Unction

Unction (from the Latin unctio, anointing) refers to the ritual application of oil as a sign of divine consecration and empowerment. In the Old Testament kings (1 Sam. 10:1), priests (Ex. 28:41), and sometimes prophets (1 Kings 19:16) were anointed with oil as the outward sign of God's Spirit coming upon them for their appointed office. The Messiah himself — the mashiach, the Anointed One — bears this as his defining title.

In the New Testament John uses the term in its spiritual application: "But ye have an unction from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20, 27; Revised Version: "anointing"). This unction is the Holy Spirit given to every believer, who teaches and guides them into truth without need of an external intermediary — a democratization of the prophetic anointing that the Old Testament promised for the new covenant age (Joel 2:28). The distinction between the royal/priestly anointing of the few and the spiritual anointing of all believers marks the theological advance from old to new covenant.