Though the law and the prophets of the Old Testament could cause the children of Israel to know God, it was all outward knowledge, not inward. Therefore, in New Testament times, God put His Spirit with His life in us, thus enabling us to have an inward knowledge of Him. The law of life, which comes from His life, takes the place of the law of the Old Testament and enables us to know His nature from within. The teaching of the anointing takes the place of the prophets of the Old Testament, and enables us to know God Himself and His will from within.
The law of life is a natural characteristic and function of life, and this characteristic of life is the nature of life. Therefore, when the law of the life of God in us expresses its function and regulates us, it always reveals to us the nature of God. It therefore enables us to know the nature of God. Such knowing does not require the teaching of outward knowledge, neither does it need the outward regulations of the law of letters and ordinances, but is by the natural consciousness given to us by the inward law of life. For example, if vinegar is put in the mouth of a baby, he will spit it out. But if sugar is put in his mouth, he will swallow it. The baby’s ability to distinguish between the sour and sweet is not based upon teaching, but upon the natural function of life. Likewise, one who is just saved and has received the life of God does not like to commit sin. It is not because he is afraid of the punishment of sin, but because the holy nature of the life of God within him naturally gives him a loathsome, detestable, and unbearable consciousness toward sin. Such consciousness is deeper than the condemnation of the conscience. It is from such a consciousness of detesting sin that we come to know the holy nature of God.
Paul told the saints in Corinth that “we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat” (1 Cor. 4:12-13). Paul could behave in this way not only because the life of God in him made him this way, but also because the nature of the life of God in him is this way. When he lived in the life of God in that manner, he then touched the nature of God; in other words, he came to know the nature of God.
The nature of the life of God, such as holiness, love, honesty, brightness, etc., is always unchangeable from eternity to eternity, regardless of difference of time or place. Therefore, the character of the law of His life is also fixed and unchangeable. Regardless of time or place, whenever the law of the life of God works, the nature of God which it enables us to touch is always permanent and unchangeable.
When the law of life is working in us, enabling us to know the nature of God, the result is that it makes the manner, character, and taste of our entire living correspond to the nature of God. It is not like the law of letters of the Old Testament, which is only an outward regulation, demanding that the outward life of man correspond with the nature of God. This is the law of life of the New Testament, which, by the working of this life within, mingles the nature of God into our nature. Thus, it causes our nature to contain the element of God’s nature and gradually become like God’s nature. Whatever the nature of God loves or detests, our nature will likewise love or detest. Now, whenever we do or even want to do the dark and unclean things of the past, the law of life within causes us to feel uncomfortable, unnatural, and without peace. Conversely, the more we do the things which are bright and holy and correspond to the nature of God, the more we feel life and peace from within. In this way, our living is naturally changed to correspond with the nature of God from within.
In the Scriptures, only 1 John 2:27 speaks of the “teaching of the anointing.” We all know that anointing is a verbal noun which refers to the activity of the ointment, the moving and the working of the ointment. According to the type of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of the New Testament, ointment or oil in the Scripture refers to the Holy Spirit (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18). Since ointment or oil refers to the Holy Spirit, the “anointing” must refer to the working of the Holy Spirit. The working of the Holy Spirit in us is like the anointing of the ointment; therefore, the Scripture calls this working of the Holy Spirit the “anointing.”
Since the anointing is the Holy Spirit’s working in us, it naturally causes us to have an inner sense so that we may know God and His will. When the anointing causes us to know God and the will of God in this way, it is teaching us from within. Thus, the Scripture calls this teaching, “the teaching of the anointing.”
Since the anointing is the working of the Holy Spirit in us, it is also God Himself working in us, because the Holy Spirit is the embodiment of God within us. God is unlimited; therefore, the character of the teaching He gives us from working and anointing within us cannot be limited. Sometimes He gives us this kind of teaching; sometimes He gives us that kind of teaching. It is not like the law of His life, whose character is fixed and unchangeable. The law of His life is from the fixed nature of His life, and it causes us to touch the fixed nature of His life; therefore, the function of this law within us is fixed. But the working of His Holy Spirit is from His unlimited self, and it causes us to touch His unlimited self; therefore, the teaching that this working gives us from within is also unlimited. It can cause us to obtain His revelation and receive His guidance, thereby causing us to know His infinite self and His unlimited will.
Since the teaching of the anointing gives us revelation and guidance by God’s infinite self, it can therefore cause all our behavior, action, movement, and choice to be in accord with the will of God. This is not like the prophets of the Old Testament time who taught others from without and demanded that their action should correspond with the will of God. This is the Holy Spirit as the ointment in us, anointing into us the element of God Himself and enabling us from within to comprehend the will of God because of having touched God Himself. The result is that it causes not only our action but our whole being to be filled with the element of God and to be in accord with His will.
Thus, the law of life causes us to touch the nature of the life of God. It regulates from within us according to the nature of the life of God. But the anointing causes us to touch God, to touch His Person, and anoints into us His very essence. Since we have the law of life and the anointing continuously working and teaching in us, we can know God in all things and need not that others should teach us. Whenever we touch the question of the manner and taste of living, the law of life makes known to us the nature of God in these matters. And whenever we touch the question of action or choice, the teaching of the anointing causes us to understand how God Himself feels toward these matters.
For example, suppose we want to purchase some clothes. Whether we buy them or not is a question of being guided by the Holy Spirit in action. Thus, the anointing will teach and guide us. When we get to the store, the style and color we select are matters related to the taste of the nature of God. The law of life will cause us to feel what style and color are in accordance with the nature of God. The guidance of whether we should go to the store and buy the clothes or not is not a fixed one. It is possible that this time we should go, and the next time we should not. Yet the taste of what style and color we should choose is never changed; each time we go, it is the same.
Consider, for example, a brother and sister who want to get married. Which day they should be married is a question of being guided in action; it is not related to the nature of God. It is not that the first day or the fifteenth day would be in accordance with the nature of God, and all other days would not. Since this is a matter of guidance in action, it is determined by the anointing or the working of the Holy Spirit. Yet at the time of marriage, the style of clothes, the type of setting, how the meeting is arranged, and whether the character, the taste, and the style are in accordance with the church and becoming to the saints, are all matters related to the nature of God. Therefore, they are not taught by the anointing but are regulated by the law of life.