Greek word - (baptizo G907)
Quiz - Choose the answer that is closest to what you think BAPTIZE is.
A - to administer baptism
B - to wash
C - to submerge
D - to sprinkle
Problem - Transliteration, Misused
KJV Example - "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mark 1:8).
Explanation
Baptize is a transliteration of the Greek word, baptizo. Baptizo means to put under water, to immerse, to submerge. Even though many Christians disagree with this, the Greek dictionaries agree.
Baptism (baptisma) is the noun form of baptize. Even though John the Baptist invented baptism as we know it today, he got the idea from a Jewish practice that is also called baptisma in Greek. In this practice, the Jews and especially the Pharisees submerged things under water to make them clean.
This is seen in John 3:25-26 when John the Baptist's disciples were having an argument with the Jews about cleansing. What were they arguing about? Baptism.
When the Pharisees came home from the marketplace, they submerged themselves under water to clean themselves before they ate (Mark 7:4). They also required items being washed to be submerged (Mark 7:4).
Jesus was once criticized because He did not submerge himself under water before He ate (Luke 11:38).
In these two verses, baptizo is translated as wash and not baptize. Baptizo does not mean wash (there is a different Greek word for that, nipto G3538). And as these verses show, it is also something other than baptism. It is submerging something under water.
The English word, baptize, adds a religious aspect to baptizo that does not exist in the Greek word itself.
In the Bible, baptize is submerge.
Modern Synonym - to submerge
Bible Version Tally (how other versions translate this word) - baptize (47 of 50), immerse (1 of 50)
Breakthrough Version - "I submerged you with water, but He will submerge you in the Sacred Spirit." (Mark 1:8).