What does amen mean

Amen is never used solely to confirm a blessing in the Old Testament, but Israel did accept the curse of God on sin by it twelve times in Deut. It can also confirm a statement made by people Num ; 1 Kings ; Neh These kinds of uses lie behind the popular, basically correct, dictum that amen means "So be it. Amen has other uses. Jeremiah mocks the words of a false prophet with an amen Because God is trustworthy, Isaiah can call him "the God of amen, " in whose name his servants should invoke blessings and take oaths Isa ; see also Rev But Jesus' use of amen is the most striking innovation.

Jesus introduces his teaching by saying amen lego humin [ ajmhvn levgw uJmi'n ], that is, "truly I say to you, " on nearly seventy occasions in the Gospels thirty times in Matthew, thirteen in Mark, six in Luke, and twenty in John, where the amen is always doubled.

We ought to consider Jesus' use of the term "amen" alongside his other implicit claims to deity, such as his claim of the right to forgive sins and to judge humankind, and his custom of performing miracles on his own authority. No mere human has the right to forgive sins, yet Jesus forgave sins. God is the judge of humankind, yet Jesus judges. God's agets ascribe the will and the glory to God when they perform miracles, yet Jesus performed miracles on his own authority.

Likewise, prophets never spoke on their own authority. They say, "Thus says the Lord. The term amen was used in the corporate worship of ancient Israel in two distinct ways. It served first as a response to praise given to God and second as a response to prayer. Those same usages of the term are still in vogue among Christians. The term itself is rooted in a Semitic word that means "truth," and the utterance of "amen" is an acknowledgment that the word that has been heard, whether a word of praise, a word of prayer, or a sermonic exhortation, is valid, that is, sure and binding.

Even in antiquity, the word amen was used in order to express a pledge to fulfill the terms of a vow. So, this little word is one that is centered on the idea of the truth of God. The truth of God is such a remarkable element of Christian faith that it cannot be overlooked.

There are those who think that truth is negotiable or, even worse, divisive, and it therefore should not be a matter of passionate concern among believers. But if we are not concerned about truth, then we have no reason to have Bibles in our homes. It is not just true but is truth itself.

Therefore, when we sing a hymn that reflects biblical truth and end it with the sung word amen , we are giving our approbation of the content of the praise in the hymn. Here are a few examples, where I have used the Hebrew original instead of the English translation. I have picked verses with various of the above meanings — faithfulness, steadfastness, contract, artist, foster parent:.

Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. I shall speak with him in a dream. Lamentations Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. The Bible gives us several examples of a unique way Jesus used the word amen which is generally hidden from us because of language differences.

This unique usage of amen can be seen at the beginning of sentences when Jesus is about to lay out some truth to those listening. Although the transliterated word amen is familiar to us, for some reason translators decided to translate this usage differently, and it is probably because it is used so differently.

You may have noticed that Jesus uses amen to start a sentence, where almost everywhere else in Scripture it is used as an ending confirmation to what was just said. Why did Jesus use the word differently? Jesus alone is the way the truth and the life.

As such, Jesus alone could preface a sentence with an amen, signifying that what was about to come next was not only the truth, but also signified that he was the authority on that truth. Jesus used the word differently because Jesus is different from anyone who ever lived. You say we are loved You say we belong to you Your grace is enough Nothing more that we can do You say we've been bought by your blood, by your blood And all that we can say is amen.

The Bible begins with the creation of all things, and quickly moves to the account of humanity being created in the Garden of Eden.