Confirmation

Confirmation

Confirmation has been called a ritual in search of a theology. It is not observed by all denominations. That being the case, what is it about?

Becoming a Christian has four parts to it:
Faith: i.e. belief and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Repentance: turning away from sin and towards God.
Baptism in water, signifying washing away sin and identifying with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.
Receiving or being baptised or sealed with the Holy Spirit by whom one is made spiritually alive (reborn) in Christ.

Together with these four is the expectation that one be prepared to publicly acknowledge Christ (Romans 10:9-10).

In the conversion accounts in the book of Acts these four aspects sometimes occurred together. They are not all mentioned in every case, and not always in that order. In some instances (eg St Paul’s conversion in Acts 9 and the incident in Samaria in Acts 8) there is an interval in time between conversion and reception of the Holy Spirit. However, they rightly belong together, such that, in different New Testament passages one can read that one is saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8), by believing (John 20:31, Acts 16:29-31), by receiving Jesus (John 1:12), by being baptised (1Peter 3:21), by being born anew by water and Spirit (John 3:5) etc. They are different facets of the same diamond.

In the first Christian generation, therefore, it would appear that immediately upon responding to the Apostles’ teaching, a new convert was baptized in water and received prayer with the laying on of hands for the reception/baptism in the Holy Spirit. God, being sovereign, is able to give his Holy Spirit without human intervention (eg Acts 10:46-47), but he often used the apostles as his agents.

After the first century it became practice for a period of instruction to precede baptism. When a person was baptized he or she would confirm their faith, sponsored by those who vouched for them (Godparents), the presbyter (priest) with the assistance of deacons or deaconesses would baptize the candidates by immersion. Thereafter the newly baptised would be dressed in a white robe and be presented to the bishop in the public service. The bishop would confirm they had been baptized, anoint them with oil, lay hands on them and pray for God to confirm (strengthen) them with the Holy Spirit. Thus Baptism and confirmation were two parts of one ritual.

Still later, as the church spread to many new towns the number of bishops did not increase accordingly. Some pastoral roles in more distant congregations were delegated to presbyters. In the Eastern church presbyters both baptize and confirm. In the Western church confirmation remained an Episcopal prerogative (although in the RC church it can be delegated to a priest) and was separated from baptism, often occurring years later when the bishop finally made a visit to a local congregation, or not at all.

After the Reformation, some Protestant churches, especially those who practice only adult baptism, discarded confirmation along with the office of bishop. Others which retained infant baptism recognized the need for an opportunity for adolescents and adults to publicly re-affirm the promises made by their parents at their infant baptism. The Anglican church made confirmation a pre-requisite to communion. Rather like a Bar Mitzvah in the Jewish faith, it marks the transition into full adult participation in church life. This requirement has recently been relaxed and now confirmation is often dispensed with.

When we compare the practices of different denominations we see that Baptist churches offer parents the opportunity to have a “dedication” service (a dry christening!) for their children who can later, when old enough to make their own profession of faith, be baptized in water. Churches which baptize the infants of Christian parents, offer confirmation as an opportunity for those old enough to do so, to make a public profession (a “dry” adult baptismal reaffirmation). The difference between these two schemas is when the water is applied. Churches from Pentecostal or Charismatic backgrounds also practice prayer with or without laying hands for the baptism in the Spirit, using the same scriptural references to justify that practice as the ‘catholic’ streams of Christianity do for confirmation. One does not have to be ordained to pray for this.

Summary:
Confirmation provides a mature/maturing Christian the opportunity to publicly acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and to reaffirm his/her baptismal vows. The similarity of the service(laying on of hands plus invocation of the Holy Spirit) to the ordination of deacons, priests and bishops lends itself to considering confirmation as the commissioning or “ordination” of the laity to a life of ministry. All Christians are called to ministry, not just those who are ordained.

For those baptized as teens or adults, confirmation almost appears redundant if there is a long delay between baptism and confirmation. They should ideally occur at the same service so that the newly baptised person can immediately be commissioned for service and not gain the impression that entrance into the church requires something more than baptism on profession of faith. If a bishop cannot be present at an adult’s or adolescent’s baptism service then perhaps the Anglican Communion should consider allowing priests to administer confirmation (as is done in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches) in order to restore the link between the two rites.