Recently, on social media, the question was asked, ‘Does the Greek word βαπτίζω (baptizō) always mean “immerse” in the New Testament?’
In thinking this through, one needs to take care not simply about the Greek, but also about the English words being used. “Immersion” is often used when what is meant is “submersion” (when the whole body of the person goes under the water). “Immersion” actually refers to the act of putting somebody/something into a liquid. Submersion is regularly called “full immersion”. [Submersion always involves immersion; immersion does not always involve submersion. The picture (above) is of immersion but not submersion].
Christians administer baptism by submersion, immersion, affusion (pouring of water), and aspersion (sprinkling of water).
The Liddell, Scott, Jones Ancient Greek Lexicon (perhaps the best known Ancient Greek-English dictionary) has βαπτίζω as meaning dip, plunge, perform ablutions, to dip in or under water, immerse, sink, wash,…
For those not agile with another language, confusion can result in consulting a dictionary and taking only the first definition that appears. Examples: “cleave” – the first and primary meaning is to split or sever, but that is not what is meant in “a man shall cleave to his wife”; “oversight” – the first and primary meaning is to supervise, but that is not what is meant in “due to an oversight, data was lost”; “dust” – the first and primary meaning is to remove dust from something, but that is not what is meant in “dust the cake with cocoa powder”.
The correct response to ‘Does the Greek word βαπτίζω (baptizō) always mean “immerse” in the New Testament?’ is No. And I think the best example of such a usage is Luke 11:38:
The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner.
ὁ δὲ Φαρισαῖος ἰδὼν ἐθαύμασεν ὅτι οὐ πρῶτον ἐβαπτίσθη πρὸ τοῦ ἀρίστου.
In this verse, ἐβαπτίσθη is the 3rd Person Singular Aorist Imperfect Present of βαπτίζω. And I know of no one who argues that the Pharisee’s expectation was that before every meal a person would be fully immersed, would be submerged. No – βαπτίζω clearly can mean that only a part of one’s body comes into contact with water.
The original poster of the question gave no response – which began to give the impression that this wasn’t a genuine question seeking an open discussion; the question increasingly looked rhetorical, rage-baiting even. But others did join the discussion.
Mark 7:4 has another occurrence of βαπτίζω.
and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash [βαπτίσωνται], and there are also many other traditions that they observe: the washing [βαπτισμοὺς] of cups and pots and bronze kettles and beds [κλινῶν – couches for dining].
Our image for washing cups and pots and bronze kettles may be of submersing things in a sink, but, even nowadays, my experience of Middle-Eastern/Desert cleaning is of pouring a little bit of water onto something, saving water, rather than submersing something into a large vessel of water and the next object being submersed into the now-already-dirtied water. Certainly, when it comes to couches for dining (remember they reclined at meals), there’s no question of submersing them!
Hebrews 9:10 refers to “various βαπτισμοί” in Jewish law – referencing the pouring of Num 19:13 & Lev 14:7; etc.
The Didache, written around the same time as other New Testament documents, has ἐκχέω “pour out” as a form of βαπτίσματος/βαπτίσατε. That the other ways (we can debate if they mean submersion or immersion) are preferred is not a denial of affusion clearly being understood as βαπτίζω.
Even with all this demonstration that βαπτίζω can involve submersion but does not always mean submersion, one person thought they had a gotcha moment with the story of Philip baptising the eunuch (Acts 8:38-39). They “went down (κατέβησαν) into the water” and “came up (ἀνέβησαν) out of the water”. Sure, this may describe submersion (I repeat – yet again – βαπτίζω can be used for submersion, but not all uses of βαπτίζω imply submersion), but Luke doesn’t tell us how far they went into the water nor how deep it was because it is not important.
In the course of the online “discussion”, someone pointed to a YouTube video which drew extensively on the use of this Greek term in the Greek version of the First Testament (Septuagint LXX). This is particularly significant because the scriptures quoted in the New Testament tend to be the Septuagint (rather than the Hebrew Bible).
The video highlights places where βαπτίζω (and its cognates) could not mean submersion: Ex 12:22; Lev 4:17; 11:32; 14:6; 14:51; Number 19:18; Ruth 2:14; 1 Sam 14:27; Ps 68:23; Dan 4:33; 5:21; Mk 10:38; Lk 12:50; Mk 1:8; Mk 7:4; Lk 11:38; 1 Cor 10:2; Her 9:10; 9:12; 9:13; 9:19; 9:21; Rev 19:12-14. Here is the video:
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