MARSHALL The Meaning of the Verb 'Baptize' 17
Neither of these views is likely or necessary. The second is rendered
impossible by the fact that to speak of being baptized with wind is
incongruous. The fact that both fire and Spirit can be regarded in liquid
terms shows that there is no difficulty about linking both simultaneously
with baptism. And, as Dunn and others have shown, the Qumran evidence
shows both that the idea of cleansing by the Spirit was familiar in the time
of John and that the linking of the Spirit with both fire and water was
made.^28 There is consequently no conceptual difficulty in the saying of
John in its 'Q' form.
Ill
One difficulty remains, however. Dunn's conclusion spoke of immersion
in a fiery TTveO|ja. But, although we have found attestation for the ideas of
a stream of fire and of the Spirit as a liquid, none of the evidence so far
adduced suggests the idea of a stream or lake of Spirit in which a person
might be immersed. On the contrary, the allusions have all been to a down-
pouring of the Spirit from above, a form of imagery which is only to be
expected when the Spirit is conceived of as coming from God. The only
reference to the Spirit as being like a stream of water is in Jn 7.38-39 and
there the metaphor is not one of immersion but of drinking. Further, in
several of the passages which we examined we saw that the stream of fire
was regarded as coming from above. This suggests to us that the idea of
immersion may not be the right one to employ with regard to the Spirit,
and opens up the possibility of a different understanding of baptism both
with the Spirit and with fire. In other words, our understanding of'baptize'
as 'dip, immerse or plunge' may stand in need of revision.
From the linguistic point of view, a broader meaning of the Greek term
is certainly possible. While the normal meaning of the verb is certainly
that of immersion in water, it also took on the metaphorical meaning of
being overwhelmed by something. Josephus uses it of Jerusalem being
brought to disaster during the Roman siege by the entry of brigands {War
4.137); in this case the metaphor is not of something being dipped into
water but rather of a stream of water overwhelming an object. Plato speaks
of people soaked in wine {Symposium 176b), and here again the thought
- Dunn, Baptism, pp. 8-10. Cf. idem, 'Spirit-and-Fire Baptism', NovT 14 (1972),
pp. 81 -92 (reprinted in The Christ and the Spirit. II. Pneumatology [Edinburgh: T. & T.
Clark, 1998], pp. 93-102); idem, 'The Birth of a Metaphor—Baptized in Spirit',
ExpTim 89 (1977-78), pp. 134-38, 173-75 (reprinted in Pneumatology, pp. 103-17).