UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: to baptize, baptism

Semantic entry: 53.41

Semantic domains: Religious Activities

Subdomains: Baptize

Definition: to employ water in a religious ceremony designed to symbolize purification and initiation on the basis of repentance

Notes: According to the Didache (early second century) different forms of baptism were practiced in the early church, but with evident preference given to immersion.|The baptism practiced by John the Baptist would seem to reflect far more the Jewish pattern of ritual washing than the type of baptism employed by Christians, which constituted a symbol of initiation into the Christian community on the basis of belief in and loyalty to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There seems, however, to be no reason to employ a different expression for baptism in the case of John than in the case of the early Christians. Most translators actually employ a transliterated form of the Greek term βαπτίζω, but in some languages this is both awkward as well as inappropriate, especially if another term or expression has already been employed and is widely accepted by groups practicing various types or forms of baptism. In some languages, for example, one may employ an expression such as ‘to enter the water’ or ‘to undergo the ritual involving water.’ Such expressions do not necessarily imply the quantity of water nor the particular means by which water is applied.