It is of more than passing interest that Acts chapter 24 contains two verses which provide the reader with guidance as to when the resurrection and judgment were to take place. You will recall that in this chapter, the Apostle Paul was proclaiming the hope of Israel before Felix. He made reference to both end time events in this important chapter in verses 15 and 25.

I am quoting below from three of the more literal translations, namely, the Literal Translation of the Bible (J. P. Green, Sr., ed.), Young's Literal Translation, and the Weymouth New Testament.

Vs. 15 "having hope toward God, which these themselves also admit, [of] a resurrection being about to be of [the] dead, both of the just and unjust ones." (LITV)

Vs. 15 "having hope toward God, which they themselves also wait for, that there is about to be a rising again of the dead, both righteous and unrighteous;" (YLT)

Vs. 15 "and having a hope directed towards God, which my accusers themselves also entertain, that before long there will be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous." (WNT)

I will now quote verse 25 from these same versions:

Vs. 25 "And [Paul] having reasoned concerning righteousness and self control, and the Judgment that is about to be, becoming afraid, Felix answered, For the present, go; but taking the time later, I will call for you;" (LITV)

Vs. 25 "and he reasoning concerning righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment that is about to be, Felix, having become afraid, answered, 'For the present be going, and having got time, I will call for thee;" (YLT)

Vs. 25 "But when he dealt with the subjects of justice, self-control, and the judgment which was soon to come, Felix became alarmed and said, 'For the present leave me, and when I can find a convenient opportunity I will send for you.'" (WNT)

The point of quoting from these biblical sources is to demonstrate that both of these end-time events were to take place soon (about to be, before long, soon to come) from the inspired author Luke's perspective, as well as from the perspective of his contemporaries in that first century A.D. We have to keep in mind that the New Testament books were originally and primarily written to those first century Christians, and not written directly to us living today. All of the Bible was written for us, but none of it was written to us. Sound hermeneutical principles of interpretation demand that audience relevancy and time limitations be recognized as we do our studies.

However, the English reader, who refers to any of the standard versions, is almost certain to miss the impact of the timing of the resurrection and the judgment. Most versions, such as the NKJV or the NIV, are content to translate the Greek word "mello" simply as "there will be" (vs.15) or as "to come" (vs. 25). Even the more literal NASB offers only "there shall certainly be" and "to come" in these two verses. Other standard versions follow the same pattern.

In vs. 15, the Greek word "mello" is used in the "present infinitive" case. The NKJV translates the word as "was going to be" in Acts 11:28, as "may be" in Acts 19:27, as "lay in wait" in Acts 23:30, as "shortly" in Acts 25:4, as "will end" in Acts 27:10, and as "suddenly" in Acts 28:6. Yet in each of these cases, the three literal translations cited above, being more consistent and accurate, use the phrase "about to be" or similar wording.

In vs. 25, the word "mello" is used as a "present participle." The NKJV translates the word as "is to come" in Matt. 11:14, as "intend to do" in Acts 5:35, as "will judge" in Acts 17:31, as "what you do" in Acts 22:26, as "will strike" in Acts 23:3, as "would suffer" in I Thess. 3:4, etc. Again, in each of these cases, Young's Literal and the other two literal translations render all of these as "about to be" or similar wording.

Now it will be readily granted that, in the case of the non-prophetic portions of Scripture above that are quoted from the NKJV, this standard translation usually translates the word "mello" in a manner that actually does very little injustice to the sense of the text. In other words, the English reader usually has no difficulty in gaining a proper understanding of the passage. But a major problem arises when we begin to deal with the word "mello" relating to the prophetic Scriptures. The reader of the NKJV, for instance, is actually given an extremely vague understanding of whether the described events are to take place very soon from the author's perspective or whether it could be 1000 or 2000 years or more into the future.

The reader of Young's Literal Translation or J. P. Green's Literal Translation or the Weymouth New Testament, however, is presented with a translation that makes it very clear that the described events are close at hand, or very soon, or coming shortly, as rendered by the preferred literal translation of the word "mello" as "about to be." It is therefore much easier for the reader to gain a more accurate understanding of the timing of the described events from the normal definition and usage of words such as "soon," "about to," or "very near," which banish any idea of a fulfillment thousands of years into the future.

What is even more interesting, it seems to me, is that a student with access to Greek language helps can also see where the standard translators do, on occasion, use the phrase "about to" when making reference to non-prophetic events from the word "mello." The following references are just a few examples where the translators actually do use the phrase "about to" in the NKJV: Matt. 17:12, 22; 20:22; Luke 9:31, 44; 10:1; John 6:15; Acts 3:3, 12:6, 16:27, 18:14, 21:37, 27:33; Rev. 2:10 and 10:4. But none of these passages would be considered to be of prophetic nature. Now, if the translators were able to correctly translate the word "mello" in the non-prophetic passages, why would they not translate the prophetic verses in the same way? The literal versions are both more accurate and consistent in their treatment of both kinds of texts.

My information is taken from Wigram's Analytical Greek Lexicon and A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by J. H. Mayer. I understand that other authoritative sources, such as Arndt and Gingrich, also give "about to be" as the first definition of "mello."

I will now quote a brief paragraph from the pen of Dr. Jesse E. Mills, Jr., in his book, Results of Fulfilled Prophecy, page 157.

"In most translations, 'mello' is incorrectly rendered 'shall' most of the time, especially in prophetic texts, with no indication that a near time of occurrence is involved. The use of 'mello' indicates something is 'about to be' or 'about to' occur, so the English word 'shall,' which simply implies a future action with no indication of timing, is not adequate to express the inherent imminency of the word 'mello.' This becomes very important when we look at prophetic texts that use this word in reference to the return of Christ and other end time events. This implies that those events were 'about to' occur. Since most translators believe the events are still future, they have difficulty translating it with an 'about to' sense, especially in prophetic texts."

Dr. Mills' observations are quite revealing, aren't they? They point to the need for the non-Greek reader to become aware of some very serious limitations with most of the standard Bible translations today. This is especially crucial as one studies the eschatological statements of our Lord and His disciples. We need to have ready access to the more literal translations, in order to gain the correct meaning of many New Testament portions.

More than that, we need to be sure, as non-Greek readers, that we rely on the more literal translations, such as the LITV, YLT or the WNT, in order to be certain that our exegetical studies are done as accurately as possible, resulting in precisely defined theological conclusions. While it is true that most of our standard translations, such as the KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, RSV, and the new ESV, excel in ease of reading, proper sentence structures, average-or-below level of vocabulary, and suitability for pulpit reading, they often fall short in accuracy.

Therefore, when doing serious biblical studies to determine precise time of fulfillment, especially in the prophetic texts, dare we neglect referring to these literal versions? Perhaps this study will serve as a good first step toward a more accurate understanding of numerous other portions of God's Word as well."