Baptism and Confirmation

Today we’re going to talk about the Sacrament of Confirmation.  The word itself means a making firm or strong.  Baptism and Confirmation are really parts one and two of the same Sacrament.  Confirmation completes Baptism by filling us with the Holy Spirit and making us full members of the Church.

In both the Prayer Book and Common Worship Baptismal Services it is made clear that Baptism should be followed by Confirmation.  So in Common Worship the priest addresses the parents, godparents and congregation with these words:

“As they (the children being baptised) grow up, they will need the help and encouragement of the Christian community, so that they may learn to know God in public worship and private prayer, follow Jesus Christ in the life of faith, serve their neighbour after the example of Christ, and in due course come to confirmation”. (1)

So there is a very close connection between Baptism and Confirmation.  Indeed in the Early Church, when people were baptised during the night before Easter Day, they were at once confirmed by the bishop and then made their First Communion.  This is why in Common Worship there is provision for the administration of Holy Baptism and Confirmation within a celebration of Holy Communion.

The Minister

The first recorded Confirmation, which of course is not the same as the first Confirmation, was at Samaria, a town in Palestine about half way between Nazareth and Jerusalem.  After the martyrdom of St Stephen, a persecution was launched against the Christians in Jerusalem with the result that many of them scattered and made their way to other places.

Philip, one of the seven deacons, went to Samaria and there he preached the Gospel and baptised a large number of people.  The next thing, of course, was that they should be confirmed.  Philip could not do this because he was not an Apostle.  So this is what happened: “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.  The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit…Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit” (NRSV, Acts 8:14,15,17).

From this you can see that only the Apostles had this power to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation.  This was because the Apostles had been appointed by Jesus to act on his behalf, and so it was they who admitted people to full membership of his Church by bestowing on them the full gift of the Holy Spirit.  Later, this power was given to the bishops who took the Apostles’ place, and that is why Confirmation is administered today by a bishop.

The Matter

In the Church of England the matter of Confirmation, that is, the outward sign, is the laying on of hands.  In the Eastern Church it is the anointing of the forehead with oil, or chrism as it is called.  In the Eastern Church priests confirm immediately after a Baptism whether the person they baptise is a baby or an adult, but the oil they use must have been blessed by a bishop.  Oil, together with the laying on of hands, was used in the Early Church and still is today in the Roman Catholic Church.  It was given up in the Church of England in 1549.

The Form

In Common Worship, the form of Confirmation, that is, the form of words used in administering the Sacrament, is:

“Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit”. (2)

In the Roman Catholic Church the form is, "I sign you with the sign of the Cross and I confirm you with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."  In the Eastern Church the form is, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”.

The inward grace

The point of the word “seal” is this: just as a merchant, who has bought some goods but has not yet moved them to his own premises, puts his seal on them to show that they are now his; so God, in the Sacrament of Confirmation, puts his mark or seal on our souls to show that we now belong to him, even though he has not yet brought us to Heaven.

From our point of view, God’s gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation is his first instalment to us of the blessings of Heaven, and by it we can be sure that all the other blessings of Heaven, which he has promised us, are waiting for us to have in due time (Ephesians 1:13,14).

The inward grace of Confirmation is the full gift of God the Holy Spirit to arm and equip us as Soldiers of Christ for our life in the world.  And this gift also makes us full members of God’s Church.  In the majority of parishes in the Church of England people are confirmed before they receive Holy Communion.  So Confirmation also enables them to take their full part in the Eucharist by making their Communion.

Baptism and Confirmation make a mark on the soul which can never be removed.  We call this the ‘indelible character’.  In other words, once you are baptised and confirmed, you are always baptised and confirmed and can never be baptised and confirmed again.

SUMMARY

1. Confirmation (the word means a making firm or strong) completes Baptism.  Through the laying on of hands we are given the full gift of the Holy Spirit, sealing us as God’s own possessions, equipping us as Soldiers of Christ for our lives in the world, and making us full members of the Church.  The Apostles administered Confirmation, and ever since it has been part of a bishop’s apostolic work.

2. Both Baptism and Confirmation are Sacraments which make a mark on the soul that can never be removed (indelible character), and therefore they can never be repeated

References

1. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006)Common Worship.  Baptism and Confirmation.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cibaptismandconf.pdf  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).

2. ©The Archbishops’ Council (2006) Common Worship.  Baptism and Confirmation.  Available from: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/downloads/pdf/cibaptismandconf.pdf  (Accessed 24 August 2010) (Internet).