Mark 10:38–39: Was Jesus’s Challenge ‘Drinking the Cup and Becoming Drunk’? Extended Senses of Baptizō in the NT
Use of baptizō and baptisma in Mark 10:38–39 to signify ‘destined suffering’ has puzzled many exegetes. It appears, however, that baptizō bore a contemporary extended sense of intoxicate that provides a reasonable solution. Jesus’s original Semitic saying behind Mark 10:38–39 may have challenged James and John with drinking the cup and being drunken, employing two Semitic metaphors to signify a horrific ordeal. This article reviews evidence that supports use of baptizō for intoxication. The article also reviews Eckhard Schnabel’s proposed lexical entry for defining extended senses of baptizō, including drunkenness, and his call to translate baptizō in the NT and not merely to transliterate it as ‘baptize’.