"Mellow," according to the Urban Dictionary is a word that refers to “a person’s composure.” It's a reference to “a person’s ability to give others around them the feeling of calm and relaxation especially in the midst of a stressful situation.”
Notice that the core component of “mellowness” is the effect this person’s composure has on others. One's mellowness, although one's personal trait, affects other people.
A modern way of defining this word is to be “chill” or “be patient.” We often hear the phrase, "mellow out,” or “chill out!” and we all understand it to mean "calm down," or "be patient!" When I think of this word, I'm reminded of my son's dog, Lewis, who is seized by uncontrollable very dinner time, and my son telling him to "mellow out" before he sets down the dog dish. My son's strategy for calming down Lewis is an unresponsive and patient wait for Lewis' seizure of zoomies to end before he sets down the dog dish. My son's patient calmness has an striking calming effect on Lewis' zoomies so much so that Lewis mellows out at my son's "mellowness." So, in English, “a person’s ability to give others around them the feeling of calm and relaxation especially in the midst of a stressful situation” is the definition of "mellow."
English is not the only language in which we find the phonological construct, "mellow." In New Testament Greek, we also see the word "mello" (μέλλω), but with a different meaning.
The New Testament word, "mello" is used 109 times in the New Testament, and never with the same urban meaning (patience) as it does in English. For example, the word "mello" occurs in 1 Timothy 1:16, not with the same meaning as our English urban meaning, but in the same context as our urban definition. What I mean to say is, the occurrence of “mello” in 1 Timothy 1:16 is used in the same context of “the effect that a person’s composure of patience has on others around him/her, “ but the word itself does not mean patience.
The basic definition of the Greek word, “mello,” is "to be about to," or "at the point of." This definition assumes an act not yet occurring, but imminently about to happen as in the following examples below.
Matthew 2:13 “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."
John 4:47 “When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.”
And so in in 1 Timothy 1:16, the apostle Paul writes,
"...for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who are about to believe in him and receive eternal life."
The focus of 1 Timothy 1:16 is on people who are imminently about to believe and receive eternal life.
However, in most translations, the word "mello,"is not translated as are about to," by by the word "would," rendering the translation as, "...those who would believe." I could not find a single translation in mainstream translations that mirrored the basic definition of μέλλω, "are about to." Only "literal" translations offered up a literal translation of the word.
"But because of this I was shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Christ Jesus might display perfect patience, as a pattern for those being about to believe on Him to eternal life."
"but because of this I found kindness, that Jesus Christ might first show forth all long-suffering in me, for a pattern of those about to believe on Him to continuous life."
What difference does the translation make you ask?
Does not the focus of the verse drastically shift in the translation of "those who would believe," and "those who are about to believe?"
The focus on the immediate "readiness" of the listeners in the precise translation, "of those who are about to believe" is completely lost in the imprecise translation, of "those who would believe." "Those who would believe" seems to focus more on an impersonal any and all people who would ever receive eternal life, as opposed to the immediate hearers who are on the verge of belief at any moment. The latter translation, "those who are about to (μέλλω) believe" seems to highlight the English urban definition of μέλλω (the effect that a person’s composure of patience has on others around him/her,“) as a personal application to the patience of Jesus.
Just as God's merciful patience shown to Paul is the example to those who are about to believe, so too, the individual Christian's application of that verse in their own life is the same merciful patience to those who are about to believe. That merciful patience in the life of the believer is the example to be shown to those around them that moves them from their state of about to believe to full belief and reception of eternal life.
It seems very difficult to reach a hermeneutically based application such as this if the nonspecific translation, "those who would believe" is accepted. However, accepting the specific translation of μέλλω provides a natural and meaningful personal application to the text that the nonspecific translation does not allow. God's merciful patience ought to be the character quality of every Christian that gives others around them the feeling of calm and relaxation especially in the midst of a stressful situation that ultimately leads them to belief and eternal life.
Notice that the core component of mellow Christians is the effect the Christian’s composure has on others. One's mellowness, although one's personal trait, affects the eternal destiny of other people.
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