Would you please explain Matthew 6:17? It says “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face” but many people say something like do not take this verse literally, anointing one’s head is not really important, what really matters is his\/her attitude towards God. But I think since the Bible teaches us to “anoint thine head” when fasting, we should just do exactly as God says. Am I correct? By the way, what is the standard biblical way to anoint the head when fasting? Can one just use any hair oil?<\/p>\n\t
You completely missed the point of the passage.<\/p>\n
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly<\/em>” (Matthew 6:16-18).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In the verses surrounding it, Jesus told his audience that some people practiced their religion for show. They want other people to see how religious they are. Thus, when they fasted, as the Old Testament law required, they made a big show of how much they were suffering.<\/p>\n
Instead, Jesus stated that when we worship, it is to please God, not to please ourselves or others. So if a person fasts, he should act as he normally does, washing his face, putting on cologne, and all the other things a person who is having a good day does. No one else should know he was fasting and then God would reward him for his service to Him.<\/p>\n
The anointing was not something special. In those days perfumes tended to be oil-based. Scents were added to oils and then when applied to the head for styling the hair it gave the person a pleasant smell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Would you please explain Matthew 6:17? It says “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy face” but many people say something like do not take this verse literally, anointing one’s head is not really important, what really matters is his\/her attitude towards God. But I think since the Bible teaches…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[545],"class_list":["post-18082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-fasting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41728,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-matthew-617-tell-us-to-anoint-ourselves\/","url_meta":{"origin":18082,"position":0},"title":"Doesn’t Matthew 6:17 tell us to anoint ourselves?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I am a member of the church in Indiana. This morning, I was studying fasting, and like always, I drifted off into another topic (I'm sure this happens to you and many Christians). That's one reason why God's Word is so good: You can never have enough. As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35396,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-chose-to-fast-how-do-you-not-let-family-members-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":18082,"position":1},"title":"If you chose to fast, how do you not let family members know?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm a little confused about the practice of fasting. From what I understand, we, Christians, have the freedom to do fasting and that it should be done privately. At the present time, families mostly stay at home and it is unavoidable to notice everyone's actions inside the house.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19481,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-significance-of-anointing-aaron-as-high-priest\/","url_meta":{"origin":18082,"position":2},"title":"What was the significance of anointing Aaron as high priest?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What was the significance of anointing Aaron as high priest? Answer: Anointing was a representation of setting something or someone apart for a special purpose. Thus, the altar was anointed before offerings were placed on them to God. \"And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/have-you-heard-of-self-anointing\/","url_meta":{"origin":18082,"position":3},"title":"Have you heard of “self-anointing?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know the Church Of Christ views on \"Anointing yourself Daily.\" I had not heard of this practice. You are called to die, just like Jesus. You may not be called to die for your faith physically, but you are called to die to yourself so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24305,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-always-understand-a-passage-literally\/","url_meta":{"origin":18082,"position":4},"title":"Should we always understand a passage literally?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a friend who told me that, when we read Bible, if it is possible for us to do so, we should take it literally, but I do not think it is always the case. For example, in Matthew 6:17, Jesus said we should \"anoint your head\" when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-significance-of-fasting-for-twenty-one-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":18082,"position":5},"title":"What is the significance of fasting for twenty-one days?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is the significance of 21 days of fasting? Four of us are fasting and praying for the anointing of the Holy Spirit, our families' salvation and for our friends nearby. I saw on your web site about the importance of 40 days and thought of asking you. Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}