WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANOINTING WITH OIL ?
SIGNIFICANCE OF ANOINTING WITH OIL The ancient practice of anointing a person with oil, often with perfumed oil, has several meanings, all of them related. The anointed person is recognized as a “marked or sacred person,” set apart in certain ways from the community the better to be of service to the community. As an act of the community, it also signifies the pledge of the community to respect and support the one anointed. In many ways, the significance of anointing is similar to the granting of public degrees and licenses to special persons who serve the community, such as doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, and the like. Christian sacramental anointing goes far beyond the merely human practice and relates the anointed and the anointing community authoritatively (by the authority of Christ and effectively through the gift of the Spirit) directly to God in his saving work. Anointing with oil was also a common med...