Glory and Honor to God

Often when a Pastor is in the middle of a sermon, and he reaches a particularly cogent or compelling part of the message, someone in the Congregation will say, “Amen!” This is most often done to show assent or agreement with what has been said. The question we will address in this FAQ is, “What does amen mean, and is saying it in the congregation a Biblical thing to do?”

First of all, amen is a word used so frequently in the Church that you would think that most Christians would know it’s meaning. However, many do not. Others tend to use the word frivolously, some even thinking that it simply means ‘the end.’ But this word is much more than just the standard “thing to say,” or the appropriate ending of a prayer.

[amen] is one of the few words of scripture which is written in it’s original Hebrew form. In fact, it is practically a universal word, having been adopted directly from the Hebrew into Greek, Latin, English, Spanish, and many other languages. Found both in the Old and the New Testaments, it is also translated in different ways, depending upon the context of the passage in which it is found. This Hebrew Amen is derived from the root [aman], which means to be firm or solid in the sense of permanency. Thus by implication, it means to be sure, true or faithful. So whenever we see this word Amen used in scripture, it is affirming truth, or illustrating something is said that is of absolute certainty. We can get a better understanding of the word in looking at the way God uses it in a slightly different context than we normally would see it. Here [amen] is used as a title for God, illustrating His faithfulness to His promises.

Source: What Does Amen Mean by Tony Warren