Confirmation
Confirmation
What about Confirmation? Although you won’t find confirmation mentioned in the Bible, it has been a church practice since the third century, and in a number of churches is a sign of adult membership and a means of entry into communion. Those who have been baptised as infants need an opportunity to publicly declaring their faith and reaffirm the vows made on their behalf at their baptism. Confirmation provides just this.
Within the Church of England, for example, confirmation usually involves a Bishop laying hands on the candidates. This goes back to the early church where the adult candidates were totally immersed in water and then anointed with oil and hands were laid on them by the bishop. This expressed their union with Christ and incorporation into the Christian community. As children began to be routinely baptised, things had to change. Consequently, the anointing and laying on of hands were separated off and reserved for the time when the youngsters were old enough to reiterate the promises and the expression of faith made on their behalf when they were baptised.
So what is the meaning of confirmation?
It is a profession of faith. The person who had been baptised in infancy needs a public opportunity of professing their personal faith in Jesus Christ. They confirm the vows and faith expressed for them by their parents and godparents. However, the laying on of hands by the Bishop confirms God’s commitment to strengthen and protect them in their Christian walk.
While baptism is into Christ, confirmation is about full communicant and voting membership of the particular denomination concerned. It is important to recognise that confirmation is not a ‘topping up’ of baptism, or the time when the candidate receives the Holy Spirit for the first time. Baptism alone is a mark of membership of Christ and his church through repentance, faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are therefore not talking about a two stage initiation process. Confirmation simply gives the person an opportunity of acknowledging their membership of one part of the universal church.
Confirmation is a commissioning for service, not a passing-out parade, as it marks the beginning of a life of active service for Christ.