to rub or smear oil or scented ointment onto skin, a body, or an object: the ordinary, physical act of applying oil
This is the everyday Greek word for rubbing or smearing oil, grease, or perfumed ointment onto a person or a thing. In ordinary life it covered:
- oiling athletes at the gym
- greasing a leather strap
- rubbing down the sick
- freshening up after a bath
- perfuming a guest
- preparing a body for burial
It names a plain, hands-on action, not a religious ceremony.
Because the act itself was so common, its significance in any given passage comes from the setting, not from the word. The same verb describes:
- a fasting person tidying his hair (Matthew 6:17)
- a woman pouring costly perfume on Jesus' feet (John 12:3)
- women preparing a body for the grave (Mark 16:1)
- elders praying over the sick (James 5:14)
What changes from one scene to the next is the purpose and the substance used, plain oil or expensive perfume, not the core action.
This matters for readers, because the English word "anoint" sounds ceremonial and even royal, while this Greek verb usually means something as ordinary as "rub with oil." Greek kept a separate verb (χρίω) for the sacred, symbolic sense of setting a person apart for God's service, the verb that lies behind the title "Christ." This word is its plain, physical counterpart: the actual smearing of oil, whatever the reason for it.
Nuances
What the anointing with oil in James 5:14 signifies.
- minorityA medicinal act: oil was standard ancient medicine, so the elders combine prayer with ordinary physical care of the sick.; D. Burdick, "James," in The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Zondervan, 1981), 204; A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, ad James 5:14
- minorityA sacrament for the sick, taken as the scriptural basis for the later rite of anointing of the sick in Catholic and Orthodox practice.; Council of Trent, Session 14 (1551), on Extreme Unction
- majorityA symbolic act of consecration: the oil marks the sick person as set apart for God's special care, with efficacy located in the prayer offered in the name of the Lord, not in the oil.; D. J. Moo, The Letter of James, PNTC, 2nd ed. (Eerdmans, 2021), 306-308; D. G. McCartney, James, BECNT (Baker, 2009), 250-255; L. T. Johnson, The Letter of James, Anchor Bible (Doubleday, 1995), 329-343
Disputed
Whether ἀλείφω is by nature the secular or profane anointing verb, standing in contrast to a sacred χρίω, or whether the real difference between the two lies elsewhere.
- minorityThe traditional distinction: ἀλείφω is the mundane, secular anointing word, while χρίω is the sacred, religious one, reserved for divine appointment and linked to χριστός.; R. C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, sect. XXXVIII (London, 1854); H. Schlier, "ἀλείφω," in TDNT, vol. 1 (Eerdmans, 1964), 229-232
- majorityThe now-dominant analysis: the contrast is not sacred versus profane but literal physical anointing (ἀλείφω) versus figurative divine appointment (χρίω). Register is supplied by context, and the Septuagint even uses ἀλείφω for the priestly consecration of Aaron's sons (Exodus 40:15; Numbers 3:3).; J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the NT Based on Semantic Domains (UBS, 1988), 47.14; 37.108; J. Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language (Oxford, 1961), 218; M. Silva, ed., NIDNTTE (Zondervan, 2014), s.v.