Matthew 3:6

3:6 and he was baptizing them ¹  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

Mark 1:4

1:4 In the wilderness ²  John the baptizer ³  began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ 

Mark 1:8

1:8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Luke 3:3

3:3 He ⁵  went into all the region around the Jordan River, ⁶  preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁷ 

Luke 3:16

3:16 John answered them all, ⁸  “I baptize you with water, ⁹  but one more powerful than I am is coming – I am not worthy ¹⁰  to untie the strap ¹¹  of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² 

John 1:26

1:26 John answered them, ¹³  “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, ¹⁴ 

John 1:33

1:33 And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining – this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

Acts 1:5

1:5 For ¹⁵  John baptized with water, but you ¹⁶  will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 11:16

11:16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, ¹⁷  as he used to say, ¹⁸  ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁹ 

Acts 13:24

13:24 Before ²⁰  Jesus ²¹  arrived, John ²²  had proclaimed a baptism for repentance ²³  to all the people of Israel.

Acts 19:4

19:4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, ²⁴  that is, in Jesus.”

[3:6]  ¹ tn Grk “they were being baptized by him.” The passive construction has been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

[1:4]  ² tn Or “desert.”

[1:4]  ³ tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “[the] Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark prefers the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (only twice does he use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

[1:4]  ⁴ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it.

[3:3]  ⁵ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:3]  ⁶ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:3]  ⁷ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it (Luke 3:10-14).

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Grk “answered them all, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[3:16]  ⁹ tc A few mss (C D 892 1424 pc it ) add εἰς μετάνοιαν (ei" metanoian, “for repentance”). Although two of the mss in support are early and important, it is an obviously motivated reading to add clarification, probably representing a copyist’s attempt to harmonize Luke’s version with Matt 3:11.

[3:16]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

[3:16]  ¹¹ tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.

[3:16]  ¹² sn With the Holy Spirit and fire. There are differing interpretations for this phrase regarding the number of baptisms and their nature. (1) Some see one baptism here, and this can be divided further into two options. (a) The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire could refer to the cleansing, purifying work of the Spirit in the individual believer through salvation and sanctification, or (b) it could refer to two different results of Christ’s ministry: Some accept Christ and are baptized with the Holy Spirit, but some reject him and receive judgment. (2) Other interpreters see two baptisms here: The baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the salvation Jesus brings at his first advent, in which believers receive the Holy Spirit, and the baptism of fire refers to the judgment Jesus will bring upon the world at his second coming. One must take into account both the image of fire and whether individual or corporate baptism is in view. A decision is not easy on either issue. The image of fire is used to refer to both eternal judgment (e.g., Matt 25:41) and the power of the Lord’s presence to purge and cleanse his people (e.g., Isa 4:4-5). The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, a fulfillment of this prophecy no matter which interpretation is taken, had both individual and corporate dimensions. It is possible that since Holy Spirit and fire are governed by a single preposition in Greek, the one-baptism view may be more likely, but this is not certain. Simply put, there is no consensus view in scholarship at this time on the best interpretation of this passage.

[1:26]  ¹³ tn Grk “answered them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[1:26]  ¹⁴ tn Or “know.”

[1:5]  ¹⁵ tn In the Greek text v. 5 is a continuation of the previous sentence, which is long and complicated. In keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn The pronoun is plural in Greek.

[11:16]  ¹⁷ sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; here and in Luke 22:61, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

[11:16]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect verb ἔλεγεν (elegen) is taken as a customary imperfect.

[11:16]  ¹⁹ sn John…Spirit. This remark repeats Acts 1:5.

[13:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “John having already proclaimed before his coming a baptism…,” a genitive absolute construction which is awkward in English. A new sentence was begun in the translation at this point.

[13:24]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the context for clarity, since God is mentioned in the preceding context and John the Baptist in the following clause.

[13:24]  ²² sn John refers here to John the Baptist.

[13:24]  ²³ tn Grk “a baptism of repentance”; the genitive has been translated as a genitive of purpose.

[19:4]  ²⁴ sn These disciples may have had their contact with John early on in the Baptist’s ministry before Jesus had emerged. This is the fifth time Luke links John the Baptist and Jesus (Acts 1:5; 11:16; 13:25; 18:25).