On the whole, the influence of Christ's teaching and in.s|iii,-i,liou on Anibilion h.is been not to ex- tir|.ale it, but to eontrol ;in,l eliaMen U by the iIiseo\-er,y and e.^tablisliineiiL of oilier stamlpoints, such as the outlook of othcr-worldlineb.s, the sense of brotherhood, and personal allegiance to Himself.
LrrBRATORE.— Lightfoot (J. B.), Cambridge Sermons, 217 ; Moore (A. L.), Admnt to Advent, 239 ; Shedd (VV. G. T.), Sermons to the Sinritual Man, 371 ; Mozley (W. B.), University Sermons,
■-ea. A. NoEMAN Rowland.
AMEN Like the Greek ifxriv, this is practically
a transliteration of the Heb. J.?x, which itself is a verbal adjective connect'ed with a root signifying to make jirm, establish. In the last instance, and as we are concerned with it, it is an indeclinable particle. Barth treats it as originally a substan- tive ( = ' firmness,' ' certainty '). For the deriva- tion, cf. our Eng. 'yes,' 'yea,' which is also connected with an old verbal root of similar sig- nificance.
As a formula of solemn confirmation, assever- ation and assent, it was established in old and familiar usage amon.nst the Jews in the time of our Lord. Its function i- - |..<i.i !!\ associated with worship, prayer, the 1 i i "ill and desire,
the enunciation of m^ i 'li j .nts and truths.
Four modes in which ^\nirii i- iiM-d maybe dis- tinguished—(1) Initial, when it lends weight to the utterance following. (2) Final, when u-sed by the speaker himself in solemn confirmation of what
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AMEX
precedes. (3) ScspoRsicc, when used to express assent to the utterance of another, as in prayers, benedictions, oaths, etc. (4) Subscript ional, when used to mark the close of a writing, but hardly amounting to much more than a peculiar variant of'Fmis.'
The subscriptional Amen requires but a lirief notice. No instance of it is found in the OT ; and as regards the closing Amen in the several Scriptures of the NT there is for the most part a lack of textual authority. The AV, following the TR, in most instances 'lias it; the RV in most instances omits it. AVhere it is found, in the Epistles and the Apocalypse, it is rather due to the fact that these writings close with a doxology, prayer, or benediction. The variations of authority in such cases seem to a large extent capricious : else why, e.g., Amen at the end of 1 Corinthians and not at the end of 2 Corinthians ? The closing Amen in each of the Gospels, though without authority, is a genuine iustance of the subscrip- tional use of later times. Tliis use has a further curious illustration in the practice of copyists of MSS who wrote 99 at the end of their work, this being the total numerical value of the characters in a/j.rii'. For the purposes of the present article it will lie necessary to examine the whole Biblical usage of ' Amen.
1. Amen in the OT.— The formula is found in {rr) the Pentateuch (Nu 5--, Dt 27 passim) as a ritual injunction (LXX yivoiro througliout). (b) In 1 K l*", 1 Ch le'^, Neh 5^', Jer ll* 28" it is mentioneil as being actually used (LXX in 1 K P* yemiro oi'Tws, Jer 28" dXTjffus, elsewhere d/ivi'). {>■) In the Psalms (41" 72"" 89^ 106^«) we meet with its liturgical use (LXX ydvoiTo). The most common equivalent for Amen in the LXX is yevocTo ; and with this may be compared St. Paul's familiar /irp yivoiTo, the negative formula of dissent and depre- cation.
No clear instance of the use of an initial Amen occurs. Hogg tliinks we have such in 1 K 1*^, Jer IP and 28"; but in each of these cases it will be found that the Amen is a responsive assent to something tliat precedes. It is true that the LXX rendering in Jer 28" (dXTjeds) shows that the trans- lators were iiiolined to regard this as an instance of ;<ii iiiiti:il Amen; but even here the term is really :iii iiMiural response to the false prophecy of Hauuiuiili 111 vv. ■-■•'. Almost all the instances, indeed, in w liich Amen is met with in tlie OT are examples of the responsive use ; the only consider- able instances of the Jinal use being found at the end of each of the first three divisions of the Psalter. In the Apocrypha we have further in- stances of the responsive Amen in To 8* and in Jth 13=" and 151" (EV in the latter book renders ' So be it '). The doubled formula (' Amen, Amen,' cf. Jth 13^) thus used is naturally explained as an expression of earnestness. It may here be added that among the Jews at a much later period Amen has a responsive and desiderative use in connexion with every kind of expression of desire and feli- citation ; c.y. ' May he live to see good days : Amen ! '
2. Amen in the Gospels. — AVe must set aside the instances of subscriptional Amen (see above) as without authority. In Mt 6'^ some ancient authorities support the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer with doxology and Amen ; but it can haiflly be doubted that Amen here, along with the doxology whicli it closes, is not original, but due to liturgical use (see ' Notes on Select Read- ings' in Westcott-Hort's AT in Greek, ad loc.). In all the other instances in tlie Gospels it is the initial Amen that is found, given always and only as a vsns loquencli of Christ in the formula, itiT]v X^7W I'/ufi' (o-oi), according to the Synoptists,