Confirmation

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term for confirmation, gyeonjin (堅振), means "to make firm and to encourage." It renders the Latin confirmatio ("a strengthening"). The term refers to the rite in which a person who has already received baptism publicly professes the faith, and the officiant then prays with the laying on of hands or with anointing. Its name and meaning differ from church to church. The Catholic Church regards it as one of the seven sacraments, the Sacrament of Confirmation. Most Protestants do not count it among the sacraments because they hold that Christ did not directly institute it.

Biblical and Historical Background

The passage most often cited as the basis for confirmation is Acts 8:14-17. Philip the evangelist preached the gospel in Samaria, and people there were baptized. Later, Peter and John came from Jerusalem and laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 19:6 is also cited. Churches interpret these passages in different ways.

• The Catholic and Anglican traditions regard these passages as the biblical root of confirmation.
• Pentecostalism reads them as instances of baptism in the Holy Spirit, an experience distinct from and subsequent to conversion.
• Reformed theology often interprets them as a special, one-time event that occurred when the gospel first crossed over into Samaria.

In the early church, baptism, anointing, and the laying on of hands are thought to have taken place in sequence within a single rite. In the Western church, the bishop could not easily be present at every baptism, so the laying on of hands gradually became a rite separate from baptism, and during the Middle Ages it became established as a sacrament. During the Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin did not regard confirmation as a sacrament. Nevertheless, the practice of having people profess their faith after completing catechetical instruction remained in many Protestant traditions.

Practice in Korean Churches

• Anglican Church of Korea: The rite is called the Sacrament of Confirmation and is administered by a bishop through the laying on of hands. Baptized believers receive it after completing catechetical instruction.
• Lutheran Church in Korea: The rite is practiced under the name gyeonsillye (confirmation). In it, believers who have completed catechetical instruction profess their faith.
• Presbyterian churches, the Korean Methodist Church, and others: The term confirmation is not used. The rite that serves a similar function is admission to membership, in which a person who received infant baptism personally professes the faith after growing up, becomes a full member of the church, and is admitted to Holy Communion.
• Baptists: Baptism by immersion is administered only to those who have professed faith, so there is no separate rite confirming an earlier infant baptism.