Rth 4:7 for the c of any business, the one
Heb 6:16 the end of all .. is the oath to c
One of the 7 Sacraments of the Church, in which the Holy Spirit is received in a special way, to be a witness of Christ, soldier of the Lord, as in Acts 2, 8:14-20, 10:44-48, 19 :1-7.
Christian Bible Dictionary
Dr. J. Dominguez
http://bible.com/dictionary/
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
In the Bible, it is the act of encouraging, animating, instilling strength or vigor. The Lord Jesus said to Peter: “Confirm your brothers” (Luke 22:32). Paul, on his third missionary journey, went through † œthe region of † ¢ Galatia and Phrygia, confirming all the disciples † (Acts 18:23). Then appears in the history of the Church a rite called c. for the purpose of acknowledging or renewing baptism. Some think that the expression in Heb 6:1-2, “not laying again the foundation of repentance…the doctrine of baptisms, of the laying on of hands…† is an allusion to the rite of c. Roman Catholicism still follows that trend today.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
vet, Paul and Barnabas went to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to persist in the faith. Judas and Silas, messengers from Jerusalem to Antioch, being prophets, exhorted the brothers with many words, and confirmed them. Again Paul and Silas passed through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches (Acts 14:22; 15:32, 41). These passages, with that of Hch. 28:23, are the totality in which the word “episterizõ” appears. There is no idea of any ritual here; nor anything that has to do with what is currently called “confirmation”.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Confirmation is a sacrament by which the baptized person is filled with graces by the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands and the anointing of holy chrism. It is the sensitive sign of a supernatural plenitude, which is expressed by invoking the Holy Spirit, who is called upon to invade the soul with his gifts and plan the work of sanctification initiated by Baptism in Christ Jesus.
Saint Thomas extensively developed the Theology of Confirmation. He defined it: “Sacrament by which the strength of the Spirit is granted to the baptized.” (Summa Th. III. 72. 1). That is why it is seen as the sign that grants the fullness and deepens the grace of Baptism.
– In Confirmation, the Christian is reinforced from within, with all the accumulation of supernatural riches, virtues and spiritual gifts.
– On the outside of his soul, the confirmed feels launched to the service of the Church and to the witness of life that the message of the Gospel demands.
Jesus wanted to establish this supplementary, not complementary, sacrament of Baptism. In other words, Baptism lacks nothing, it does not need accessories. But God wanted variety and abundance of means, of additions; That’s why we talk about supplements.
Like the other sacraments, its mission is to grant the Christian grace. But his peculiar mission is to give the fullness of dedication to Christ.
1. Its sacramentality
It is of Christian faith that it is distinct, true and proper sacrament. The Council of Trent proclaimed it thus: “If anyone indicates that Confirmation is superfluous, because it is not a true sacrament, he must be condemned.” (Denz. 871). It thus came out in the wake of the “Ausburg Confession”, written by Felipe Melanchthon and by Luther in 1530. (Art. 13. 6)
Later, some rationalists, such as Harnack (1851-1930) in “Historia de los dogmas”, would again deny that such a sacrament had existed at the beginning; and they looked at it as a simple ceremony broken off from Baptism in the first Christian centuries.
But the Church explored and clarified what there was of Confirmation in the Scriptures and in Tradition and declared continuously, and more and more clearly and clarifying, the Christian doctrine on Confirmation.
1.1. In writing
In Scripture it hardly appears as an explicit sign. But the references to the confirmation of faith by the Holy Spirit multiply. And words and gestures abound that make one think of the divine presence in the signs of Jesus that allude to the strengthening of faith in his followers.
That is why it can be admitted that there is only some indirect evidence in Scripture that Christ constituted a different sacrament from Baptism.
Some reference is even found in the Old Testament. The Prophets foretold that the Spirit of God would be poured out over the entire roundness of the earth, as a sign of the messianic age of salvation. (Joel 2. 28, Is. 44. 3-5; Ez. 39. 29) And in the Gospels it is reflected with more precision that Jesus promised his Apostles the arrival of the power of the Spirit: Jn. 14. 16 and 26; 16. 7; Lc. 24. 49; done fifteen). It is even said that the Spirit would encompass all the followers of the Apostles: Jn. 7. 38.
On the day of Pentecost that promise was abundantly fulfilled in all those present: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit; and they began to speak in strange tongues, as the Holy Spirit moved them to express themselves.” (Acts 2. 4)
Later it is stated that the Apostles themselves transferred it to the other disciples who were added. And they did it, above all, with the laying on of hands, even to those who had already been baptized and were already members of the community of followers: “When the Apostles, who were in Jerusalem, heard how Samaria had received the word of God sent Peter and John there, who, going down, prayed over them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit, since it had not yet come on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8. 14)
Saint Paul laid hands on newly baptized followers; and “as Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came down on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” (Acts 19. 6)
1. 2. Proof of Tradition
The sacramentality of Confirmation was not always equally interpreted by Christians. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands could be explained in various ways without alluding to a “sacrament” similar to Baptism.
And, if the interpretation of the Tradition of the Church had not been maintained, on its existence, it would not have been a sign of a concrete sacramental institution. But the historical reality is that the Church understood that presence as the result of a sensitive gesture and it is necessary to recognize its argumentative force and accept the sacramentality that, by divine will, Confirmation possesses.
Santo Tomás was the one who most highlighted that permanent teaching of the Church as an argument. He taught that Christ instituted the sacrament of Confirmation, (“non exhibiting, sed promittendo”), “not making a gesture of his own like that of Baptism, but promising to send the Holy Spirit” and giving his Apostles the ability to confer it on other followers . (Sum Th. III 72. 1 ad 1).
Tertullian had already explained it ten centuries before Sto. Tomás: “We have not received the Holy Spirit in the water, but rather in the water… we purify ourselves and prepare ourselves to receive him later… That is why, when we leave the baptismal bath, we are anointed with a sacred anointing… Hands are laid, calling and inviting the Holy Spirit through a blessing.” (From Baptism 6 and 7)
And St. Cipriano (+ 258) commented in this sense: “Among us it happens that those who have been baptized in the Church are led to those who preside over the Church and, by our prayer and our imposition of hands, they receive the Holy Spirit and they are consummated by the seal of the Lord.” (Epist. 73. 9)
2. The sensitive sign
The sensitive sign of Confirmation is the double gesture of anointing with chrism and the imposition of hands, claiming the fullness of the Spirit on the confirmand.
The accompanying words are the invocation of the Holy Spirit with the invocation on that divine coming. The Catholic ritual of the Liturgy of Confirmation states: “Receive by this sign the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
2.1. The matter
There is no dogmatic definition of the Church on the matter or essential sensitive element of the sacrament of Confirmation. Theologians’ opinions are divided on this and so is liturgical practice:
– Some, invoking the testimony of Scripture (Acts 8. 17; 19. 6; Hebr. 6. 2), defend that the gesture of Confirmation is strictly the imposition of hands by the minister.
– Others, on the contrary, claim the anointing of holy chrism as important and offer in its favor some traditional explanations of the Church, such as the so-called Decree of the Armenians of Eugene IV of November 22, 1439 (Denz. 697), where it is made explicit that the sign is the anointing. The expressions of the Council of Trent (Denz. 872), the Roman Catechism, called S. Pius V (II 3, 7), and the tradition of the Greek Church that emphasizes the anointing and not the imposition of hands.
– And there are those who suspect that the two elements, as sensible gestures, are the signs themselves; and that, even, either of the two separately is enough to signify the divine grace that is granted. Be that as it may, the important thing is that there is a sacrament, precisely because there is a sensible sign and because it responds to the divine plan of conferring a grace of fullness and a singular link to the divine Spirit.
It can be considered as common teaching of the Church that the sign is in the union of both acts or gestures, in an inclusive rather than superimposed way. Some ancient historical facts can be invoked in favor of this opinion, such as the formula of faith imposed on Michael Palaiologos at the Council of Lyons in 1245; it lists the laying on of hands and the anointing with holy chrism as an element of the rite of confirmation. (Denz. 450)
In recent times, the duality of the sign is reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, although the gesture of anointing is highlighted (No. 1290 and 1293): “The Bishop extends his hands over the confirmands, a gesture that since the time of the Apostles it is the sign of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then follows the essential rite, which is the anointing of holy chrism, done by laying on the hand and saying the words: “Receive by this sign the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (#1300)
2.2. The shape
The words of Confirmation are those that accompany the imposition of hands and the anointing of holy chrism. And they collect the intention of the Minister to confer strength in faith, by invoking the Holy Spirit.
In the Latin liturgy this double expression is said: “Receive by this sign the gift of the Holy Spirit”. To then add: “N…, I sign you with this sign of the cross and I confirm you with the holy chrism in the Name of the Father, of the Son and of the Spirit…