What Does Acts 11:16 Mean in the King James?
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
One Greek verb names both immersions, with the medium changing from water to the Set-Apart Breath.
THE MEANING
The remembered word remains present: water is one medium of immersion, and the Set-Apart Breath is another. The image is a life surrounded and entered by Breath, not merely hearing about it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that immersion is exhausted by water alone; the verse names the Set-Apart Breath as another medium.
THE ROOT
βαπτισθήσεσθε
baptisthēsesthe
GROWS FROM
βαπτίζω
baptizō
To immerse, dip, or submerge.
“baptized” in this verse is baptisthēsesthe. The same verb βαπτίζω (baptizō, immerse) governs both clauses: John immerses in water, and the hearers will be immersed in the Set-Apart Breath. The Greek keeps the concrete image of immersion while the medium changes.
ALSO GROWS
baptisma: Immersion; a baptism.
βάπτισμα
This noun shares the βαπτιζ- root and keeps the act of immersion visible beneath the name of the rite.
baptistēs: One who immerses; an immerser.
βαπτιστής
This word shares the same root and shows the person performing the action named in John’s clause.
baptismos: Immersion or washing.
βαπτισμός
This related noun preserves the root’s sense of dipping or immersion across different settings.
πνεύματι
pneumati
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
To breathe or blow; this word family is rooted in breath.
“Ghost” in this verse is pneumati. The noun πνεῦμα (pneuma, breath) comes from πνέω (pneō, breathe or blow). The phrase pictures immersion in the Set-Apart Breath, holding breath and divine presence in the same image.
ALSO GROWS
pneuma: Breath, wind, or spirit.
πνεῦμα
This is the noun used in the verse; its breath sense makes the medium of immersion concrete.
pnoē: Breath or a blowing.
πνοή
From the same πνέω family, this word carries the breath-and-blowing image into another noun.
empneō: To breathe into or inspire.
ἐμπνέω
This verb belongs to the same πνέω family and evokes breath entering or animating life.
THE PATTERN
God’s Breath is pictured as entering life and filling it until life changes from within.
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.THE THREAD
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.Acts 1:5 uses the same Greek future form, βαπτισθήσεσθε (baptisthēsesthe, “you will be immersed”), and the same contrast between water and the Set-Apart Breath. Here Peter remembers that promise as the key to understanding the immersion he has witnessed.
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