1 John 2:27 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

But the anointing, &c.— See on 1 John 2:20. The Spirit of God is compared to an anointing, because of his precious and cheeringgifts, which rendered Christians more fit to encounter spiritual enemies; as wrestlers were anointed with oil, to make them fitter for their various exercises, and to prevent the advantages which might otherwise be taken of them. This has been produced to shew, that the office of a stated ministry in the church was unnecessary; "because (say the advocates for this opinion,) this anointing could not be any special, peculiar, or extraordinary privilege, but that which is common to all saints, this being a general epistle, directed to every one of them of that age; and he that hath an anointing abiding in him, which teacheth him all things, so that he needs no man to teach him, hath an inward and immediate teacher, and is taught inwardly and immediately." But those who argue after this manner, would do well to consider, that the Christian minister was in the higher repute in the church, even when the gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured down upon them in the greatest abundance; and moreover, that this epistle was written to Christians in general, which it would not have been, were not the admonitions that it contains necessary. And if they were necessary in those early ages, when so many Christians were endued with the miraculousgifts of the Spirit, and there was, in some sense, a necessity that they should be thus extraordinarily invested with powers from on high, and the admonitions for exhortations in this epistle are similar to the exhortations of a stated ministry, the expediency of a stated ministry, instead of being superseded, seems to be confirmed by this very passage.