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The answer to these questions is a resounding No! But what are the reasons for my saying so? There is a key word in the Greek of Revelation 3:16 that is causing serious discussion among Bible students today. It is lost in the KJV rendering which represents Christ as saying to "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans, … I will spue thee out of my mouth." That sounds bad! Other translations of this verse which are more accurate render the key phrase, "I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (NIV, TCNT). The Greek requires this because the key verb is mello. The actual Greek which John reports Jesus Christ as saying is, mello se emesai, which should not be difficult for a non-Greek reader to understand, for emesai is the infinitive for the verb to vomit (we get "emetic’ from it), and se means you. Thus the clause says literally, I am about to vomit you out, or I am poised to do so. The word mello always implies an element of conditionality, "a possibility of the determination being changed." In my seminars, I have translated the clause into more vivid modem English (a dynamic equivalence?), "Thus, because you are lukewarm, you make Me so sick at My stomach that I feel like throwing up." If one takes into account the full context, it is impossible to soften or ameliorate the severity of what the True Witness actually says. But we must not make Him say more than He says! We find an example of mello used conditionally in Revelation 10:4 where John says he was about to write what the seven thunders uttered, but was told not to, and did not write it. In John 4:47 he speaks of a child "on the point (mello) of death." But he did not die, for Jesus healed him. Some say that the organized, corporate Seventh-day Adventist church, or at least its corporate leadership, is in such a hopeless spiritual state of apostasy that it has already been vomited out by the Lord. These people say that the use of mello in Revelation 3:16 means that "that which is indicated comes to pass," that is, that the vomiting out is assured. In particular they point to the use of mello in Revelation 12:4, 5 as an example where the action specified did indeed take place, where again the KJV says, "the woman was ready (mello, present participle) to be delivered." They say that the woman did bear the Child, therefore mello in Revelation can mean the same as a simple future tense statement. They also point to the use of mello in verse 5, the "man child, who was to rule all nations." They say that He will indeed rule all nations, and conclude therefore that in chapter 3:16 the use of mello also indicates a simple future statement of fact rendered unconditional and proven to be so by the alleged total apostasy of "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans." They say further that since the repentance Christ called for in verse 19 has never taken place, therefore mello in verse 16 constitutes a simple promise of total rejection that has already been fulfilled. They say that the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church is no longer the true church, no longer the object of Christ’s supreme regard, and therefore true Christians should leave its fellowship, for no one who has "the mind of Christ" will support a church which He has already spued out of His mouth.1 This is their point. This issue is more than a mere theological tempest in a teapot, for it very seriously calls into question the mind of Christ Jesus toward the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church. Every true follower of Christ wants to have "the mind of Christ," to cherish the same attitude toward this church that He does. Thus nothing could be of greater importance than to know what He actually says about this church and its leadership in Revelation 3:14-21. The NT use of mello in distinction to the simple future tense. |
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