After church on Sunday, Stan asked if I knew why the KJV translated baptizō as “baptize” rather than “immerse.” I knew that they had transliterated the Greek word rather translating it to show its meaning. But I did not know why.
He said that King James and the Church of England believed in infant baptism by sprinkling rather than by immersion. Hence the requirement.
I decided to look this up.
It turns out that the KJV translators were given fifteen strict rules by Bishop Richard Bancroft. Rule #3 stated:
The Old Ecclesiastical Words to be kept, viz. the Word Church not to be translated Congregation etc.
I did not know anything about the fifteen rules or about old ecclesiastical words. Thanks, Stan, for getting me to investigate this.
It turns out that the King and his advisors did not want ecclesia to be translated as “assembly” or “congregation,” since they favored a system in which local assemblies were not autonomous. I found this fact more significant than rendering baptizō as “baptize.”
Stan was right. Two of the “old ecclesiastical words” were baptize and baptism. So those words were kept because they were used in previous English translations, including Wycliffe’s, Tyndale’s, and the Geneva Bible.
Ironically, it turns out that at that time, King James and the Church of England believed in baptism by immersion, even for infants. Only weak or sickly infants were sprinkled. Most were immersed.
I discovered several leading books that discuss the history of the fifteen rules the translators were given.i Here are some of the most popular:
- God’s Secretaries: Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson.
- A Textual History of the King James Bible by David Norton.
- In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture by Alister McGrath.
I wondered what other words were considered “old ecclesiastical words.” Here is a partial list:
- Church vs congregation/assembly.
- Baptize/baptism vs Immerse/immersion.
- Bishop vs overseer (translation of episkopos).ii
- Charity vs love.
You might want to research this topic yourself since all English translations have been influenced by the KJV.
Keep grace in focus, and you will love God’s Word since it is His communication to us.
