"YE have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (I John 2:20). What a wonderful benediction! What inspiration and assurance must this message have carried to the students to whom it was written! The Apostle John was addressing those who had accepted the gospel or good news of Christianity. He who had been so closely associated with Christ Jesus and was recording with such profound insight the Master's message to humanity was opening the door of men's understanding. He was pointing the way of salvation from mortal thinking, of deliverance from sin and its consequence— death. He was bringing to the consciousness of men the true, the immortal interpretation of Life.
John knew that this "unction from the Holy One" would make all things new, would penetrate the veil of mortal thinking and reveal the steps leading to the understanding of Life eternal, to spiritual being, which bestows the power to heal and to save. His words would awaken thought conclusively to the spiritual reality of Life as exemplified in the career of Jesus.
Carrying this message further, in the same chapter John continues to emphasize the power and purpose of the outpouring of Spirit. He says (verse 27), "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 is to be found not only the sanctifying gift of inspiration and spiritual discernment, but also the assurance of the unity of Father and son, so intrinsic in the teachings and life of Christ Jesus.
