TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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his baptism to the experience of Christians. Some members of the primitive church appear to hold a connection between Spirit-anointing and ecstatic utterances. Some Scripture passages make it clear that the gift of the Spirit following baptism is linked to the historical tradition in Judaism of anointing with aromatic oil. 5 The reception of the "mark" or "seal" of the Holy Spirit following baptism became an important motif for the congregations influenced by Paul. The apostle writes in Eph. 1:13: "When you. . .had believed, [you] marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit." Thus Fuller thinks: The connection of the sealing with baptism is therefore unmistakable. In baptism, as by an instrument, thefaithful receive the mark of God, the stamp of his eschatological worship? As the Pentecostal experience came under increasing scrutiny and finally under ecclesiastical control, the imposition of hands with prayers for the coming of the Spirit and the use of anointing oil gained liturgical favor. Toward the end of the century, the writer of I John indirectly indicates the prominence of chrism: As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him. (I John 2:27) Biblical evidence indicates that the New Testament Church probably knew nothing of two separate rites. While there was no universal sequential uniformity, a unified initiation rite included some reflection of the two-fold threshold of Jesus' baptism: 1) water baptism, probably by immersion as indicated by the paschal language of Paul; 7 and 2) any or all of anointing, sealing, and laying-on-of-hands with prayers for the gift and power of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote instructing the faithful at Corinth to remember the benefits of this unified rite: "You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (I Cor. 6:11). The integration and then the disintegration of these two in foci in Christian sacramental liturgy is a fascinating story. The historical picture is essential for the United Methodist Church to understand 24 QUARTERLY REVIEW/SPRING 1993
the complex interrelationship between the belief and action that informs the rite of Confirmation today. Chrismation Validated by Jesus' experience at the Jordan River, a regularized form of Christian initiation developed along these lines: Evangelistic witness; Instruction of converts; 8 Water Baptism; Chrismation (anointing with oil); Laying on hands with prayers for the gift of the Holy Spirit; and First Eucharist (the Thanksgiving meal of Holy Communion). 9 The apostolic church called the act of water-washing "baptism" and the act of spirit-anointing "chrismation." The word "chrismation" comes from the Greek word chrism and reminded new believers of the anointing of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The chrism, or anointing, of Jesus made him the Christos, the Christ, the Anointed One. Documents from the second century show that the early church united the practice of baptism, chrismation, and first communion as a single rite of initiation in the Body of Christ, both for adults and for infants. 10 Evidence for the unity of the rite is well documented. 11 Tertullian, for example, around 200 C.E., attested to the three parts of one Christian initiation. In de Baptismo (Viand VIII), he wrote: Not that we obtain the Holy Spirit in the water, but being cleansed in the water, under the Angel, we are prepared for the Holy Spirit (VI). After this, having come out from the bath, we are anointed thoroughly with a blessed unction, according to the ancient rule, by which we were wont to be anointed for the priesthood with oil out of a horn. Wherefore Aaron was anointed by Moses; whence Christ is namedfrom Chrism, which is ' 'anointing,'' which, being made spiritual, furnished a name for the Lord, because he was anointed with the Spirit of God the Father: as it is said in the acts....Next to this, the hand is laid upon us, calling upon and inviting the Holy Spirit, through the blessing.... Then that most CONFIRMATION: IT S HISTORY AND MEANING 25
Page 1 and 2: Quarterly Review/Spring 1993 55.00
Page 3 and 4: Quarterly Review A Journal of Theol
Page 5: VOL. 13, NO. 1 SPRING 1993 Contents
Page 8 and 9: I have always rather liked the gruf
Page 10 and 11: of discipleship in the New Testamen
Page 12 and 13: imagine a week without visiting the
Page 14 and 15: transform all of life, and all that
Page 16 and 17: Contemporary North American Christi
Page 18 and 19: We must now see what it is that cha
Page 20 and 21: saying "call no one your father in
Page 22 and 23: 13:12). There is no following of Je
Page 24 and 25: Both New Testament discipleship and
Page 26 and 27: 17. "The Duty of Constant Communion
Page 28 and 29: earliest Christian congregations be
Page 32 and 33: Holy Spirit comes down willingly fr
Page 34 and 35: The Sacramental Nature of the Bapti
Page 36 and 37: to save them from "the wrath to com
Page 38 and 39: aptism—for mature youth and adult
Page 40 and 41: purpose of a rite of maturity is to
Page 42 and 43: church, namely, thatbaptism-chrisma
Page 44 and 45: 31. John Wesley, Works, X: 151. 32.
Page 46 and 47: In Baptismal Covenant I, in the "In
Page 48 and 49: of God without being born of water
Page 50 and 51: they urged a stronger claim for a p
Page 52 and 53: After analyzing how American Method
Page 54 and 55: eferred to as "a symbol of an inner
Page 56 and 57: of baptism is "the washing away the
Page 58 and 59: Although there is only scant likeli
Page 60 and 61: ut the inner man, where we have put
Page 62 and 63: Notes 1. Lawrence Hull Stookey, "Th
Page 64 and 65: 44. Borgen, 159f.; Stein, 319, f, 1
Page 66 and 67: I am not a liturgical scholar or pr
Page 68 and 69: ounden duty...to consecrate our chi
Page 70 and 71: formed in the gospel not only by le
Page 72 and 73: life, for one could always lose gra
Page 74 and 75: However, I have focused on human ac
Page 76 and 77: Osborne, Kenan B. The Christian Sac
Page 78 and 79: It was raining pretty hard one Satu
Page 80 and 81:
the same time a young man came to s
Page 82 and 83:
theologically unpacked. A pastoral
Page 84 and 85:
Elizabeth Achtemeier's Preaching fr
Page 86 and 87:
prophets by the traditions of ancie
Page 88 and 89:
eading; it seems as if one is heari
Page 90 and 91:
Brueggemann's discussion of royal v
Page 92 and 93:
limitations, even in quite valuable
Page 95 and 96:
M. Eugene Boring Interpreting 1 Pet
Page 97 and 98:
particular way. The particularity o
Page 99 and 100:
in the capital of the empire felt m
Page 101 and 102:
location but about the way we relat
Page 103 and 104:
answer: Read. Interpret. Examine. B
Page 105 and 106:
in liturgical settings. Yet all of
Page 107 and 108:
word accomplished by Jesus, who cal
Page 109 and 110:
community that does what priests do
Page 111 and 112:
kings, slavery as a divinely author
Page 113 and 114:
wives and husbands. To each it migh
Page 115 and 116:
etained some of the oral style appr
Page 117 and 118:
Brox, Norbert. Der erste Petrusbrie
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TJieodore W. Jennings, Jr. The Meaning of ... - Quarterly Review

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