Imagine walking into your living room to discover your puppy has somehow managed to knock over an entire bottle of olive oil. Every step leaves little greasy paw prints across the floor. She’s covered from nose to tail, completely oblivious to the chaos she’s creating.
You instinctively move to stop her.
Then someone says, “Touch not God’s anointed.”
It’s absurd, of course. We laugh because we know exactly what happened. The dog isn’t untouchable simply because she’s covered in olive oil. Oil alone doesn’t determine what the passage means.
Yet Christians often make remarkably similar leaps when reading Scripture.
Many believers have heard the phrase “Touch not God’s anointed” used as a warning against questioning a pastor, confronting a ministry leader, or challenging someone who claims spiritual authority. The implication is simple: if God has anointed someone, they are beyond criticism. To disagree with them is to oppose God Himself.
The problem is that this popular application isn’t how the phrase is used in Scripture.
The words come from Psalm 105 and are repeated in 1 Chronicles 16. Psalm 105 is not laying down a universal rule about church leadership. It is recounting God’s covenant faithfulness throughout Israel’s history.
The psalm begins by calling God’s people to remember His marvelous works. It then traces His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reminding Israel how God preserved them while they lived as sojourners among foreign nations. They possessed no army. They held no political power. They wandered from kingdom to kingdom as strangers.
It is in that historical setting that we read:
“He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, ‘Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.’” —Psalm 105:14–15 (NKJV)
Notice who is being discussed.
The passage isn’t addressing New Testament pastors.
It isn’t establishing immunity from correction.
It isn’t forbidding God’s people from testing doctrine or confronting sin.
It is celebrating God’s protection of the patriarchs as He fulfilled His covenant promises despite the hostility of surrounding nations.
The words “My anointed ones” describe the people God had chosen for His covenant purposes within that historical account. The emphasis is not on the oil. In fact, the passage doesn’t even mention an anointing ceremony. The focus is on God’s sovereign protection of those through whom He would fulfill His promises.
Once the context is restored, the popular interpretation begins to fall apart.
The New Testament repeatedly commands believers to evaluate teaching. The Bereans were commended for examining Paul’s message against the Scriptures. Elders who persist in sin are to be rebuked before all. Christians are told to test the spirits, examine every teaching, and hold fast to what is good. Biblical authority is real, but it is never presented as unquestionable authority.
Ironically, using “Touch not God’s anointed” to silence biblical examination does the very thing the Bible repeatedly warns against. It discourages the careful testing of what is taught.
This is why context matters.
A single phrase can sound persuasive when lifted from its passage. It can even become a widely accepted slogan within Christian culture. But Scripture wasn’t given as a collection of isolated quotations. Every verse belongs to a paragraph, every paragraph belongs to a larger argument, and every argument belongs to the unfolding story God is telling.
Before repeating a familiar phrase, ask a simple question:
What is this passage actually talking about?
You may discover that what everyone says the verse means… isn’t what the verse is saying at all.
