Edward,
I was privileged to have about 4 semester of NT Greek as part of my Pastoral minor at Bible College. Since then I have tried to keep pace with it by use, but it is an uphill battle since the pastoral life calls for "expertise" and expenditure of energy in so many areas.
Bauer's has always been something of a mystery to me. I have asked this question before, and received helpful advice. However, can you suggest how a moderate, somewhat rusty, student can approach this lexicon and get some use out of it. I think that I can work my way through the info and understand what is there, but how to interpret its significance, there's the rub! For instance, how, >from all of the alternatives, does one decide how the word you are investigating should be interpreted in your own passage? It is especially difficult with the extra-biblical texts cited, and to which one may not have access, to appreciated their significance for the immediate context under consideration. (I think, even as I ask, you are going to tell me that there are no short-cuts!) I need some sort of a map!
Paul F. Evans
Pastor
Thunder Swamp Pentecostal Holiness Church
MT. Olive
E-mail: evans@esn.net
Web-page: http://ww2.esn.net/~evans
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> I will make the same recommendation that I have made again and again on
> this List: ABOVE ALL OTHER STUDENTS, first-year students need to use (and
> preferably to own) Bauer's Lexicon (and let's call it Bauer's lexicon--
> Arndt and Gingrich were only translators; we do not say "Crime and
> Punishment" by Constance Garnett!).