 2:25 was more directly given by Jesus (John 5:24; John 10:28) (although as often in the letter the reference is not absolutely certain. God's commandment was eternal life - John 12:50). In 1 John 2:28 the reference is definitely to Jesus.

The main point, however, is to stress that the anointing came from the ‘Holy One', the unique One, the One set apart from and above all others in His distinctive holiness. In the end both Father and Son were the Holy One.

‘You know all things.' There is a textual problem here in that the manuscripts are divided between ‘you know all things' (panta) and ‘you all (pantes) know'. Pantes is read by Aleph B sa etc. On the other hand A C vg etc. have the accusative panta. The manuscript evidence may therefore be seen as favouring pantes, but not conclusively. Comparison with 1 John 2:27 favours panta. But it could be argued that 1 John 2:27 and John 14:26; John 16:30 have influenced the change here.

If we read panta the idea is that the Spirit leads them to know all things as in 1 John 2:27. If we read pantes it is that all who have received the anointing will know the truth. Both are in line with John's thinking.