Jeff Guille

Based on a bible study given on 11th November 2025

‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Deuteronomy 27:26 (ESV)

 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

1 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV)

If our services have a weak link, perhaps this is it. At the end of our prayers and our sermons and our readings, what happens? The speaker says, “Amen.” And sometimes some of us mumble “Amen” back. It is not always an inspiring moment! There are probably a few different reasons for this. First, the speakers do not always make it clear that they are wanting a response. Second, if you are anything like me, you do not want to say Amen loudly in case you are the only person who does. And third, if we’re honest sometimes we haven’t been paying close enough attention to what’s going on to lift up our voice with a hearty and a sincere Amen.

Well, this study has one very simple, very practical aim: to persuade you from the scriptures that when the opportunity arises in our services – when the call comes from the front – that God wants you to seize the opportunity and to lift up your voice with a heartfelt, audible “Amen”!  

This might seem like a small thing. It might seem like something that is not really worth thinking about in any detail. But sometimes small reforms can have an outsized impact on the vitality of a church’s worship. And my hope and prayer is that this would be one such small reform that could have a big impact on the vitality of our services. So, to that end, I’ve got five assertions, which I put to your judgment.

The Amen is an expression of our faith in Christ.

The English word Amen is a transliteration from the Hebrew, Amen, and later from the Greek, Amen! In terms of root meaning, it means steady, trustworthy, true. So when we say Amen, we’re saying “yes, this thing is true, this thing is sure”. 

Most of the time in Scripture, the word Amen is used simply, as we use it, to assent to the truth of something. But there are a few occasions in Scripture where the word Amen is used in a much more profound way. In Isaiah 65:16, God is called the God of truth, literally the God of Amen. In Revelation 3:14, you may remember, Jesus refers to Himself and gives Himself the title, “The Amen”. Perhaps most profound of all is 2 Corinthians 1:20: “For all the promises of God in Christ are yes, and in him, Amen, to the glory of God through us.”  This verse ties both of those things together. Why is God the God of truth? Why is God the God of Amen? Because in Christ, every single promise is fulfilled. Why is Jesus the Amen? Why is He the Amen of God? Because it is in Him that all of God’s promises are “Yes” and “Amen.” 

In this connection, thinking about how Jesus is the Amen, it is striking that in the Gospels Jesus uses the word Amen almost one hundred times. He uses it not as we do, at the end of what we say, but rather at the beginning. It is quite easy to miss this because in our Bibles it is translated as truly or “verily” or “assuredly”. But the word Jesus is using in all those instances is “Amen,” sometimes “Amen, Amen.” 

So Jesus goes around teaching, often prefacing what He has to say by saying, Amen. If you think about it, nobody else speaks like this. The prophets do not speak like this. The apostles do not speak like this. But Jesus could speak like this because He is the Amen of God. Jesus could say, “Amen” – “verily, truly, assuredly” – before everything that He said. 

So as we think about the word Amen, it’s not some neutral word, devoid of any Christian content. Rather, it gets right to the heart of the character of God, the faithfulness of God. It gets right to the heart of the role of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, in fulfilling all of God’s promises. When we hear God’s word, we can say Amen, because Christ will fulfil all of God’s promises.  Similarly, when we hear a prayer in Jesus’ name, we can say Amen because we know that in Christ God will hear and He will answer our prayers according to his will. 

We are in deeper waters than we might originally expect. We worship the God of Amen. We worship a Saviour who is the Amen. And it is resting on these things, as an expression of our faith in Christ, that we can say Amen.  

The Amen is the constant refrain of God’s people.

A brief survey of scripture will suffice to show this. In the Old Testament, we find thirty uses of the word Amen, most of them corporate, and 12 of them in Deuteronomy 27. There, various curses were delivered from Mount Ebal, and then the people responded, Amen. 

In other instances, though, you have the Amen used in response to praise or in response to blessing. In response to praise take Psalm 106:48, for example, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel From everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen!” And in response to blessing, take Nehemiah 8:6, “and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands.” 

Moving into the New Testament, we see this pattern continued. We see the Amen at the conclusion of praise, at the conclusion of blessing, and at the conclusion of prayer. At the conclusion of praise, Jude 25: “To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.” In response to blessing, Romans 15:33, “now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”  And at the conclusion of prayer we can of course go to the Lord’s Prayer. There Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray and he tells them to conclude their prayer with an Amen.

There’s many more examples we could give, but those will suffice until we get to the book of Revelation, where there are a few more significant Amens that are worth our attention. The book of Revelation is actually bookended by two highly significant Amens. The first is Revelation 1:7, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” And then, right at the end of Revelation, at the end of the scriptures, the final two verses of the entire Bible, we hear this, Revelation 22:20-21, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen”. 

Revelation is bookended by these two Amens, and in the middle we find Amen variously on the lips of the saints and the angels in glory. To give just one example, Revelation 7:11-12 has a significant double Amen: “All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying…” What is the cry that reverberates in the heavens? “…Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honour and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

So what do we see from that brief (and very selective) survey of the scriptures? We see simply that the Amen is the constant refrain of God’s people. It was so in the old covenant. It remains so in the new covenant. And it even is on the lips of the saints and angels in glory. So the Amen is the constant refrain of God’s people. 

But you might be thinking that none of this quite solves the issue of whether we should have a corporate Amen as part of our worship services in church. And that is a fair point. So that brings us to our third assertion.

The Amen is an integral part of corporate worship.

Where do we see that? It is certainly not as clear as other things are in the scriptures, but there are two passages we can turn to where it’s at least suggestive that the New Testament supports and promotes a corporate Amen in public worship today. 

The first is a text we’ve already been to, 2 Corinthians 1:20. We have already seen from this passage that it teaches us that Jesus fulfils all of the promises of God. But there is a slight ambiguity in the NKJV here:

“For all the promises of God in Jesus are yes, and in him Amen to the glory of God through us.”

Now, does that mean “all of the promises of God are yes and Amen in Jesus”? Perhaps you’ve taken it that way. Another way of reading the verse is that “all the promises of God are yes in Jesus, and in him we lift up the Amen to the glory of God through us.” 

If you look at other translations, you will see it is the latter reading that is generally followed. The NIV, for example, says: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ. And so through him, the Amen is spoken by us to the glory of God.” And the ESV says: “for all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”  I would suggest we take this verse the way that most translators will take this verse: all of the promises of God are yes in Christ, and so in Him we lift up our Amen to the glory of God.

So, do we do that individually or together as a church? Well in the Greek there is a definite article before the word Amen: “We lift up the Amen”. This suggests not just an Amen that we lift up in our own time, but rather the Amen, the corporate Amen, said by the entire assembly.

The second passage suggestive of a corporate Amen, and perhaps even more persuasive, is 1 Corinthians 14:16. The reason this is a bit more persuasive is that the context of 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 is all about corporate worship. Paul is talking to this very enthusiastic church, with lots of spiritual gifts flying around, and he is wanting to help them order their corporate worship in a way that is edifying for the church. Look at 1 Corinthians 14:12: “even so, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.”  

Paul’s particular issue here in verses 13 to 16 is the use of tongues, specifically the use of uninterpreted tongues in corporate worship. There were those in the congregation with the gift of tongues. Sometimes they would pray out in tongues, but nobody would interpret what they said. And Paul is talking about that practice and he is saying quite strongly that it should not be that way. You should not have uninterpreted tongues in corporate worship. 

Let’s follow his argument. Verse 13: “Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” If you just pray in a foreign language, your heart might be raised up to God, but your understanding is not edified and nor is the understanding of everybody else. No one understands what you are saying. 

Paul continues in verse 15: “I will pray with the spirit and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit and I will also sing with the understanding.”  In corporate worship, we must worship in spirit and truth. We must have the heart engaged; we must also have the mind engaged. And his application in that context is: “don’t allow untranslated tongues in corporate worship.”  

Now notice what Paul says in verse 16: “Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit” – if you just pray out in tongues and no one understands – “how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say Amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say?”  And again, there is a definite article: “how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say the Amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say?” 

It is a compelling argument. If somebody prays in a language that most of the people do not understand, how is it that they will be able to say the Amen at the giving of thanks?  But notice that it is only compelling if it were the common practice of the apostolic church that all corporate prayer would be followed by a corporate Amen. And indeed, only if it was understood that this was so integral to corporate worship that there was no way around the corporate Amen. If the Amen was considered optional, Paul could have said: “you can allow the praying in tongues, and you can just ditch the Amen.” But no. He says, “how will [they] say the Amen”?

So, there are many things in scripture that have far more evidence than this does. But do we have two passages that are at least suggestive that it was the common practice of the apostolic church to have a corporate Amen as part of their regular worship. 

The Amen resounds through church history. 

If we are right that the corporate Amen was the practice of the church in Bible times, then we should be able to trace the practice through church history as well. We can, and we will do so very briefly now. 

in the second century, Justin Martyr provides us with one of the earliest descriptions of a Christian worship service. Describing their communion prayers he says, “the president [the pastor], in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings according to his ability, and the people assent saying, Amen.” In the 4th century, Jerome, commending the worship at Rome says, “Where does the Amen so resound like the thunder of heaven?” In the 5th century, Augustine again speaking of communion said, “For you hear the body of Christ, and you reply, Amen”. So this was clearly practiced in the early church.

What of the reformers?  Well, just to give one example, we can listen to how Calvin described the practice of the corporate Amen. “The whole assembly followed in their minds the words of that one person until he had come to a close, and then they all said Amen.” William Maxwell tells us that, “the people’s Amen was retained by all the churches of the Reformation.” Then consider the Puritans. They wanted to do everything according to scripture. Vast liturgies came down from the Roman Catholic Church, and Puritans are known for coming in and stripping away everything unbiblical. Horton Davis tells us that the Puritans, “veto congregational responses with the single exception of the word, Amen.”  And if you look at all Christian liturgies – whether ancient or modern – across all of the various traditions, they’ll be vastly different, but the one thing you’ll notice in virtually all of them is the Amen. 

All that to say, when we say the Amen, we are adding our voices to the choir – the voice of the church universal, down through the ages and across the world. 

The Amen should resound in our services.

Finally, by way of application, I would put it to you that the walls of this church should ring again with the Amen. And so I just want us to close by thinking very briefly about what it might look like practically for us to revitalize, re-energize our own practice of it. So, a few questions to ask:

Why should we say the Amen? 

Let me just list off seven reasons, drawing together everything that we have seen:

1. It is a biblical practice. 
2. It brings glory to God. 
3. It expresses our faith in Christ. 
4. It seals God’s word to our hearts.
5. It makes us bold in prayer. 
6. It encourages active participation in worship.
7. It is a clear demonstration of church unity.

When should we say the Amen?  

There are many fitting times for a corporate Amen: after prayers, after readings, after sermons, after doxologies, after benedictions, etc. There is not really any limit when you look at the scriptural data. But the key thing is that it should be a corporate Amen. So that means it should be said by everybody, not just a few of us. It should be said by men, by women, and by children. And it should be said by everybody together, which means it needs to come from the prompting of the speaker. That is what we mean by the corporate Amen, rather than just random Amens. 

How should we say the Amen? 

Well, if we think back a little bit, the very meaning of the word Amen is to give a genuine, heartfelt assent to what is said. To heartily say “yes, assuredly, verily, it is so.” That means we have to actually track with what’s going on in worship. To be able to say Amen in a service actually requires us to be on the ball with the whole service. Remember what Calvin said, “the whole assembly followed in their minds the words of that one person until he had come to a close. And then they all said Amen.”

Fourth, how loudly should we say the Amen? 

I put it to you that we should say it quite loudly, with the caveat that we should not individually be so loud that we become a distraction to others. That is a good principle in our singing; it is also a good principle when it comes to the Amen. 

Given all that the Amen represents, that we are to be heartily affirming the truth of God’s word and that God will hear our prayers in Christ, surely it’s not very fitting to mumble an Amen. Surely that amounts to an idle word. We hear these glorious truths about Christ, and then we mumble an Amen. We should be able to do better than a mumbled Amen!

Puritan pastor William Gouge said this, “no echo like to the echo which makes the walls of a church to ring again with Amen. Such a sound would quicken and minister spirits and put a kind of heavenly life into the people themselves.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that. The volume of Amen speaks (much like the volume of our singing) to the heart of our Christianity, the vitality of our life as a church. So we should pray that God would so invigorate us that we hear louder singing and louder Amens in our congregation. 

That said, as we alluded to earlier, we should not say Amen so loudly that we become a distraction to others. As with other areas in worship, it is possible to be so enthusiastic that we inadvertently steal attention from God. And here I can do no better than to quote Al Martin, “If ever God is to be the unrivalled focus of our attention, surely it’s in the corporate worship of God. The saying of the Amen must therefore be done with propriety and modesty, as well as with vigour, enthusiasm, and reverent joy.” 

Conclusion

I hope I have persuaded you that God is calling us to revitalize our practice of the corporate Amen. And the scope of this study is somewhat broader as well. It is also my hope and prayer that God will use this as just one way in which He is revitalizing our heart engagement with the corporate worship of God. Oh, that we would all come, particularly on the Lord’s Day, and be engaged with what is going on; that our hearts will be thrilled by the gospel of our Saviour. And just one of the ways that this finds expression – perhaps a small way, but an important and a biblical way, nonetheless – is that it finds expression when, as one people, we gather together and respond to God’s word and respond to the prayers with a corporate Amen!

 Let the Amen sound from His people again; gladly for aye we adore Him!

Hymn: ‘Praise to the LORD the Almighty’ by Joachim Neander