The Meaning of βαπτίζειν in Greek, Jewish, and Patristic Literature 5 or sprinkle water upon, as a means of ceremonial purification, or in token of initiation into a religious society, especially into the Christian Church”.6 What these dictionary definitions do not show is the particular under- standing of the term ‘to baptize’ that modern readers of the New Testa- ment assume who belong to the Roman Catholic church or to Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, or Pentecostal churches. The problems inherent in translating βαπτίζειν with ‘to baptize’ can be seen in the discussion of the use of βαπτίζειν in Acts 1:5 in a handbook for Bible translators: “The verb baptize may require a direct object, that is, ‘John baptized people with water’ ... Some translators have objected to using the same term for ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ and ‘baptism with water’. For ‘baptism with water’ they may have some such expression as ‘to enter the water’ or ‘to receive water on the head’; while for ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ they have ‘for the Holy Spirit to enter people’. Not to employ parallelism in these two expressions is, however, unfortunate. One can usually employ some sort of related structure, for example, ‘to cause water to come upon’ and ‘to cause the Holy Spirit to come upon’”.7 While the authors recognize the problem of translating βαπτίζειν in contexts that mention a physical substance such as water, and in other contexts where a physical substance is not present, they do not address the meaning of the Greek term. The suggestion that the verb could be translated with ″to receive water on the head⁇ is not informed by the use of the Greek term in Greek and Jewish texts but by baptismal practices in Christian churches. Another example for the lack of interest in the meaning of the Greek term and the (implicit) assumption that βαπτίζειν is a technical term can be found in comments on Mt. 3:1 in another handbook for trans- lators: “Some translators have treated Baptist as a proper name, and simply written it as it would be pronounced in their language. Oth- ers have tried to translate it as ‘the one who baptizes’ or ‘the one they called the Baptizer’. Such translations depend on how ‘baptize’ itself is translated, and this can be a major problem. In many cultures baptism is completely unknown. Where it has been introduced by the churches, different denominations have often disagreed on method and theological implications, and have even introduced these differences into the terms they have used to translate; for example, ‘sprinkling’, or ‘immersing’. To avoid these problems, translators have either borrowed the Greek word 6 Oxford English Dictionary Online, Second Edition 1989. 7 Barclay M. Newman and Eugene Nida, A Translators Handbook on the Acts of the Apostles (UBS Handbook Series; New York: United Bible Societies, 1972), p. 15.