To provide context for this usage, I have included verses one through three, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins."
It can easily be assumed that the above application of the term "baptize" refers to the water immersions administered by John, however, in the same sentence, the application of the term "baptism", since it was something that could be "preached", defines the message John brought, "prepare ye the way of the Lord", and has nothing to do with water.
This is a very unique example of the many scriptural applications of the Greek root word baptizO, in that this text provides two distinctly different definitions of the same root word as two different forms appear in the same sentence. Baptisma, the Greek word for baptism and the term from which "baptism" was transliterated, in the original Greek text, is a grammatical variant of the word baptizO in ancient Greek from which the word baptize was transliterated.
This text says John did two distinctly different things, he "baptized" (in water) AND preached "baptism" (a message, the gospel of Jesus Christ).
The lesson affirms that when the word baptize, or one of its grammatical variants appear in bible text, its definition is to be determined ONLY by the context in which the term is applied.~
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