What Does the Bible Say About..? Logo

What Does the Bible Say About..Amen?

In our internet bible class someone asked the question. What does amen mean? We came up with different answers but none acceptable to everyone. Can you help us?

Answer

Amen (properly pronounced Ah-MAIN rather than A-MEN) is a Hebrew word most commonly translated “let it be so.” When God says it, it is confirming the truth, thus adding emphasis. Jesus used it for emphasis. In the King James Version of the gospels it is often translated “verily,” as in “Verily, verily I say unto you…” When we use it in a prayer or in response to a point in a sermon, we are saying, “I agree. Let it be so.”

Some say that the person praying should never say the “amen” because he was the author of the ideas and doesn’t need to agree with them. Yet we find Paul doing so (for instance in Ephesians 3:21) for emphasis. Since there is scriptural evidence, it would be wrong to forbid someone from saying “amen” to his own prayer.