Anointing of oil, literally, were attributed only on Jesus (Hebrews 1:9) and the sick (Mark 6: 13, James 5: 14) but not a would be pastor or any other church leaders, much more in a figurative sense. Jesus, the apostles or anyone in the New Testament didn’t make mentioned or practiced it. Neither did they were called anointed (except for Jesus in John 1: 41 HCSB). In Paul writing to Timothy about the qualification of pastors and deacons, Paul made no mentioned of any anointing or special protection for being God’s anointed.
You might have heard church leaders using this phrase “touch not the anointed”. This phrase indicates that a pastor has a special anointing from God, so that anyone who wants to stand up against them, God will put a curse to them. Though we should honor and respect church leaders because the Bible tells us so, this begs a questions. Is ‘touch not the anointed” biblical? Let’s examine this claim by shining the light of Scriptures.
But first let site two of the most common verses used and later we will mention another verse. Here are two most commonly sited verses that church leaders apply to themselves when they’re under criticism:
“Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” — 1 Chronicles 16:22
“saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” — Psalm 105:15
Now let’s dive to the 6 reasons why such claim is farce.
Because it’s taken out of context – One of the worse errors a preacher can commit is taking verses out of context. For all people, a preacher should not fall to this faulty interpretation of Scriptures. Rather, knows how the handle it with utmost care. After all its God’s Word. Sadly they would misused and abused the Scriptures to save themselves.
So what is the real context of those verses? Here’s how Got Questions responds (read the full answer here):
This passage refers to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When “they” (the patriarchs) were few in number, they lived as wandering strangers in a strange land (see Hebrews 11:9). Through all their travels and travails, God protected them, increased their number, and prevented the powerful rulers of the lands where they stayed from harming them.
Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.