[B-Greek] Holy Spirit and baptism (Translating Mark 1:4 and future verses)
Iver Larsen
iver at larsen.dk
Fri Nov 4 03:56:44 EST 2005
> In the future I think the best policy for me will be to cite translations of
> a verse from various well known bibles and narrowly focus my attention on a
> Greek word or phrase for which I have a question.
>
> I really don't want to get caught up in any controversy over some part of my
> own translation that to me is a side issue.
>
> I ordered the BDAG 2000 book and will get it in a few days. After I get
> aquainted with it I'm sure I will have some questions at that time.
>
> sincerely,
> Dan Gleason
I think that is a wise decision.
If I understand you correctly one question was the significance of the anarthrous EN PNEUMATI hAGIWi in Mark 1:8 (Probably carried
over from Matt 3:11, but see also Mat 1:18)
You cannot assume that a Greek anarthrous noun phrase necessarily corresponds to an indefinite noun phrase in English, such as "a
holy spirit", nor can you assume that an arthrous noun phrase in Greek necessarily corresponds to a definite noun phrase in
English, such as "the Holy Spirit". Each construction needs to be studied within the context and usage of each language, although
there is considerable overlap between Greek and English, both being Indo-European languages.
In Mark 1:8 there is a clear contrast between two different "media" for baptism: water and holy-spirit. hUDATI is also anarthrous,
because the text does not refer to a particular known body of water, but to water as water. In the same way, I think the
anarthrous PNEUMATI seeks to focus on the description of "holy spirit" as opposed to water, i.e. one is a water baptism, the other
is a holy-spirit baptism.
When the Holy Spirit is *referred to* as a known entity rather than as here *describing* the referent, it will be arthrous.
Now, how to translate that into English is an entirely different matter. Because there is only one holy spirit, i.e. The Holy
Spirit, it would give the wrong connotation in English to talk about "a holy spirit". Notice that Greek does not have an
indefinite pronoun corresponding to the English indefinite pronoun. It would not be adequate either to translate as "baptise in
holy spirit". Wrong connotation again. What we did in our Danish version was to say "God's Holy Spirit" (Guds Hellige And in
Danish) in order to indicate the focus on the description of the Holy Spirit rather than a simple reference to a known entity,
such as "The Holy Spirit" (Helliganden in Danish). There is no way that an interlinear or literal translation into English can
accurately and consistently convey the nuances of a Greek text (or a text in any other language, for that matter).
Concerning BAPTW as used in the NT, there is no English equivalent. "Immerse" may get some of the nuances, but far from all.
"Baptise" will give another set of meanings, but again, that English word does not cover exactly the meaning of the Greek verb,
and different people have quite different notions about what the English word stands for anyway. If you think of translation as
word for word transfer, you will be for ever frustrated. For IWANNHS hO BAPTIZWN, I would suggest that "John the Baptist" is
probably the best rendering in English.
Iver Larsen
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