THE ANOINTING SPIRIT
Second Corinthians 1:21 says, "But the One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God." Christ in Greek means "the anointed One." Since we have been attached by God to Christ, the anointed One, we are spontaneously anointed with Him by God. In the previous verses, Paul said that the very Christ whom he ministered to the saints is not yes and no. The Christ he ministered is always yes. He is the Amen in the whole universe (vv. 19-20). Then Paul said that God attaches us firmly unto such a Christ, who is the great Yes and the universal Amen.
God has anointed Him with the oil of exultant joy above His partners (Psa. 45:7; Heb. 1:9). The ointment with which Christ and we are anointed is God Himself. God has painted us, anointed us, with Himself as the divine paint, the divine ointment. The more we are anointed by God, the more of the element of God’s divine nature we receive. The anointing is for the imparting of the divine element into us. God imparts all of His divine ingredients and constituents into us by His anointing.
How could we people of flesh be attached to Christ, who is full of the divine nature? The only way is by being anointed. In one sense, all of us who have been regenerated have been attached to Christ. But in our experience, how much we have been attached to Christ depends on the amount of anointing we have received. The more anointing we have, the more we are attached to Christ. Even in our daily walk we can testify of this. If we are living and doing things under the anointing, this anointing teaches us in everything (1 John 2:27). When you walk according to this anointing, you have the sense that at that time you are attached to Christ.
Let us use the example of shopping. If you do not take care of the inner anointing when you go to the department store, and you shop merely according to your likes and dislikes, at that time you are far away from Christ. You are separated from Christ. Instead you should say, "O Lord, deliver me from the satanic system in this department store. If You say no, I say no. If You say yes, I say yes." When you walk in this spirit of prayer, you are behaving and acting according to the inner anointing. At that time you are attached to the anointed One.
Today God is doing a work to attach us to Christ, the anointed One, by anointing us continually with Himself. When we enjoy this anointing, we have the deep sense that we are attached to Christ. We can realize that this is much deeper and finer than the gifts. This is the precious experience which we need daily. The experience of Christ for our transformation is not a matter of the miraculous, supernatural gifts but a matter of the deep, hidden, powerful, and fine anointing. The anointing Spirit day by day anoints us with the ingredients and the constituents of God, the divine elements of God Himself. Day by day if we will simply walk and behave according to this anointing, God will be added into us, imparted into us, more and more.
(The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
