Amen (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word found its way bodily from the Heb. (]?¥) into the Hellenistic idiom tnrough the LXX, and strengthened its hold later on by its more copious use in the version of Symmachus. It is derived from [ix he propped, in Niphal (re- flexive) he was firm. So the adverb ]PN, firmly, came to be used, like our surely, for confirmation, in various ways. (1) It is used for the purpose of adopting as one's own what has just been said (this answering sense being apparently the orig.

one, Nu 5^) = ' so is it,' or ' so shall it be,' rather than the less compre- hensive ' so be it,' though ' so be it ' is occasionally the prominent meaning (Jer 28'). The word is limited to the religious atmosphere, being, on human lips, an expression of faith that God holds the thing true, or will or can make it true. Thus after the ' oath of cursing,' recited in Nu 5^, there is added, both in the orig. Hebrew and in the Greek of Sym., 'The woman shall say.

Amen, Amen,' the word being doubled for empnasis; where the LXX, however, haa the inadequate y^voiro, yivotro, so be it, as is the case in nineteen out of the twenty -three passages where the Heb. word occurs in tliis connexion : of the rest, three have d^'i''. and the fourth dXijfluJj. It is put also into the mouth of the people at the end of each curst uttered on Mount Ebal (Dt 27).

At the close, likemse, oipvblic prayers, thanksgivings, benedictions, or doxologies the people used to say Amen (Neh 8", Amen, Amen); not, apparently, however in the services of the temple, where the response was different (Edersheim, Temple Service, p. 127), but certainly in the services of the sj-na- gogue (Ps 41", e.g., and Schurer, HJP 11. u. 78, 82). That this custom passed over from the synagogue to the Christian assemblies we gather from I Co 14", where St.

Paul speaks of tA d^ijy, the (customary) amen uttered by the listeners at the close of the extempore thanksgiving. (2) It is used in confirmation of one's oton prayers, thanksgivings, benedictions, doxologies. Before AJMEN AMMIHUD 81 NT the word occurs only at the end of a privatu prayer in To 8*, and at the end of a personal ascription in the last verses of 3 and 4 Mac. Tlio personal doxological or ascriptional usage is much more frequent in NT (e.g.

Ko 1^ ^), and, outside S Paul and the Apoc, it is the only NT usa^e. In St. Paul's Epistles the word sometimes concludes a prayer for, or a benediction upon, his readers ; but, except in Ko 15^^ and Gal U", it is a later addition. Sometimes, as in Rev 7", it is apparently intro- ductory to a doxology, but is, in reality, confirma- tory of a previous doxology. So also in Rev 22 it is a believing acceptance of the previous divine Athrmation.

(3o) It is used once cU the dose of an a^rmation of one's own, to confirm it solemnly in faith : Rev 1', where it is the trustful climax of the more limited roi, yea (the bare personal confirmation) : ' Yea, verily [He shall so come].' (36) The use of Amen to introduce one's own words and clothe them with •olemn atlirmation may be called an idiom of Christ : it is a use confined entirely to Him in ■acred literature. But the practice of the evan- gelists in this matter is not uniform.

The Synopt- jBts give invariably d^iji' X^u, the Fourth Gospel as invariably d/iiii' d/iV X^u. Again, Matthew is richest in the phrase, using it thirty times ; Mark less rich, using it thirteen times ; Luke least so, using it only six times; elsewhere he gives narrower substitutes {iXriOut thrice, ^ir' dX-qSelas once, val once), or more usually the simple Xiyu. Tho signal difTerence in Luke may be due partly to the non-Hebraic stamp of his readers.

The double uTTien of introduction in John has its parallel elsewhere in the double amen of conclusion, instances of which have already been cited.

But the invariableness of the doubling, as opposed to the invariableness of the single a7nen in the Synoptists, can be put down only to an idiosyncrasy of the writer, though he need not bo unhistorical in all or even in many of his instances ; for it is worthy of notice that all the sajings in question are peculiar to John except 13-' (ll'Mt Lk) and ■"* (|| all Syuopp., but Lk Xiyu only). Sue Hogg in JQR Oct. 18UG.

But Christ's uniqueness in using it as a word of introduction runs parallel with the uniqueness of its connotation when He does use it. (a) It is never the expression of His own (accepting or expectant) faith ; it is rather an expression calling for faith : this view is supported by the invariable accompani- ment X4yu viiif. ' He makes good the word, not the word Him ' (Cremer, Wiirlerbiich, 8th ed. pp. 145, 146).

(/9) Consequently, in His mouth, it lias generally to do with His ovm }>erson, either (a) as Messiah, or (6) as demanding faith in His Messiah- ship in spite of outward appearances and mistaken views : it points not merely to intellectual or eventual verity, but to the fact that either the thing is true in Him or Be will make it or keep it true. So it is the amen of fuljilment in Him or by Him, or the amen of paradox, or both (cf. Mt 5'" 16" 21" 26", and other passages cited in Cremer).

It is intelligible, therefore, now the evangelists preferred to leave d/x*)'' untranslated ; for Luke's occasional dXijCut, like LXX yivoiro, is but a partial equivalent for what Christ meant by the «..i.|. Slc Nestle in Expos. Times, viii. (1897) \W. (4) In close relation to Christ's usage, so under- stooil, is the use of amen as a name or description of Christ and of God : of Christ, Rev 3", ' tho Amen, the faithful and true witness' (cf.

2 Co X", where the yea, the promise, is in Christ, and the Amen, the ratification, is through Him) : of Voil, In e.")" (twice), 'the God of the amen,' i.e. of faith- fulness and truth (if tho Heb. adverbial points be correct : see Cheyne on the passage) ; LXX (in- adequately) : Tbv $tlw rir iXrjOuiir (cf. iX-nOmis and ^ii», Rev 3'>). J. MA.S.SIE.