What’s behind this strange phrase Jesus used?

Jesus had a strange habit. You and I say “Amen” at the end of prayers, just as Jews did throughout the Bible (eg 1 Chronicles 16:36; Nehemiah 8:6) and in Jesus’ day (eg Romans 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 15:33; 16:27). But not Jesus. Instead, Jesus often began his sayings with “Amen, amen.”  

The Hebrew verb aman means ‘to trust’, conveying the idea of being trustworthy or true. As a response to a statement, ‘Amen’ means: ‘Truly!’ or: ‘I agree!’ 

So when Jesus began a saying with “Amen, amen” (often translated as “Very truly” – for example, John 3:3) he was asserting its truth. This makes good sense, yet it also leaves Bible scholars with an unexpected mystery. 

The double amen

“Never” is a dangerous word for academics: sooner or later, a new discovery will often prove them wrong! Nevertheless, after searching Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic literature, ancient versions of the Bible and other sacred writings, many respected scholars have concluded that other people in Jesus’ day never used ‘Amen’ in this way. 

Actually, the double “Amen, Amen” is unique to John’s Gospel; the other Gospels record Jesus introducing important sayings with a single “Amen”, and sometimes they omit it. For example, Jesus’ prediction: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times” begins with a single ‘Amen’ (‘Truly’ in the NIV) in Matthew and Mark, no ‘Amen’ in Luke, while John has the double “Amen, amen”, translated “Truly truly” (Matthew 26:34; Mark 14:30; Luke 22:34; John 13:38). 

This practice of beginning his sayings with “Amen” clearly stood out in the disciples’ memories of Jesus. Probably this was His way of avoiding the common custom of adding oaths for emphasis – something He strongly criticised (Matthew 5:33-37; 23:16-22). Or perhaps it was simply one of His habitual turns of phrase, just as we all have our favourite expressions. 

An explained peculiarity

For historians, insights like these are gold dust, because an unexplained peculiarity is more likely to be a genuine memory than to be invented. However, authors do often give fictional characters a distinctive ‘voice’ – for example, a character may constantly use slang or another may speak in rambling sentences. So a sceptic might conclude that Jesus’ repeated “Amen” was invented by the gospel writers to authenticate His sayings. Yet if that were the case, we would expect them to use it consistently; instead, some record a single ‘Amen’ while John doubled it; and all of them omit it on random occasions. 

The authors of the apocryphal gospels, the ‘fan fiction’ written in the second and third centuries, don’t use ‘Amen’ in this way. Actually, they are really bad at emulating Jesus’ speaking style. They even fail to use obvious characteristic expressions such as “I say to you”, “Son of Man” and Abba for ‘Father’. 

Bible scholars were overjoyed to find that this formulation wasn’t used by anyone except Jesus, because this helps to demonstrate that the words He actually spoke have been preserved. It is a bonus to discover that it is found only in the early four Gospels.  

On the other hand, the uniqueness of this expression also raises problems because few people have speech mannerisms that are completely unique; someone with a different way of speaking, like Yoda in Star Wars, comes across as eccentric or strange.  

Known for truth

Bible scholars therefore breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Risto Santala, a respected scholar of ancient Judaism, described a first-century fragment that contained a statement beginning with “Amen”. He wrote: “In the early 1960s a fragment from a deed of transaction was found in which a contemporary of Jesus solemnly states Amen, amen, ani lô ashem” – that is: “Amen, Amen, I [am] not guilty.”

Unfortunately, Santala died in 2012, and the fragment was never published. Actually, it can’t now be found. Did he make it up? Or is it irretrievably lost? Let’s explore the options. 

Jesus didn’t need oaths to reinforce His message because He was known for His truthfulness

Is it possible that Santala saw the fragment before it was published? Yes. He spent two decades in Jerusalem from 1957 researching ancient Jewish discoveries while the Dead Sea Scrolls were being published, and while other documents were discovered in the Bar Kokhba caves and Masada. He would have known the scholars involved.

Might the fragment have been lost? That possibility is more likely than it might seem. I remember when Peter Head, a fellow scholar at Tyndale House, requested detailed photographs of early New Testament fragments from small collections around the world. Some apologised that they had no time to look for them – a response that suggested they didn’t know where they were! In one case, a new photograph of a fragment showed that part of it was missing when compared with an earlier photograph. When Peter queried this, he was told the missing piece must have fallen off. 

An important divorce document I worked on, the early second-century Selim Get, was discovered in 1961 but then effectively vanished. It challenged the prevailing view that Jewish women had lost their biblical right to initiate divorce, so the specialist entrusted with its publication hid it in a drawer for years. Shortly before his death, he passed it to another scholar who published it as a small booklet without an English translation. I published an English translation in 1999 and revealed a Jewess who was demanding a divorce. 

One day we may find that missing fragment that starts with “Amen, amen”. But whether or not anyone else in the first century began statements in this way, Jesus’ consistent habit of doing so remains a distinctive mannerism that tells us something significant. He didn’t need oaths to reinforce His message because He was known for His truthfulness.

Nowadays we need to examine even official statements carefully. In a world of spin, misinformation, disinformation and half-truths, Christians stand out when they are known for speaking the truth – even when it costs them.