Confirmation (1928 BCP)

Confirmation (1928 BCP) is the episcopal laying on of hands appointed in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer for baptized persons who have come to years of discretion. In the 1928 BCP it belongs to the sequence of Baptism, catechetical instruction, personal renewal of baptismal vows, prayer for the Holy Ghost, and admission to mature participation in the Church's sacramental life.

The rite is therefore not a second Baptism and not an independent sacrament in the same sense as Baptism and the Lord's Supper. It is the Church's ordered prayer that those already baptized and instructed may be strengthened by the Holy Ghost, publicly own the promises made at their Baptism, and continue in the faith and obedience taught by the Catechism.

Place in the Prayer Book

The 1928 BCP prints Confirmation after the Offices of Instruction. That placement is theologically important. The candidate is first taught the baptismal name, the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the doctrine of the Church, and the sacramental teaching of the Catechism. Only then does the book direct that children who have reached a competent age and are sufficiently instructed be brought to the bishop.

So soon as Children are come to a competent age, and can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments and are sufficiently instructed in the matter contained in these Offices they shall be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him.

This rubric keeps Confirmation from becoming a bare ceremony of adolescence. It assumes catechesis, intelligible profession, and accountability. The confirmed person receives the bishop's prayer as one who has been taught what Baptism means and now personally acknowledges the Christian obligations earlier undertaken by sponsors.

Renewal of Baptismal Vows

The opening question of the rite ties Confirmation directly to Baptism. The bishop asks the candidates to ratify and confirm the promise and vow made at Baptism, and the candidates answer for themselves.

Do ye here, in the presence of God, and of this congregation, renew the solemn promise and vow that ye made, or that was made in your name, at your Baptism; ratifying and confirming the same; and acknowledging yourselves bound to believe and to do all those things which ye then undertook, or your Sponsors then undertook for you?

This makes the rite covenantal and ecclesial. It is covenantal because the baptized person owns the promises of repentance, faith, and obedience. It is ecclesial because the act is made before God, the congregation, and the bishop as chief pastor. The added question, "Do ye promise to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?", gives the 1928 rite an especially direct confession of personal discipleship.

Prayer for the Holy Ghost

The central collect of Confirmation asks God to strengthen those whom he has already regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost. Its wording deliberately begins from Baptismal grace and asks for increase, perseverance, and the sevenfold language of the Spirit drawn from Isaiah's description of the Messiah.

Almighty and everliving God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants by Water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins; Strengthen them, we beseech thee, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace.

The prayer's grammar matters. Confirmation does not create baptized identity; it prays over baptized persons that they may be strengthened in it. This is why the rite can speak strongly of the Holy Ghost without confusing Confirmation with Baptism. The Prayer Book joins sacramental realism to pastoral order: God has given grace in Baptism, and the Church still prays for that grace to be increased and brought to mature fruit.

Laying on of Hands

After the collect, each candidate kneels before the bishop, who lays his hand upon the candidate's head. The formula is brief, but it gathers perseverance, protection, growth in the Spirit, and final hope into a single episcopal blessing.

Defend, O Lord, this thy Child with thy heavenly grace; that he may continue thine for ever; and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom. Amen.

The sign is interpreted by the concluding prayer as apostolic in pattern rather than magical in isolation. The bishop prays for those "upon whom, after the example of thy holy Apostles, we have now laid our hands," asking that God's fatherly hand may remain over them and that the Holy Spirit may lead them in knowledge and obedience of the Word.

Scriptural Logic

The lesson embedded in the rite is Acts 8:14-17, where Peter and John pray for baptized Samaritans and lay hands on them. The 1928 BCP cites this passage before the renewal of vows, so that the Prayer Book itself supplies the biblical pattern through which the action is to be read.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

Hebrews also names "laying on of hands" among foundational teachings associated with Christian initiation and instruction:

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands.

Together these texts explain the Prayer Book's balance. Confirmation is scriptural and apostolic in form, but its purpose is ordered strengthening and mature profession, not a replacement for Baptism or a rival source of Christian identity.

Relation to Anglican Doctrine

Classical Anglican doctrine distinguishes Confirmation from the two sacraments ordained by Christ in the Gospel. Article XXV names Confirmation among rites that are commonly called sacraments but are not to be counted as sacraments of the Gospel in the same way as Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.

Those five commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel.

This doctrinal boundary does not make Confirmation unimportant. Rather, it tells readers how to value the rite rightly. Confirmation is an apostolic, episcopal, and pastoral ordinance of the Church; Baptism and the Lord's Supper remain the dominical sacraments instituted by Christ as generally necessary to salvation. The 1928 rite is strongest when read within that Anglican distinction.

Pastoral and Catechetical Use

In parish teaching, Confirmation should be prepared through the Catechism and the Offices of Instruction rather than treated as a private milestone. Candidates should know the Creed they confess, the Commandments by which they learn obedience, the Lord's Prayer by which they seek grace, and the sacramental doctrine that connects outward signs with inward grace.

The rite also has a pastoral meaning for the whole congregation. The Church hears the baptized renew their vows, sees the bishop lay hands upon them, and joins the prayer that they may continue Christ's for ever. Confirmation thus strengthens not only individual candidates but the visible order of the Church as a praying, teaching, sacramental body.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Occasional Offices (1928 BCP)
• Baptism (1928 BCP)
• Catechism (1928 BCP)
• Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)
• Baptismal Promises

External Links

• The 1928 Book of Common Prayer