AMEN CORNER
by Richard Burkard
Some Christians take Matthew 5:18 VERY seriously: "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."
With these people, it's not merely every word in the "Law" section of the Old Testament which cannot be touched. To them, every word in the Bible is there for a deep, profound purpose - and it's up to Bible students to figure out what every word really means.
I was reminded anew of this recently when I heard a Church of God Pastor declare from the pulpit something Herman Hoeh once claimed in a church magazine years ago: it matters whether or not a New Testament book ends with the word "amen." For instance, the lack of an "amen" at the end of Acts means it's open-ended, and "acts of the Apostles" are to continue until the day of Jesus's return.
But on this occasion, the Pastor said something which led me to probe further. "III John is without an amen, while I-II John have it...." Oh really?! The New International Version in front of me didn't have an "amen" ending any of John's three epistles. (We've examined the differences between the NIV and King James translations elsewhere on this web site.)
A check of the KJV later at home found I-II John do indeed end with amens. So that led to a series of questions: Which translation is right? Which one is wrong? And perhaps more importantly, is this whole thing about the ends of books something to take seriously - or the COG version of an "urban legend?"
An old, heavy Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (not the smaller version bookstores and modern library reference sections have) proved to be quite enlightening. Check "amen" there and you'll see * (an asterisk) next to the word at the end of 14 New Testament books -- meaning the word is "changed for some other in the Revised Version." In fact, in translations such as NIV the word "amen" isn't even there -- so more than half the New Testament books could be left "open."
The Pastor who brought up this whole issue never really made clear why III John lacks an amen. While this short book has timeless lessons for believers, it's addressed to Gaius (verse 1) as opposed to an entire church or congregation. So what is the open-ended issue here? To follow what is good instead of evil? (v. 11)
But perhaps we should go back to the very beginning in considering this four-letter word. Could you define "amen" if someone asked? Is it a word of vain repetition or mere Christian tradition -- something you, well, just say if you agree with a prayer or a sermon point? Or is there something deeper to consider here?
Of all the names and titles given to Jesus Christ in the Bible, perhaps one of the most overlooked is mentioned in Revelation 3:14: "These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation...." Too often Church of God ministers race past this verse as they rush into an attack at Laodicea - but stop a second. Jesus calls Himself "the Amen," which is a title no one else in Scripture has. The Contemporary English Version notes in its margin Amen means "trustworthy." One commentary declares Jesus "the embodiment of the faithfulness and truthfulness of God." (New Bible Commentary: Revised, 1970 ed., pg. 1287)
So when you say "amen," you're saying "trustworthy" - a definition supported by the Greek dictionary in Strong's. You're also saying a name for Jesus, and giving a whole new meaning to the phrase at the end of many prayers: "in Jesus's name, Amen." The word also can mean "so be it," which is the definition I suspect millions of Christian children are given. But there's one more definition which blew off my thinking cap on the topic when I saw it.
"Amen" in the Greek turns out to appear in the New Testament as another word: "verily." If the King James is your guide, Jesus said it often - and hardly ever said it to end a prayer. In fact, John records Jesus saying "verily, verily" twice in a row 25 times -- from 1:51 to 21:18!
Let that discovery sink in for a second, and consider the consequences of it:
1) We get a better idea of why John recorded Jesus as calling Himself "the Amen" in Revelation 3:14 -- as He apparently said it a lot.
2) Verily is not really a "filler" or "throwaway" word. Many Christians tend to overlook "verily" as if a teenager was saying "like" or "you know." But Jesus said it to emphasize a true, trustworthy point.
3) It's OK for a believer in Jesus to say "amen" outside the end of a prayer. I note this because practically all Church of God groups do not behave or worship this way.
4) Saying "amen" more than once in a conversation is not a sign of Pentecostal or "black church" weirdness or vain repetition. In fact, it is Biblical -- even Old Testament Biblical (see Num. 5:22 and Neh. 8:6).
Since Jesus called Himself "the Amen," John must have realized he was ending the book of Revelation with one of the Lord's names. We're left to wonder if other New Testament authors realized this as they wrote. Perhaps they simply followed examples of Psalms 41, 72 and 89 in how they completed their letters.
So how do we apply this insight in our worship of God and our understanding of the Bible? .
1) By saying "amen" more freely. The Scriptures we've cited should show you there's no rule limiting that word to the end of a prayer. If there is, then Jesus broke it. Yet I've heard of at least one Worldwide Church of God congregation where a woman was threatened with expulsion for saying "amen" often during a sermon -- and this was the post-changes WCG.
2) By not turning "amen" into a guilt trip. Admittedly, Moses required the Israelites to say it in Deuteronomy 27 - not just once, but 12 times. But elsewhere in the Bible, God only commands the word be said once: in a wilderness test for marital infidelity (Num. 5:22). No such requirement exists in the New Testament.
3) By not assuming "amen" automatically means what you or your minister thinks it means. The "open-ended book" argument strikes me as illogical, in the context of the entire Bible. For instance, the Old Testament does NOT end with an "amen" in Malachi 4:6. If we're practicing "New Testament Christianity" today, shouldn't there be an amen to note the closure of one era and the start of another?
U.S. talk-show host Rush Limbaugh was thinking about politics when he coined the phrase, "Words mean things." When examining THE Word of God, its words mean things as well - but we must take care not to misunderstand the meaning, or put our own "spin" on them.
If you're careful to "prove all things; hold fast that which is good," (I Thes. 5:21, KJV) you can sort out "Bible legends" from the truth of Scripture. This can help you focus on the Biblical principles which truly matter, and not the "pet viewpoints" some minister may have. And when those principles are expressed truthfully, you'll be able to say "amen" with confidence and no shame.
Amen?
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© 2004 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.