What is the biblical foundation of the Sacrament of Confirmation?

Answer 1

Baptism is practised in all the Christian churches. Whether it is infant baptism or adult baptism, Baptism is the washing of one's sins and the sealing of one's position as a child and heir of Christ. In the Catholic Church , it is the first sacrament and it frees a person from original sin. It allows you to become a member of the Catholic Church.

The essential rite of this sacrament consists in immersing the candidate in water or pouring water over his or her head while invoking the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

AnswerWhen Christ in Matthew 28:19 said to his disciples after His Resurrection, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," He set the pattern for baptism. It was after they taught others sufficiently about him (disciple them), that the new believers were to be baptized. It was to be immersed in water, signifying what spiritually happened to a believer in Christ, having died to the old way of life, and risen to newness of life, as presented in Romans 6:3-6.

As the Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip,"See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" (Acts 8:36), Philip answered: "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (v.37). Then they went down into the water, was baptized, and came back up out of the water.

Baptism, the word being a transliteration of the Greek word, baptizo, means immersion, which is what we see the eunuch experiencing, after belief in Christ. It is to picture the new relationship with Christ, which happens upon true belief in Him as one's Savior from sin. The Jews of the day had no problem understanding the way baptism was conducted, that is immersing an individual in water. Significantly, this is what the early church practiced regarding baptism, and it also is what certain Christian groups practice today.

Noah Webster, a devout Bible-believing Christian, said in his 1828 dictionary, that the word "sacrament" means "particularly, a solemn religious ceremony enjoined by Christ, the head of the christian church, to be observed by his followers, by which their special relation to him is created, or their obligations to him renewed and ratified. Thus baptism is called a sacrament, for by it persons are separated from the world, brought into Christ's visible church, and laid under particular obligations to obey his precepts."

AnswerThe term "sacrament" literally derives from the Latin word sacramentum which mean to make sacred. A sacrament within the church context refers to a means of Grace, and is seen as the outward manifestation of inward Grace. St Augustine referred to it as "an outward and temporal [visible] sign of an inward and enduring grace." Put a little more simply, a sacrament incorporates visible symbols that display or explain an invisible work of God. In the case of the sacrament of Baptism, the water of Baptism represents the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through the one being baptised.

Churches which regard baptism as a sacrament and more than a rite of obedience are churches such as the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, some Orthodox churches and some levels of the Church of England and its equivalent in other countries (e.g. Anglican, Episcopalian). Other Protestant churches tend to avoid the use of the word "sacrament", referring instead to rites, ordinances or even just symbols.

Answer 2

The prophet St John the Baptist performed many baptisms in the River Jordan. St John also baptized Jesus Christ, as recorded in the Gospel of Luke 3:21-22.

Answer 3

The biblical foundation to the sacrament of confermation is the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).
Acts 8:17

Answer 4

There is no biblical basis for the baptism of infants. So Catholics, don't really follow The Bible.