Particular actings of the Holy Spirit as a comforter — how he is an unction.
The especial actings of the Holy Spirit towards believers as their comforter, with the privileges and advantages which by them they are made partakers of, have been severally spoken unto by many, and I have also in other discourses had occasion to treat concerning some of them. I shall, therefore, be the more brief in the present discourse of them, and, waiving things commonly known and received, shall endeavour to state right conceptions of them, and to add farther light unto what hath been already received.
The First of this sort which we shall mention, because, as I think, the first in order of nature, is the unction or anointing which believers have by him. So are they said to be “anointed,” 2 Cor. i. 21; and, 1 John ii. 20, “Ye have τὸ χρίσμα,” an unction, an unguent, “from the Holy One.” Verse 27, “The anointing which ye have received abideth in you;” and “the same anointing teacheth you of all things.” What this χρίσμα is which we do receive, and wherein this anointing doth consist, we must, in the first place, inquire; for a distinct comprehension and knowledge of that which is so great a privilege, and of so much use unto us, is our duty and advantage. It is the more so, because by the most these things are neglected. That is an empty sound unto them which hath in itself the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Some things there are which pretend unto this unction, or which some would have it to consist in, that we must remove out of our way, to render the truth more evident.
First, Some think that by this “unction” the doctrine of the gospel, or the truth itself, is intended. This Episcopius pleads for in his exposition of the place. That doctrine of the gospel which they had received was that which would preserve them from the seducers which in that place of the apostle, 1 John ii. 20, believers are warned to beware of. But neither the context nor the text will admit of this interpretation; for, — 1. The thing itself in question was the doctrine of the gospel. This the seducers pretended to be on their side, which the apostle denies. Now, although the doctrine itself was that whereby this difference was to be determined, yet is not the doctrine itself, but the advantage they had for the right understanding of it, that which is proposed for their relief and comfort. 2. This unction is said to “abide in them’ who have received it; whereas we are said to abide in the doctrine or the truth, and not that in us properly. 3. This unction is said to “teach us all things,” but the doctrine of the truth is that which we are taught, and there must be a difference between that which teacheth and that which is taught thereby. 4. Whereas, in all other places of the Scripture, either the Holy Ghost himself or some especial operation of his is hereby intended, there is no reason nor pretence of any to be taken from the words or context why another signification should be here imposed on that expression. 5. For the reason which he adds, that “there is no mention in any other place of Scripture of any peculiar internal act or work towards any persons, in their teaching or reception of the truth,” it is so extremely remote from the truth, and is so directly opposite unto express testimonies almost innumerable, that I wonder how any man could be so forgetful as to affirm it. Let the reader satisfy himself in what hath been discoursed on the head of spiritual illumination.
Secondly, The testimony given by the Holy Ghost unto the truth of the gospel imparted unto them, is the exposition of this “unction” in the paraphrase of another. This testimony was by his miraculous operations, at his first effusion on the apostles. But neither can this be the mind of the Holy Ghost herein; for this unction which believers had is the same with their being anointed of God, 2 Cor. i. 21, and that was a privilege whereof they were all personally made partakers. So, also, is that which is here mentioned, — namely, that which was “in them,” which “abode with them,” and “taught them.” Neither is this a tolerable exposition of these words, “‘Ye have an unction from the Holy One, abiding in you, teaching of you;’ that is, Ye have heard of the miraculous operations of the Holy Ghost, in the confirmation of the gospel, giving testimony unto the truth.”
Thirdly, It is to no purpose to examine the pretences of some of the Romanists, that respect is had herein to the chrism or unguent that they use in baptism, confirmation, and in their fictitious sacraments of order and extreme unction; for besides that all their unctions are inventions of their own, no institution of Christ, nor of any efficacy unto the ends for which this unction is granted unto believers, the more sober of their expositors take no notice of them on this occasion. Those who would know what respect they have thereunto may find it in the commentaries of [Cornelius] a Lapide on this place.