Mar 11:30 The baptism of John, was [it] from heaven...
Mar 11:30 The baptism of John, was [it] from heaven, or of men? answer me.
Alternative: Was the baptism of John out of the universe or out of humanity. Sort it out for me.
Wordplay: The word used for "answer," apokrinô," is based on the word krinô, which means "to judge." Since the context is choosing between heaven and earth, this judgment is a play on the final judgment.
Hidden meaning: Notice that Christ could have asked this question much more simply, just by asking if baptism was from heaven. However, as usually, Christ contrasts the two possibilities, that the source could be either the unknown, eternal realm and the familiar, temporal realm.
Christ uses baptism as a symbol for rebirth, more specifically, of our rebirth after death. So the question here is very symbolic: Is rebirth an idea the comes out of our limited humanity because we want to believe our existence is more that temporary or is rebirth universal, something intrinsic in the universe. It is likely that this deeper meaning was understood exactly by the priests to whom he put the question.
The words translated as "from" and "of" are actually the same word, ek, which means "out of," "from," "by," and "away from."
Thematically and Linguistically Related Verse(s): Mar 11:29 sets up this question and introduces the idea of "answering" as sort something out. Matt 21:25 is the parallel verse in Matthew, but it doesn't repeat the concept of sorting ideas out.
Vocabulary:
"Baptism" is from baptisma, (baptisma) which is only in the New Testament and means "baptism."
"Heaven" is from the Greek ouranos (ouranos), which means "heaven as in the vault of the sky," "heaven as the seat of the gods," "the sky," "the universe," and "the climate."
"Men" is from anthrôpos (anthropos), which "man," and, in plural, "mankind." It also means "humanity" and that which is human and opposed to that which is animal or inanimate.
"Answer" is from apokrinô (aprokrinomai), which means "to set apart," "to mark by a distinctive form," "to distinguish," "to choose," "to exclude," "to reject on examination," "to give an answer to," "to reply to [a question," "to answer charges," and "to defend oneself." The root is from krinô, which means "separate," "distinguish," "pick out," "choose," 'decide," "decide in favor of," "determine," and "form a judgment."
