Note that the present tense I baptize you does not mean “I am baptizing you at this moment” but rather “when (or, as) I baptize you people.”
For comments on baptize, see 3.1.
The phrase with water (so most translations) may also be rendered “in water” (An American Translation, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). The problem is that one normally thinks of baptizing a person “in” something, but according to the last part of this verse the one who is coming will baptize people “in (or, with)” the Holy Spirit. Therefore in order to make the analogy carry through, it seems best to translate in both instances as “with.” Translators can say simply “with water,” or they may say “I use (or, take) water when I baptize you” or “When I baptize you, I do it with water.” It is important that the same construction be used for the baptism by John, with water, and for the baptism by the one to come, with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Good News Translation translates the Greek noun phrase for repentance as “to show that you have repented.” Phillips and Translator’s New Testament have “as a sign of your repentance”; An American Translation “in token of your repentance”; New American Bible “for the sake of reform”; Barclay “to make you repent”; Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition “Because you want to change your life.” If translators accept the interpretation of Good News Translation, then they can say “as proof (or, evidence) that you have repented” or “so people will see you have repented.” On the other hand, if they follow the interpretation of Barclay, for example, they might say something like “so that you will repent” or “to bring about your repentance.” For comments on repentance, see 3.2.
Translators need to make sure that the ideas are correctly combined. A sentence such as “When I baptize you, I do it with water to show that you have repented” could give the impression that John could also use other materials to baptize with to show something other than repentance. In other words, it could appear that it is the water that shows the repentance. A better sentence would be “When I baptize you to show you have repented, I use water” or “The baptism I give you to show you have repented is a baptism with water.”
John speaks of he who is coming after me. This does not mean a disciple of John, nor someone chasing John, but rather “the man who will proclaim his message after I do” or “the man who will appear later.” Another way to structure it is to say “Someone will appear later on, and he….”
This person who is coming later is mightier than John. This does not refer to physical strength. Rather “He has more authority than I have” or “He is more important than I am.”
The Jewish expectation of Jesus’ day looked for “the Coming One” to be both a mighty leader (see Isa 9.1-6) and the world judge (see Dan 7.13). John does not consider himself worthy enough even to be the slave of the one who follows after him: “I am not good enough even to carry his sandals” (Good News Translation). Mark (1.7) and Luke (3.16) have “to untie” in place of “carry his sandals,” a variation which may reflect two translations of an Aramaic original. Sandals are soles, usually made of leather, fastened to the feet with strings, thongs, or straps, and used as shoes for walking.
For not worthy, translators can use “not important enough” or phrases such as “I don’t deserve” or “I don’t qualify even to be a person who can carry his sandals.”
Good News Translation has somewhat radically restructured the remainder of this verse in order to make the sequence of events and the contrast clearer for the readers. This is accomplished by bringing together the contrast between the baptism with water and the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, which appears as the last clause in the Greek text of this verse (compare Revised Standard Version). Some few scholars rather dogmatically affirm that the phrase with the Holy Spirit and with fire forms a hendiadys, meaning that the reference is not to two different objects (Holy Spirit … fire), as the conjunction “and” might suggest, but rather one (Holy Spirit) which is modified by the other (fire). These scholars would then translate “with the fire of the Holy Spirit.” In support of this interpretation they appeal to the evidence of the Dead Sea literature. If this structure is to be understood as a hendiadys, then fire must be taken in a positive sense. See, for example, the New Jerusalem Bible footnote: “In the Old Testament fire, a purifying element more refined and efficacious than water, was already a symbol of God’s supreme intervention in history and of his Spirit which comes to purify hearts.”
On the other hand, the translators of Traduction œcuménique de la Bible indicate in their footnote that, although it is possible to translate the phrase as “the Holy Spirit which purifies as fire,” they prefer to see here the meaning of judgment, especially in light of verses 11-12 (see also verse 7). Fire is often used in Jewish apocalyptic literature to describe the final judgment, and in this context fire obviously refers to judgment in its other two occurrences (see verses 10, 12). It therefore is proper to conclude that judgment is primary in this passage. Note Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “With the fire of judgment.”
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire: as we mentioned earlier, the construction used here should be parallel to that used in speaking of the baptizing John did: “He will use (or, take) the Holy Spirit and fire when he baptizes you” or “When he baptizes, he will do it with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” For comments on Holy Spirit, see 1.18.
Translators will note that Good News Translation has restructured the verse to mark clearly the comparison between the two kinds of baptisms in the verse. One can also follow the Revised Standard Version order but break it up into several sentences: “When I baptize you to show you have repented, I do it using water. But there is someone coming later on, someone more important than I. I am not worthy even to carry his sandals. He will baptize you using the Holy Spirit and fire.” There are many ways it can be done, but translators should always look for the order that is most natural in their language.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .