9

CHAPTER NINE

SACRAMENT  OF INITIATION

CONFIRMATION

SACRAMENT  OF INITIATION

CONFIRMATION

(Rom 10:9-10)  because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.

This is the time to affirm the faith which has been taught by the parents and the community of believers through the period as a result of the initiation into discipleship (with its rite of baptism). Here the person accepts Jesus as his/her personal saviour and declares it before the assembly of believers and become full partakers with the body of Christ.

The following three are considered to be the basic tenants of declaration of faith which is taught to the children as they grow.  These are the standards.

Lord’s Prayer

Apostle’s Creed

Nicean Creed

The Lord's Prayer in Syriac, the language spoken by Jesus. From a Syriac Postcard

Icon depicting Emperor Constantine and the Fathers of the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325) as holding the Nicene Creed

The ritual part consists of

1.      Confessing with the mouth in open congregation and

2.      the bishop or the priest or the elder laying hands in accordance with the tradition.

The role of Baptism and Confirmation has often been reversed as a result of idolising them.  A belief that baptism conferred salvation came into existence.  Emperor Constantine postponed his baptism to his death bed, because he believed that baptism washed away sins. Modern churches takes a different route.  Since salvation is not possible without first confessing and having faith in Christ, Baptism as a rite of discipling was replaced with Dedication.  Children were dedicated instead of baptised and they were baptised as a believer.  Thus the meaning of the rites are  interchanged in many modern churches.

Replaced with

The principle remains the same in both cases.   The first ritual is a ritual of discipling  followed by teaching and the second ritual is the confirmation of the result of such discipling, bringing the person into the community of believers.  Here the meaning of the signs are practically interchanged.

Remember the rites are only symbols and they can give grace only if they are perceived as such. That is why taking bath in a bath tub or in a swimming pool does not constitute a baptism.