According to Hebrews 8:10-11, we have the law within us, and according to 1 John 2:27, we have the anointing within us. We have seen that the law within us is the law of life, the living law, the Triune God Himself with all His fullness living within us. Now we need to consider what the anointing is. First John 2:27 does not use the noun ointment but the gerund anointing. In Exodus 30:22-25 the holy anointing oil, or ointment, is a type of the Holy Spirit of God after Christ’s incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. If the Spirit as the ointment only remained in us but was not working in us, He would be only the ointment, not the anointing. Consider the electricity in a building. We may say that in a building there is not only electricity but also the current of electricity. The electric current is not only electricity itself but the moving, working, and flowing of electricity. When the switch is turned off, although there is still electricity in the building, there is no flowing, no current, of electricity. When the switch is turned on, the electricity flows; hence, there is both electricity and also the flowing, the moving, and the working of electricity.
The Holy Spirit whom we have within us is a living Spirit. He is not only living but also working, acting, and moving. There is an action, a moving, and a working of the Spirit within us, and this is called the anointing. If we have only the ointment, we will have only the knowledge that there is an ointment in us; we will not have an inner consciousness, or feeling, of the ointment. But when we have the anointing, we know that we have the ointment, not because of objective knowledge but because we feel it and sense it. The Holy Spirit is indeed in us, but He is also working in us and anointing us all the time. This is not merely a matter of knowledge; it is also a matter of feeling. We not only know that the Holy Spirit is in us, but we also feel and sense that He is working in us all the time. There is a certain working, moving, and action within us. This is something we both believe and continually experience.
In these chapters we have seen three matters—the shining, the regulating, and the anointing. There is a shining in us because Christ is the light (John 8:12); there is a regulating in us because He is the law of life (Rom. 8:2); there is an anointing because He is the ointment (1 John 2:20, 27). The all-inclusive Christ, who is now within us, is life to us, and this life is the light shining and the law regulating. Moreover, today the all-inclusive Christ is also the ointment, because He is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17). The Spirit within us is shining, regulating, and anointing all the time, for He is the light, the law, and the ointment.
As Christians, we have something within us continually shining and regulating. At the same time, the Spirit as the ointment is always anointing us. When we experience the anointing, we feel peaceful, joyful, comfortable, and restful within. This indicates that there is not only a shining and a regulating but also an anointing. We have all experienced this to some degree. In addition to the shining and the regulating, we have a deep feeling that something is gently and pleasantly moving within us.
We have seen that there is a difference between the shining and the regulating. The shining brings the light to us, making us clear and bright in everything, causing us not to be in darkness. The regulating keeps us right with God. By going along with and taking care of the inner regulating, we have a peaceful conscience, that is, a conscience without offense (Acts 24:16), without any kind of accusation, because we are right with God. In the Old Testament a person was right with God if he did not break the law, the Ten Commandments, in anything. By being right with the law, he was right with God in his conscience. Likewise, today whenever we go along with the inner regulating, we have a conscience full of peace and rest because there is no accusation in it. The regulating makes us right with God.
There is also a difference between the shining and the regulating, on the one hand, and the anointing, on the other hand. We may illustrate this difference as follows. The Old Testament is composed of two main parts, or sections—the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:40). The law with all its rules is unchangeable. For example, “Honor your father and your mother” and “You shall not steal” are commandments of the law (Exo. 20:12, 15). All the commandments of the law are rules that are established and do not vary with time, place, or person. Everyone, everywhere, at any time must honor his parents. Thus, there is no need to pray for guidance as to whether we should honor our parents or not. Husbands, wives, and children all must honor their parents. This is a rule established in the law. The prophets, in contrast, give living guidance. Whether I should go to the church meeting today is not a matter of law, nor is the question of which university I should enroll in a matter of law. These are matters of guidance. We need both the law and the prophets, the established rules and the living guidance. The same is true for us today in the New Testament. The law of life within us corresponds to the established rules of the law, and the inward anointing corresponds to the living guidance provided by the prophets. The law of life replaces the law written on tablets of stone, and the inner anointing replaces the prophets.
When to cut our hair and which barber to use are not matters of law but matters of guidance. However, once we are in the barber shop, the style in which our hair is cut is not a matter of guidance but a matter of the inner law. The law of life will regulate us, telling us, “You are a child of God. You should have your hair cut in a way that is fitting to your status.” This is not guidance but the regulating of an inward law. Therefore, we may go to a particular barber shop because we feel guided by the anointing, but we must have our hair cut in a way that is regulated by the law of life. Likewise, which day the sisters go to a department store to do their shopping and which store they go to are matters of guidance through the anointing. However, when they are in the store buying clothing, which designs and colors they choose are a matter of the regulating of the law of life. What they choose is not a matter of guidance but a matter of the inner regulating.
Therefore, within us there is the inner law, the law of life, regulating us all the time, and there is also the anointing guiding us continually. On the one hand, the Lord Himself within us is the law regulating us, and on the other hand, the Lord Himself is the ointment within us anointing us all the time.