A Christian couple in the South had a child, and wanted to give her a biblical name. They decided to name her after the 13th disciple. It was the one Jesus spoke to a lot of the time. They named her Verilly. You know, “Verilly, Verilly, I say to you…”
Okay, it’s not that funny. But remember that every word of God is pure, and I think the word here is interesting. In my New American Standard, it is translated, “truly, truly.”
The Greek word is the word AMEN. Here is how Joseph Thayer, a Greek scholar, defines the word.
1. a verbal adjective firm, metaphorically, faithful
2. it came to be used as an adverb by which something is asserted or confirmed
a. at the beginning of a discourse, surely, of a truth, truly
b. at the close of a sentence; so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled
(from Thayer's Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 2000 by Biblesoft)
It means without a doubt, for certain, or indeed. The point is that when Jesus uses the word twice in a row, He is introducing an extremely important principle of doctrine.
For example, He uses it to introduce the importance of being born again:
John 3:3
3 Jesus answered and
said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again
he cannot see the
He uses it to introduce Our Lord’s equality with the Father
(you can use this one with the Jehovah’s Witnesses who come to your door, along
with John
John 5:19
19 Therefore Jesus
answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the
Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing;
for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
He uses it to indicate the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ:
John 8:58
58 Jesus said to
them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I
am."
He uses it to tell us how important prayer is:
John 16:23
23 "In that day
you will not question Me about anything. Truly,
truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.
One of the most important issues He uses this phrase in is the issue of eternal security.
John 5:24
24 "Truly,
truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,
has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death
into life.
Notice it doesn’t say “might not come into judgment, or may not, or should not”, but DOES NOT. In the Greek it’s even more emphatic. The word uses for not is the word OUK. When the word OUK is used, it is used to strongly deny that what is being declared will ever happen. So in this instance, it means that one who believes in Jesus Christ will absolutely never come into judgment.
Once a person believes in Jesus Christ, they have passed out of death into life. Passed out is the word METABEBEKEN and it means to leave, to depart, or to be totally removed from something. We have completely departed from the possibility of death!
When Jesus starts off this statement with “Amen, Amen”, it makes it even all the more sure. Notice He doesn’t say that someone who believes may hope to have eternal life, providing that they continue to be faithful, or perform some series of works. He says that the moment one believes, he has passed out of death into life.
Don’t have any doubts about your salvation. Once you believe in Jesus Christ, your eternity in heaven is completely guaranteed. If even one believer lost his salvation, the Jesus Christ would be a liar!
John 10:28-29
28 and I give eternal
life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.