Before You Say Amen

Romans 1:25

“They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”

You hear it in church mostly, the word ‘Amen.’ In many church traditions, you hear it throughout the sermon as an affirmation of the sermon point, people blurting it out in agreement. We recite it at the end of a dinner prayer, or even when someone makes a great point in any context. So, what is ‘Amen’ and what does it mean? Most of us feel like I did at the dinner table, lost. I just laughed as though I knew the line the girls were blurting out. You say ‘Amen’ and, well, I am guilty of not even knowing what it means. Even at the end of corporate prayers, the pastor would say, “And all the people say????… AMEN!” Did we have to say that to end church?

The definition of Amen from Google is, “uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn, meaning ‘so be it’… used to express agreement or assent.” So, at first, Amen means we are agreeing to something when we say it. Good, but that does not do it for most of us. So the Hebrew definition of Amen according to Chabad.org is, “The Talmud explains that there are three intentions within the word amen (depending on context): 1) an oath, 2) acceptance of the statement or terms, 3) confirmation of, or faithfulness in, the statement (e.g. belief, prayer, and faith that the statement will be fulfilled).”

1. When you say Amen, you are taking an oath.  An oath of what is being said or prayed is true, and you would put your hand on a stack of Bibles in a court room kind an oath.  The first appearance of ‘Amen’ in the Bible is in Romans.  “They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.” (Romans 1:25) The first chapter of Romans is a doosy but this is the first time ‘Amen’ appears in the Bible and Paul is writing it.  It states that God is worthy of eternal praise. Amen!  The oath is stated and is clear. 
2. When you say Amen, you are accepting the statement of terms stated is true and good.  So, when you hear someone say that if you smoke there is a good chance you can have complications you can say Amen to that because you are accepting the statement is true.  Using Romans 1:25, with the oath, you say Amen because you are accepting the statement is true and that God is worthy of eternal praise. 
3. When you say Amen, you are stating you believe what was being said will be fulfilled and you have faith to see it happen.  When you start building a house you can say Amen when someone says one day we will eat dinner in the dining room as a family, Amen.  Amen because you have faith that statement will come to pass.  Philippians 2:10-11 says, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” So, you can have faith and confidence that this statement will come to pass. 

Today, before you say “Amen” to the next prayer or statement you hear in a church know that ‘Amen’ has a personal deeper connotation dealing with truth, faith, and understanding.  It is not just a word the pastor says to end church.  In short, when you say “Amen,” you are agreeing with that prayer, statement, or sermon.  We are required as Christians to rightly divide the word of truth.  When you say Amen, you might want to know you are Amening too. 

Words are powerful and they have life and death in them (Proverbs 18:21).  Don’t go around willy nilly and saying Amen to everything.  When you say Amen, you are agreeing with and speaking into your own life.  Be mindful and have Godly wisdom the next time you say Amen. Make sure it is something you can take an oath for, accept it as truth, and have faith it will come to pass. 

Prayer: Father help to rightly divide the word of truth.  Help us to understand what we are saying Amen to.  I pray for supernatural guidance from the Holy Spirit when we listen to sermons and prayer and even guidance from believers so we can know the truth and say Amen to it in Jesus’ name, amen.