DHK said:
It was called a baptism of repentance because they had to repent before they got baptized, just as every Christian does today. John himself said: Bring forth fruits meet (suitable) for repentance. In other words if he couldn't see the evidence that they had not repented he would not baptize them. Therefore the only possible interpretation of Mat.3:11 is, "baptized 'because of' (unto--eis) repentance" That is one of the many meanings of this preposition "eis."
Its quite clear that the evidence is growing in favor of my argument.
1) Nowhere, in any authoritative NT Greek lexicon, does it even hint that
eis could have the possible meaning 'because of'.
It is always into, unto, to, towards, for, among. [
source]
As Thayer puts it:
"A Preposition governing the Accusative and denoting entrance into"
Entrance into what? Remission of sins; Acts 2:38
2) The exact same grammatical construction of Acts 2:38 is founded in Matthew 26:28. The words "for the remission of sins" in Mat. 26:28 in greek are
eis aphesis hamartia and it just so happens that in Acts 2:28 these exact same greek words are again used
eis aphesis hamartia - "for the remission of sins" so when Matthew 26:28 implies "in order to recieve the forgiveness of sins" it must be the same with Acts 2:38.
3) The argument from Matthew 3:11 can easily be understood when looking at every possible definition for
eis (into, unto, to, towards, for, among).
'
Among', a literal definiton, has the meaning 'by the joint or reciprocal action of' (dictionary.com) so in Matthew 3:11 we see John baptized them with water with the joint action of repentance. Yes he did baptize them because they repented; but the word
eis doesn't ever mean 'because of'
it was used saying he baptized them with the adjoining action of repentance.
4) Another look at Matthew 26:28:
"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
The word 'for' is used two times here, but their underlying greek words are different.
'for many' is
peri polys
'for the remission of sins' is
eis aphesin hamartion (Same as in Acts 2:38)
eis definition is: into, unto, to, towards, for, among
peri definition is: about, concerning, on account of, because of, around, near
Nowhere does
eis means 'because of' but it is translated 'for' whereas
peri does mean 'because of' and is translated 'for' - but
peri isn't found in Acts 2:38.
I don't need to do that for Marcia already had. Needless to say that eis is used in many ways with a variety of meanings. Context determines meaning. Please read Marcia's post here:
I do not see Marcia, in any of her posts, or the article she posted explaining why Christ shed his blood
because of the forgiveness of sins.