An Apologetical Explanation of

Confirmation in Scripture

What is the scriptural basis for the Sacrament of Confirmation?

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for the Spirit had not yet fallen on any of them, but 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 8:14-17)

Confirmation is rooted in the descent of the Holy Spirit and the Apostles’ practice of the “laying on of hands” as part of the initiation of the newly baptized.

Following the events of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, we read about Baptism being followed by a laying on of hands to confer the Holy Spirit.  The Sacrament of Confirmation finds its origin in this apostolic practice, as Pope Paul VI noted:

The Apostles—following the will of Christ—communicated to the newly baptized Christians the gift of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands.  This gift was to complete the grace of Baptism (cf. Acts 8:15-17; 19:5-6).  This explains why, in the letter to the Hebrews (cf. Heb 6:2), the doctrine on Baptism and the laying on the hands is mentioned among the first elements of Christian formation.  The imposition of hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic tradition as the origin of the sacrament of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church.”  (Paul VI, Apostolic constitution Divinæ Consortium Naturæ: AAS 63 [1971] 659)

While the New Testament refers to the Sacrament as the “laying on of hands,” the early Church added an anointing of perfumed oil—known as Sacred Chrism, or Myron in the Eastern Churches—to the imposition of hands to signify better the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  Anointing with Sacred Chrism strongly illustrates the name Christian, a follower of Christ, the “Anointed One” (cf. CCC 1289).  For this reason, in the Eastern Churches this Sacrament is known as Chrismation.

In the Western Church, however, the Sacrament is known as Confirmation, which was first used by St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397) to describe to a group of newly confirmed Christians the significance of the Sacrament they had received:

You have received the spiritual sign, the sign of wisdom; God the Father has sealed you, Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has given you the gift of the Spirit in your heart.  (St. Ambrose, De Mysteriis, 7.42)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraph 1288.

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