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Is there any difference between baptising in
(en en) and baptising
with or by (dative case)?
John's baptism is referred to as 'in' in two passages,
'with' or 'by' in three passages, and in one passage the textual evidence
is divided with the majority of manuscripts M
using 'in', but with the Egyptian manuscripts just using the dative.
If we follow the majority text for Mark then only
Luke (both in his gospel and in Acts) uses the straight dative. Is this
merely Luke's style or is he trying to convey something slightly different
to the other gospel writers?
If we follow the Egyptian manuscripts for Mark it
could be argued that the usage is about equally balanced, suggesting that
there is no difference in meaning.
It is also possible that later copyists may have
had a tendency either to insert or to omit 'en
en' . |