Impartation, the Anointing and the Power of the Holy Spirit

Image from https://planet-charms.com/blogs/infos/dove-spirit-animal?srsltid=AfmBOoqvp2hIPDeOguMvMIEK2l2kmv1dhmAOq4a8sAlLTo74n8xJbQ6E, accessed July 29th 2025

This blog post is a follow-up to a recent Facebook post which I received some positive feedback on. Here is that Facebook post:

"Many charismatic ministries and teachers place a heavy emphasis on the idea of 'impartation'. This is generally understood, in charismatic contexts, to be some kind of transfer or release of 'the anointing', i.e. some kind of spiritual gift or power.

There are three New Testament texts that are appealed to here: Romans 1:11, 1 Timothy 4:14 and 2 Timothy 1:6. The 2 Timothy text is discussing Timothy's faith in Christ, not a spiritual gift or power. Both the Romans text and the 1 Timothy text do say that a spiritual gift is to be imparted by the laying on of hands. Which spiritual gift is not stated. Many commentators also note that the spiritual gifts that Paul mentions in Romans and 1 Corinthians are not exhaustive lists, Paul may have believed other spiritual gifts were or could be present in the church beyond the ones he names.

Charismatic ministries and teachers are therefore doing good work when they limit their teaching on 'impartation' to what the New Testament actually says - that Christians can be aided in their use of spiritual gifts through faith-filled prayers accompanied by the laying on of hands. But many leading charismatic ministries and teachers go far beyond this in their teaching by claiming that special leaders, usually labelled 'apostles' or 'prophets', can transfer some of their spiritual power, often called 'the anointing', to other people by various means. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is not only unbiblical, but very similar to practices within Witchcraft and New Age teachings.

The concept of 'impartation' is therefore another good example of where the charismatic movement began with a very good and I would say God-given insight, but then through lack of attention to the biblical text, strayed into unbiblical and even New Age / Witchcraft adjacent practices. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than when the aforementioned 'apostles' and 'prophets' begin to commercialize this spiritual power i.e. 'anointing'. Again, it is not an exaggeration to say that this is common practice in some parts of the contemporary charismatic movement. Sometimes it takes the form of special/luxury retreats where attendees will receive said 'impartation'. Sometimes it is an online teaching course advertised through social media. Sometimes it is a conference or event where one can pay for special access to the keynote speakers. This is exactly what Simon Magnus tries to do in Acts 8.

As is hopefully clear by now, I am not writing these things out of spite. I love the charismatic movement and I believe in it's God-ordained role in the worldwide Christian Church. I am writing about these things motivated by that love, not spite or unforgiveness. I am, after all, still a part of the movement.

Please let me know your thoughts on this in the comments. Also let me know if this would be an interesting topic for a future blog post and/or Word and Spirit YouTube video."

I want to take some time here to do a little bit of a deeper dive into some common manifestations of this dynamic within certain parts of contemporary charismatic Christianity in North America. I have noticed that sometimes the language surrounding a particular leader, usually labelled an 'apostle' or 'prophet' having a special 'anointing' which is then marketed to oftentimes vulnerable people, at times has the underlying premise of a strange kind of Christianized, charismaticized self-help. The general idea is that if you buy this online teaching course from this leader or attend this retreat or conference or buy this book, you will be granted access (in exchange for money) to some kind of self-improvement mechanism in the form of a supernatural power which this leader has a special 'anointing' for or insight into. In reality, there is very little difference between this hyper-Christian, hyper-spiritual self-help and regular secular or even New Age self-help: the goal is still to make you and your life better, usually in terms of quality of life, physical health, career success, financial affluence (often labeled financial 'breakthrough'), and so on. Some charismatic leaders have simply taken the self-help genre and sprinkled it with some Jesus and charismatic/Pentecostal language, but the product (and it is a product) is basically the same. Note that I am not blanket-condemning all charismatic leaders who write books or run retreats or teach courses, far from it. I am saying that there are some teachers and leaders doing these kinds of things in an unbiblical and harmful way and that we need to be discerning. I myself have recently bought several books from charismatic ministry leaders focused on subjects such as leadership. But this is not the same as the dubious charismatic self-help model that misinterprets the bible's language of 'impartation' and 'anointing' for the sake of personal gain. I am also not intending to suggest that all teachers with a self-help style ministry or who teach on impartation and anointing necessarily have nefarious intentions. My main purpose in this post is to heed the many times where Jesus warned us to be on the lookout for the 'bad apples'. They are there in every stream of the global Church and in every age of the Church. And we need to be discerning.

But what is the alternative to all this? The overall goal of this blog is not just to point out what are in my opinions flaws in some charismatic theology and practice, although I think that is necessary and helpful when done in a Christlike fashion, but also to suggest ways in which we could remedy these flaws and build on the many, many good things that God has graciously entrusted to the charismatic/Pentecostal stream of the Christian Church. If we don't want self-help, what do we want? Doesn't God desire to bless his children, after all? Isn't he a good Father? I would suggest that God does want to help us and better us and our lives, but that the means by which this will actually happen is the downward path of Christ's self-emptying rather than the upward path of self-exaltation and self-promotion. Whilst I am not opposed to the idea that Christian leaders today can still be apostolic and prophetic, I think that some of the reality of what this looks like in the ministries of some leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation is the latter of these two options not the former. Sometimes these so-called 'apostles' and 'prophets' take advantage of the idea of their own anointedness and ability to impart their spiritual powers to others so as to increase their own wealth, power and position. This is the upward path of self-exaltation and self-promotion, not the downward path of Christ's self-emptying love. Remember that oftentimes in the gospels when Jesus performs a miraculous work, he goes out of his way to stop the news from spreading and from his own personal profile being elevated. Scholars call this 'the messianic secret'. Christ used his anointing and power not to draw people into some kind of a spiritual multi-level marketing scheme where he is the winner. He gave it all away and debased himself so that others could be truly helped by being brought closer to the Father - 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV) "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich." Paul is of course referring to spiritual wealth which is a restored relationship to God, not material wealth.

To bring this post to a close, I think that it is important to remember that charismatic theology and practice has many great and unique resources which can help us use our spiritual giftedness in ways that do follow Christ's downward path of self-emptying love. For example, I know one pastor outside of the charismatic stream who suggested to me that the gift of prophecy in the Church today is equivalent to preaching. I think he was correct to point out that actual examples of prophecies within the New Testament (such as that of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist) do have many sermon-like qualities. However, to say that the gift of prophecy is restricted to the act of preaching is highly suspect in light of Paul's teaching in places like 1 Corinthians 12-14. Many charismatic churches, leaders, teachers and movements today are doing a wonderful job of 'doing the stuff', as John Wimber used to say: Actually functioning in the full spectrum of spiritual gifts in a manner that does not exalt the self, but rather lays the self down to better others in the name of Christ.