μετάνοια – metanoia “repentance”: The Greek word here means “changing one’s mind”, with the shade of meaning of reforming one’s mind out of error and into truth. In the context of Judean history, the specific sin being addressed was that of the Judeans’ violent rejection of Roman authority. In writings prior to the creation of the Gospels, the word baptizo was more frequently used metaphorically to indicate being overwhelmed or perishing. In this case, both meanings of ‘washing’ and ‘perishing’ might both be in play in this story. Having John handing out a “baptism of repentance” takes on a rather dark connotation of having him waterboard each citizen until they submit to the Roman emperor or perish, thus cleansing all of their error.