“The position of the Baptidzo book is that the word Baptidzo is not an act, but a changed condition, state, result, or effect produced by any of several possible acts.” Let’s develop that a bit. To be more precise in our definition, we will define Baptidzo in more detail and with many more words, such as:
PRIMARY MEANING:
a) a complete change of condition, a new state, a result or an effect achieved,
b) by being enveloped or fused within a fluid,
c) without any time limitation. This is the main meaning of Baptidzo.
In other words, if a person were enveloped in water for an unlimited time, that person would undergo a complete change of condition, that is, that person would pass from life to death. As a result, the Greeks commonly used Baptidzo to refer to a drowning.
SECONDARY MEANING ONE:
a) a complete change of condition, a new state, a result or an effect achieved
b) without involvement or immersion in a fluid, but
c) by any competent power or influence to control and assimilate the baptized object to its own characteristics.
That particular change of condition would be dependent on and indicated by an adjunct to the sentence, that is, additional words of explanation (Adjunct. 1: Something attached to or added to another thing but not essentially a part of it. 2 a: A word or group of words that qualifies or completes the meaning of another word or other words and is not itself a main structural element in its sentence, b: an adverb or adverbial added to the verb of a clause especially to express a relationship of time, place, frequency, degree, or manner; Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). This is the secondary meaning of Baptidzo.
In other words, if it were said that a person was baptized by the mourning tragedy, we would understand that the person had fallen under the power of a tragedy that possessed the power to completely change the person from a state of peace and contentment to a state of of peace. state of grievance by its power to control and assimilate the person to the calamity. Of course, he was not present and no liquid was needed to effect the change. The accompanying or additional word of explanation in this scenario is the word tragedy. This usage is also very common in classical Greek.
SECONDARY MEANING TWO:
a) a complete change of condition,
b) without envelopment or immersion within a fluid
c) by any competent power or influence to control and assimilate the baptized object to its own characteristics
d) indicated by the absolute use of Baptidzo, this means that Baptidzo is used without any adjuncts in the sentence.
The difference in the secondary meaning of the numbers One and Two is found only in point d). This is the result of attached words, which were long and often used, now abandoned but provided mentally by the reader. It is the familiarity of the words that allows the reader to drop them and fully understand them. In grammar, this is called an ellipsis (ellipsis: “The omissions of one or more words that are obviously understood but must be provided for a construction to be grammatically complete.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary). “The doctrine of ellipsis is that which is the most essential requirement in any transaction that can be omitted, on the grounds that it cannot be omitted and therefore will not fail to be supplied” (Dale, James W., Christic Baptism and Patristic Baptism , (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1874, 1995), 217). This remains the secondary use of this word, but one in which little contextual material is given, but is simply assumed by those intimately familiar with the subject.
For example, it could be said that “a priest, for the purpose of ceremonial purification, baptized a person.” In time, after much common usage, the sentence or adjunct “for the purpose of ceremonial purification” would be dropped from the sentence. But the audience would clearly understand what happened if it were reported that “the priest baptized a person” (for the purpose of ceremonial purification) without these last words actually being in the sentence.
Words often have multiple meanings, as any dictionary will quickly show. These definitions here do not exhaust the many facets of the word Baptidzo but provide us with the most obvious and useful meanings of the word.
ESSENCE
Note two common elements in these definitions: 1) there is no inherent mode in the definitions. Immersion, sprinkling, pouring, and a wide variety of other methods illustrate the possible modes of baptism found in Greek literature. The indicators, apart from the actual word Baptidzo, determine the mode of the specific baptism (if it is mentioned at all), because inherent in this word no mode is suggested. 2) The only recurring element of these definitions is “a complete change of condition, a result, a new state or an achieved effect”. This tends to be the only universal feature of Baptidzo; often, if not generally, it is virtually the very essence of its meaning. However, the way to bring about this change of condition is never part of the definition.
As an aside, note the Greek suffix idzo found in Baptidzo. idzo introduces a causative notion into a Greek word. The meaning here is that Baptidzo causes 1) an envelopment or 2) a complete change of condition.
Therefore, the following points are essential if one wants to understand the meaning of the word Baptidzo. The meaning of this word:
1)…is not controlled or dependent on any particular form, act or mode.
2) …often (but not always) depends on and is controlled by the idea of wrapping inside some element.
3)…is fundamentally related to a stay within this element for an indefinite period of time,
4) this produces a change of condition, state or result in the baptized object.
