CROSS Spirit- and Water-Baptism 125
the Fathers 'were greatly confused about the manner in which Christians
received the Spirit', and that there continued to be echoes of the older
view which located its reception in water-baptism but that this could now
be found side by side with the developing view which located the Spirit's
reception at consignation/confirmation.^12 Kelly observes that at this later
patristic period there was considerable confusion between the theology of
consignation and water-baptism as both were understood to confer the gift
of the Spirit and as uniting the believer to Christ. He then adds:
So long as the great sacrament of initiation remained an unbroken whole,
there was no serious disadvantage in this, and the confusion created no
difficulty. Once unction and the laying on of hands, however, were detached,
the problem of the precise relation of the two rites became increasingly
urgent.^13This point applies not just to the patristic period but also has relevance
to contemporary discussion of Christian initiation of which water- and
Spirit-baptism are essential parts. We will return to this later. But for now
it is sufficient to post agreement with G.W.H. Lampe that there is little
evidence that in the New Testament baptism involved or included any
other outward and visible ceremony than water-baptism and that there was
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), pp. 163-66 and passim, and E.J.
Yarnold, 'Initiation: The Fourth and Fifth Centuries', in Jones, Wainwright, Yarnold
and Bradshaw (eds.), Study of Liturgy, pp. 129-44 (139). On the development of the
relationship between Spirit- and water-baptism, see also Lampe, Seal, pp. 193-214.
- Kelly, Doctrines, pp. 430-31 and the literature there cited, which includes
Athanasius, Hilary, Jerome, John Chrysostom, Theodore and Augustine. On confirma-
tion, see pp. 432-36. See also J.D.C. Fisher, Confirmation Then and Now (ACC, 60;
London: SPCK, 1978),passim, and Yarnold, 'Fourth and Fifth Centuries', pp. 138-41. - Kelly, Doctrines, p. 435. Cf. Lampe, Seal, p. 309, who concludes: 'It is when
the rite of initiation breaks into two separate parts (as it did in the West on account of
the growth of the Church and the rise of presbyteral Baptism, the practice of baptizing
infants very soon after birth, and the reservation to the bishop of his ancient function of
signing the newly baptized with the Cross, or laying hands upon them in blessing as
they entered on their new duties and privileges) that consignation and the imposition of
hands acquire an independent significance'; and Yarnold, 'Fourth and Fifth Centuries',
p. 140: 'until confirmation became separated from baptism there was little need to
define exactly the nature of the new grace which was added by the gift of the Spirit'.
The final separation of the process of initiation, being confirmation separated from
baptism itself, Yarnold locates in the fifth century, pp. 149-50. See also his The Awe-
Inspiring Rites of Initiation: The Origins oftheRCIA (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 2nd
edn, 1994), p. 34.