The Theological Significance of the Concept of Anointing in Contemporary Churches in Nigeria

Abstract

Anointing is a popular concept in most Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria today. It is common to hear sayings such as “falling under anointing”, “transfer of anointing”, “anointing service”, “anointing for favour”, “anointing for sickness”, “anointing for breakthrough”, and many more. There is a wide spread confusion within the Pentecostal movements regarding anointing. There is no common accepted meaning. There is no uniformity in understanding how one may obtain whatever the anointing is, there is even a great disagreement about who really is anointed. The main reason for this misunderstanding in most cases is because everyone is holding to a different interpretation of the Bible. The study examines the concept of anointing from the Biblical perspective in the context of the practice of anointing in contemporary Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. The study adopted the contextual and narrative analytical method to investigate the historical and contemporary contexts of the use of anointing and its practice in the church today. The study shows that spiritual anointing with the Holy Spirit was conferred on Christians by God (2Cor1:21) and they were described as having an unction from God by which they know all things (1 John 2:20, 27) but there was no indication in the Scriptures that anyone can transmit the anointing by any means as it is being practised in the church today.