John the Baptist or Baptizer

[tonychanyt]

English Standard Version, Mat 3:

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Thayer's Greek Lexicon:

STRONGS NT 910: βαπτιστής
a baptizer; one who administers the rite of baptism;

I think World English Bible translation here is better:

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,

In today's English, the word "Baptist" is loaded. To stay more neutral, I would go with "Baptizer".

 

[All Becomes New]

I hold that the correct rendering is "John the Immerser" rather than Baptist or Baptizer.

 

[Der Alte]

English Standard Version, Mat 3:
Thayer's Greek Lexicon:
I think World English Bible translation here is better:
In today's English, the word "Baptist" is loaded. To stay more neutral, I would go with "Baptizer".

The definition of Baptistes from the Bauer, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich which represents 120-160 years of combined scholarship.

βαπτιστής, οῦ, ὁ Baptist, Baptizer, surname of John Mt 3:1; 11:11f; 14:2, 8; 16:14; 17:13; Mk 6:25 (in vs. 24 ὁ βαπτίζων); 8:28; Lk 7:20, 33; 9:19 (found only in Christian writers [Just., D. 50, 2; 84, 4; name of a Hebraic sect Just., D. 80, 4, but, argues J., not to be identified w. Ἰουδαῖοι], except for Jos., Ant. 18, 116, where it refers to J. Bapt. But cp. Epict. 2, 9, 21 ἡμεῖς παραβαπτισταί).
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 165.​