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Amen

‘Amen’ is a word you frequently hear in church.

People normally end a prayer or a reading from the Bible with “Amen,” but what does it mean?

What are we saying to God when we talk to him and then say, Amen?

Yes.

Yes, I solemnly agree with this statement,

or, Yes, what I say is God’s solemn truth.

When we say Amen, we are stating a solemn Yes to God. For example, in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy chapter 27 you can read how Moses commanded the people to make a series of promises to obey God, and after each promise the people said, “Amen” by which they meant, “Yes. Absolutely”, because they were making a solemn commitment to keep each of those promises.

Many of the books and letters of the New Testament end with Amen. In this context Amen means that the writer is sealing what he has written with the solemn declaration that this is the truth: Yes, what I have written here is the truth of God.

Amen is also translated into English language versions of the Bible using the words, Verily, and Truly.

So, a statement that begins, “Amen, Amen,” may have been translated as “Verily, verily,…” or “Truly, truly,…” or “Very truly I tell you,….”

The only person in the Bible who uses this double Amen at the beginning of a statement is Jesus Christ.

Why did Jesus Christ begin some of his statements with "Amen, Amen" ?

When we speak the truth of God, or the truth to God, we end with the word Amen, and this is appropriate.

However, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God is the God of truth, a fact that the prophet Isaiah emphasizes when he says, ‘he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth’ (Isaiah chapter 65 verse 16 - ESV)

What this means is that when Jesus Christ speaks, he only speaks the truth because he is the Son of God, and he is therefore qualified to begin an important statement with the words, Amen, Amen,…

Jesus Christ is quoted as saying, “Amen, Amen” at the beginning of several of his statements in the Gospel of John. And by using this double Amen, Jesus is emphasizing the fact that what he is saying is very important - so sit up and pay attention.

“Truly, truly, [Amen, Amen] I say to you, whoever hears my word, and believes on him who sent me, has eternal life. He shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John chapter 5 verse 24 - ESV)

We say Amen when we speak the solemn truth to God.

We say Amen when we speak the solemn truth of God.