Quick Definition
βάπτισμα, ατος, τό n.n. the rite or ceremony of baptism
Strong's Definition
from 907; baptism (technically or figuratively)
KJV Usage: baptism
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, n. | -τος | βάπτω
53.41 · Religious Activities · Baptize
to baptize, baptism to employ water in a religious ceremony designed to symbolize purification and initiation on the basis of repentance 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.
MAT 3:7 · MAT 21:25 · MRK 1:4 · MRK 10:38 · MRK 10:39 · MRK 11:30 · LUK 3:3 · LUK 7:29 · LUK 12:50 · LUK 20:4 · ACT 1:22 · ACT 10:37 · ACT 13:24 · ACT 18:25 · ACT 19:3 · ACT 19:4 · ROM 6:4 · EPH 4:5 · 1PE 3:21
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
βάπτισμα. -ros, τό, (βαπτίζων, a word peculiar to N. T. and eccl. writ., immersion, submersion ; 1. used trop. of calamities and afflictions with which one is quite overwhelmed : Mt. xx. 22 sq. Rec.; Mk. x. 38 sq.; Lk. xii. 50, (see βαπτίζω. I. 3). 2. of John’s baptism, that purificatory rite by which men on confessing their sins were bound to a spiritual reformation, obtained the par-
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
βάπτισμα baptisma 19x
pr. immersion; baptism, ordinance of baptism, Mt. 3:7; Rom. 6:4; met. baptism in the trial of suffering, Mt. 20:22, 23; Mk. 10:38, 39
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
*† βάπτισμα, -τος, τό
(< βαπτίζω) , prop., the result of the act, τὸ βαπτίζειν, as distinct from βαπτισμός, the act itself,
immersion, baptism; metaph., of affliction: Mk 10:38, 39, Lk 12:50.
Of the religious rite of baptism; of John's baptism: Mt 3:7 21:25, Mk 11:30, Lk 7:29 20:4, Ac 1:22 10:37 18:25 19:3; β. μετανοίας, Mk 1:4, Lk 3:3, Ac 13:24 19:4;
of Christian baptism; Ro 6:4, Eph 4:5, Col 2:12 (Tr., -μῷ, q.v.), I Pe 3:21 (cf. Cremer, 130; Tr., Syn. § xcix).†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
βάπτισμα. The word is restored by the editor in the new fragment of an uncanonical Gospel, P Oxy X.1224, Fr. 2 verso +4 (iv/A.p.) τί β]ά[πτισμ]α καινὸν [κηρύσσειν (sc. φασὶν) ‘*what is the new baptism that they say thou dost preach?” —where for B. κηρύσσειν he compares Mk 14, and for the likelihood of questions concerning a ‘‘ new baptism,” Jn 41". That the noun is “ peculiar to NT and eccl. writ.” (Grimm) is of coarse natural: the new use to which the verb was put as a ¢erm. techn, demanded a corresponding noun. The same may be said of βαπτισμός and βαπτιστής, which only occur certainly in Josephus’s account of John the Baptist : see further 5.7. βαπτισμός.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
βάπτισμα (baptisma) — baptism. βάπτ-ισμα, ατος, τό, baptism, [NT]