Anointing
Anointing (Hebrew: מָשַׁח mashiach; Greek: χρίσμα chrisma) in pneumatological context refers to the operative presence of the Holy Spirit in service, proclamation, or speech of a person, making that speech living and powerful for hearers. Anointing is the spiritual dimension that makes the difference between dead letter and living Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6). All believers in Christ—‘the Anointed One’—share in the same anointing (1 John 2:27); its expression in speech and service depends on personal communion with the Spirit.
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee (KOL)
Nee/Lee give anointing a central pneumatological function: it is the continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, not one-time or occasional, but as continually working force.
Anointing as Spirit-movement:
1 John 2:27 says that in us is the ‘anointing’ which we have received from the Lord. Anointing in Scripture refers to the Spirit of God (Luke 4:18). Therefore this verse tells us that the Spirit of God dwelling in us is the anointing. This anointing anoints us continually. The anointing is the movement of the Spirit of God in us.
This distinguishes Nee/Lee from merely one-time Pentecost-theology. Anointing is not past, not initial only; it is continuous movement—the Spirit operative, felt, recurring:
The anointing in us anoints us continually.
Anointing as element-impartation:
Anointing serves a specific purpose: bringing God’s element into inward being:
Through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the element of God may become our inward element, and we may know God and His desire and will in all things.
This is practically revelatory. Anointing makes God not abstract, but felt—an inward element that transforms.
Anointing distinct from other Spirit-work:
In Nee/Lee’s schema, three functions of God in believer are distinguished:
The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is as ointment oil; therefore what He does in us is to anoint. Christ dwelling in us is as life; therefore what He does in us is to live. God working in us is a matter of working; therefore what He does in us is to work.
- Anointing — pneumatological: Spirit anoints, imparting God’s element
- Life — christological: Christ lives, transforming inwardly
- Working — cosmological: God works, fulfilling everything
This Triune distribution shows anointing as specific Spirit-function—not will or power, but anointing, inward anointing.
Source: Watchman Nee & Witness Lee, The Knowledge of Life (Living Stream Ministry, 1973), chapters 5–7.