Professors and Possessors - 1 John 2:27

v.27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Here’s the word “anointed” again. The word literally means to “smear on” in a figurative sense. The point is that the anointing of the Holy Spirit here enables the believer to distinguish the truth of Christianity from the heretical deceit of the devil. Remember that he was just talking about those deceivers in the previous verses who were coming and denying the Son in an attempt to lead them astray.

I’ve had so many over the years who have been deceived by those who carry a false gospel. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to watch it happen. It makes me wonder if they truly had the “anointing” that is spoken of here in this verse. After all, the verse does say that the anointing abides in all believers.

I’m sure that I don’t have to remind you that the organized church is full of lost people who are professors, but not truly possessors. These are the tares that are among the wheat that the Lord Himself will one day gather up in bundles to be burned (Matthew 13:24-30). Oh, I can just hear some well-meaning, yet confused Christian screaming, “judge not, lest ye be judged.” That’s another message for another time on the consequences of taking Scriptures out of context. I must simply defer back to 1 John 2:19 when John said, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.