The Amen Faith
The Study of Amen.
Amen is the most intensive description of faith in the Bible. Much of its meaning is dependent on its grammatical usage (i.e. verb or noun). We will explore a series of passages detailing the various usages of this word in the Old Testament. These are based on the different “stems” of the word. The verb has a root form and prefixes are used to give different attributes or meanings to the verb. The Hebrew Amen is the only word directly translated as faith in the Greek version of the Old Testament (The Septuagint).
A Promise. Nehemiah 5:13 “Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.”
The usage of Amen—
Amen in Adverb Form:
The adverb is used to confirm, the acknowledgment of the hearing, to the desire that God’s promises be fulfilled. It also carries with it a commitment to contribute, as much as within us, to execute God’s word. 1 Kings 1:36, “And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Amen: the LORD God of my lord the king say so too.”
1) Is always a word of response to what is said by someone else.
2) Let it be so, may it come true. To say amen genuinely is an act of self-commitment, for it implies appropriate action on the part of the speaker.
Today it is often used by Christians simply as a marker of conclusion, as at the end of a prayer
If the Christian is to follow the O.T. usage then to say amen should imply a commitment to the prayer and to live, where appropriate, in such a way as to further the fulfillment of the prayer.
Amen, 1st Noun Usage:
It is often used of speaking the truth. In the psalms when speaking of the words and commands of Jehovah, it does not just mean that they are true as opposed to false, but that they also have the character of being trustworthy and reliable for people to base their lives on.
This usage is often combined with love, the Amen (Faithful) love of God. This feature manifested the willingness of God to renew His covenant with a faithless Israel in the wilderness when they made and worshiped the golden calf. (Ex 34:5-18) Even though they were faithless, Jehovah kept His faith despite their sin. Same as found in 2 Tim. 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” (If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.)
Amen, 2nd Noun Usage:
Here it is used in connection of (steadfast) love and righteousness. Here there is a strong bond with truth or truthfulness; that God is truth or of truthfulness, and that men need to be as God in their truth and truthfulness. Habakkuk 2:4 gives the hope that for the people to survive the impending national disaster they must live by faith (amen), to maintain their person integrity, or faithfulness to Jehovah.
Amen as a Verb:
*Hebrew Qal stem
To support, confirm, be faithful, uphold, nourish, to foster as would a father, a mother, or as a nurse. The form is also used for pillars, supporters of a door. Passive it is “he was caused to believe.”
This is probably the warmest, tender, and loving condition of Amen, as seen to mother, or nurse. In this is to carry, to hold, to give protection or attendance, provide guidance in learning, nurture, and be steady, firm in duty. When used of God to His children it overwhelms the soul of man.
* Hebrew Niphal stem
To be established, be faithful, be carried, make firm. Usages; (1) to be carried by a nurse, (2) made firm, sure, lasting, (3) confirmed, established, sure, (4) verified, confirmed, (5) reliable, faithful, trusty, (6) causative active, he caused to believe.
It is not limited to the single act but refers to the totality of man’s relation to God. It shows his continued disposition toward God. Used the same as the noun, but also means established, made firm.
* Hebrew Hiphil stem
Is equivalent word in Hebrew to Greek “pisteuo.” To believe, in the sense of accepting a report as true. It has the added sense of acting in response to what is heard with trust or obedience. Thus it is to stand firm, to trust, to be certain, and to believe in. It is to say amen with all the consequences for both the object and the subject.
It also reveals the total relationship between man and God, and God and man. God initially establishes the relation. God is the true author of faith. This agrees with Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”
The amen faith implies acknowledgment of the requirement and man’s obedience to God’s commands. It further implies not only God’s promises but acknowledgment of God’s power to fulfill it, and denotes the worship of God as the almighty Lord. On man’s part it is taking God as God with unremitting seriousness!
Not to believe, amen, is often equivalent to apostasy. Living this faith is piety or holiness and by doing so comes victory or triumph over catastrophes and the afflictions of individual life.
Acknowledgment is at the heart of amen, with the commitment to obey. Consider the following passages where Hebrew Amen is used and translated “believe.”.
— Israel fell to the Assyrians because they did not trust (not amen) in the Lord their God (2 Kings 17:14).
“Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe [amen] in the LORD their God.” (2 Ki. 17:14 KJV)
— Moses and Aaron were prohibited from entering into the promised land: “Because ye believed [amen] me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. (Num. 20:12 KJV)
—The people of Nineveh were spared because they did believe God (Jonah 3:5).
“So the people of Nineveh believed [amen] God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.” (Jon. 3:5 KJV)
— Abraham believed Jehovah and Jehovah credited it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6).
Here, with Abraham, the word denotes his actions in the past and now his response is consistent with or a continuance of his past consonantly (habitually) trusting, believing God.
“And he believed [amen] in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6 KJV)
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth [amen] shall not make haste (shall not be dismayed).” Isaiah 28:16,
— The following has two different verb stems used, the first is to believe and the second is made firm or established.
“If ye will not believe [amen], surely ye shall not be established [amen].” Isaiah 7:9b
- The NIV has the better translation, “If you do not stand firm [amen] in your faith, you will not stand at all [amen].” Here
— Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth (amen) shall not make haste [disturbed].”
New Testament Amen
Amen is often used at the end of a prayer or discourse. Today we usually use it in this manner: as an endorsement of what has been said (so be it, may it be fulfilled or done). — But often amen is merely spoken out of habit with little thought or conviction as to a belief or commitment of action.
It was a custom, which passed from the synagogues to the Christian assemblies, that when he who had read or discoursed, or had offered up solemn prayer to God, others responded “Amen,” and thus made the substance of what was uttered their own.
Matthew 28:20, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen”
Matthew 6:13, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen”
2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”
Better is the YLT 2 Corinthians 1:20, “for as many as {are} promises of God, in him {are} the Yes, and in him the Amen, for glory to God through us;” — Yes, and Amen complement each other.
Revelation 3:14, “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;”
Only here is Christ named The Amen, though in Isa 65:16 we have “the God of Amen” understood in the Septuagint as “the God of truth.” Here it is applied to the Christ: “whose testimony never falls short of the truth.” The significance of the “beginning” of creation and the Amen (the conclusion) should not be lost on us.
Deut 32:20, “And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith (no amen).”
The amen speaks of the finality of the sovereignty of God. If our faith can reach such a stage of total submission to God then amen takes on the purity of unconditional faith and absolute trust. Whatever God may have prepared for us we cheerfully accept as His will be done!
As a footnote, the New Testament term “verily” has been translated exclusively from the Greek amen. The Gospel of John always has the double amen, “verily verily” written together and he never has it in the singular. Only John has the double “verily verily.”
Various Lexicons and Theological Dictionaries are the sources of the Hebrew language and grammar.
Return Home