Eckhard Schnabel, «The Meaning of Baptizein in Greek, Jewish, and Patristic Literature.» filologia-neotestamentaria, Vol. 24 (2011) 3-40 page 22

Vol 24 (2011)

Eckhard Schnabel, «The Meaning of Baptizein in Greek, Jewish, and Patristic Literature.», Vol. 24 (2011) 3-40

The treatment of the Greek term Baptizein in the standard English lexicons is unsystematic. The use of the English term ‘to baptize’ for the Greek term Baptizein in English versions of the New Testament is predicated on the assumption that the Greek verb has a technical meaning which warrants the use of a transliteration. Since the first fact is deplorable and the second fact is unsatisfactory, an investigation into the meaning of the Greek term in Greek, Jewish, and patristic literary and documentary texts is called for in order to define the meaning of the term in classical and Hellenistic Greek with more precision than usually encountered in New Testament research, with a view to construct a more helpful lexicon entry for Baptizein.

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22 Eckhard J. Schnabel βαπτιζόμενοι καὶ καταδύνοντες ἐν τοῖς τέλμασιν ἄχρηστοι μὲν ἦσαν ἅπαντες, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ διεφθάρησαν αὐτῶν (“On approaching Xenoetas’ force, unfamiliar as they were with the country, they had no need of any effort on the part of the enemy, but plunging or sinking55 by the impetus of their own advance into the pools and swamps were all rendered useless, while not a few perished”; W. R. Paton) (III). Septuagint, Exod. 12:22: λήμψεσθε δὲ δεσμὴν ὑσσώπου καὶ βάψαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ παρὰ τὴν θύραν καθίξετε τῆς φλιᾶς καὶ ἐπ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν σταθμῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος (“And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dipping from the blood by the door, you shall also touch the lintel and on both doorposts, from the blood that is by the door”; L. J. Perkins) (III/II) (cf. sense 1c).56 Septuagint, Lev. 4:17: καὶ βάψει ὁ ἱερεὺς τὸν δάκτυλον ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ μόσχου καὶ ῥανεῖ ἑπτάκις ἔναντι κυρίου κατενώπιον τοῦ καταπετάσματος τοῦ ἁγίου (“and the priest shall dip is finger into some of the blood of the bull calf and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the holy veil”; D. L. Büchner) (III/ II) (cf. sense 1c).57 Septuagint, Josh. 3:15: ὡς δὲ εἰσεπορεύοντο οἱ ἱερεῖς οἱ αἴροντες τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης ἐπὶ τὸν Ιορδάνην καὶ οἱ πόδες τῶν ἱερέων τῶν αἰρόντων τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης κυρίου ἐβάφησαν εἰς μέρος τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ Ιορδάνου (“Now when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant were entering the Jordan and the feet of the priests who bore th ark of the covenant of the Lord were dipped in part of the water of the Jordan”; L. J. Greenspoon) (III/II). Septuagint, 2 Kgs. 5:10, 14: καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Ελισαιε ἄγγελον πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγων Πορευθεὶς λοῦσαι ἑπτάκις ἐν τῷ Ιορδάνῃ, καὶ ἐπιστρέψει ἡ σάρξ σού σοι, καὶ καθαρισθήσῃ . . . καὶ κατέβη Ναιμαν καὶ ἐβαπτίσατο ἐν τῷ Ιορδάνῃ ἑπτάκι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα Ελισαιε, καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ ὡς σὰρξ παιδαρίου μικροῦ, καὶ 55 The use of the verb καταδύω (‘sink’) parallel to βαπτίζω (‘plunge’) confirms that βαπτίζω retains its meaining of ‘plunge, immerse’ in contexts when people ‘sink,’ i.e. drown. 56 LXX translations are from Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, eds., A New English Translation of the Septuagint and the Other Greek Translations Traditionally Included unter that Title (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). The LXX translators generally use βάπτω and βαπτίζω for the Hebrew term lbf which means ‘1. to dip some- thing into, to immerse somebody; 2. to dive, plunge’ (Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner, Johann Jakob Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament [Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000], p. 368; E. A. Martens, in VanGemeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, 2.337: ‘to immerse’). 57 Ferguson, Baptism, p. 46, draws attention to the fact that the Greek translator dis- tinguishes between ‘dipping’ and ‘sprinkling’; see also Lev 4:6; 14:6-7, 51; Num 19:18, with different Greek terms for ‘sprinkling.’