Confirmation in Scripture

Read the Catechism in a Year

Catechism in a Year: Day 175

Part Two: How We Celebrate the Christian Mysteries
- Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church
-- Chapter One: The Sacraments of Initiation -- CONFIRMATION

Question 204: What does Sacred Scripture say about the sacrament of Confirmation?

In the Old Testament, the People of God expected the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Messiah. Jesus lived his life in a special Spirit of love and of perfect unity with his Father in heaven. This Spirit of Jesus was the “Holy Spirit” for whom the people of Israel longed; this was the same Spirit whom Jesus promised to his disciples, the same Spirit who descended upon the disciples fifty days after Easter, on the feast of Pentecost. And it is again this same Holy Spirit of Jesus who descends upon everyone who receives the sacrament of Confirmation.

In the Acts of the Apostles, which were written a few decades after the death of Jesus, we see Peter and John traveling about to confirm new Christians by imposing hands on those who previously “had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus”, so that their hearts might be filled with the Holy Spirit.   

Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (1292-1301) and other references here.

Recommended Reading: What Catholics Really Believe by Karl Keating