Yet when we use English to speak and teach the Bible, some people play a bit fast and loose with both the English AND the Greek.
Yes, I agree that you do that in your posts.
So if we're going to use English, let's try to use it carefully when dealing with scripture.
Some people throw the English word "anointed" around pretty flippantly, using it to mean all kinds of things it doesn't mean in the Bible.
How an English word is used in the Bible does not govern the use or meaning of it in other literature—including discussions regarding the proper salary for a pastor.
So lets talk about that... how is the word "anointed" used in the Bible?
"Anoint" translated from words meaning "to rub", generally refers to being "set apart".
There are about 4 Greek words commonly translated into English as "anoint."
They all mean literally "to rub", and they usually, almost in every case, show a person has been "set apart" for God.
That is how all words translated as "anoint" are almost always used.
Virtually every time we see one of these words meaning "to rub" translated as "anoint", it is showing someone is "set apart".
That is not true. The word ‘anoint’ is used only four times in the ESV,
Mat. 6:17. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
Mark 16:1. When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
Luke 7:46. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
Rev. 3:18. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
In NONE of these four verse do we find the concept of someone being set apart!
The word ‘anointing’ is used only three times in the ESV,
James 5:14. 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.
1 John 2:27. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
In NONE of these three occurrences do we find the concept of someone being set apart!
The word ‘anointing’ is used only fifteen times in the ESV,
Mark 6:13. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
Mark 14:8. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
*Luke 4:18. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
Luke 7:38. and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Luke 7:46. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
John 9:6. Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud
John 9:11. He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed and received my sight."
John 11:2. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
John 12:3. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
*Acts 4:26. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'—
*Acts 4:27. for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
Acts 10:38. how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
*2 Cor. 1:21. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,
Heb.1:9. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."
*1 John 2:20. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
In only five of these fifteen occurrences (in the verses marked with an asterisk) do we possibly find the concept of someone being set apart!
Whether you're using English, or going back to the Greek, this word we translate as "anoint" doesn't mean what many people claim it means.
The ‘meaning’ of all words is determined by how they are used—especially by educated writers and editors. On page 279 of the first edition of Herman Melville’s
Moby Dick we find Melville writing,
To make them run easily and swiftly, the axles of carriages are anointed; and for much the same purpose, some whalers perform an analogous operation upon their boat; they grease the bottom. Nor is it to be doubted that as such a procedure can do no harm, it may possibly be of no contemptible advantage; considering that oil and water are hostile; that oil is a sliding thing, and that the object in view is to make the boat slide bravely. Queequeg believed strongly in anointing his boat, ….”
George Elliot, on page 29 of his book,
Silas Marner, writes, “which extravagant habits and bad husbandry were plentifully anointing their wheels. I am speaking now in relation to Raveloe and the parishes that resembled it; for our old-fashioned country life had many different aspects, as all life must have when it is spread over a various surface, and breathed on ….”