Amen, Hallelujah / Alleluia, Hosanna, Maranatha

Word Meanings and Definitions

ver.: 23 February 2008

What is the meaning of this ??
amen, hallelujah / alleluia, hosanna, 'more Jesus', maranatha.

What Is Amen ?

Amen : Hebrew, meaning 'let it be so'. It is a plea to God for a response to prayer, an affirmation of what will be done by God, a 'Yes' to God's vision, and a statement of confidence in God. In African-American and Pentecostal circles), amen is a celebration of what will come from God, even before God gives it. It also has an adverbial form that means 'truly' or 'it is so'.

Hallelujah and Alleluia

Hallelujah! : [Heb hllwyh "Praise be to Yah"] Also, in Latinized form, alleluia. It's the time-honored way of using our voices to give God some small part of what God is due. It's not supposed to stop at our lips, however : as Augustine of Hippo put it, "The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot!" We are to praise God with lips, with body, with heart, and with deed.

Most folks in my own denomination are Alleluia people : they draw their worship and prayer life from something which has its roots in the alleluias of Latin Mass. While that's also my own main heritage, I draw heavily from Jewish worship, past and present, and much from African-American worship. Those roots are more Hallelujah. It is the same word, and the same meaning, but by a different road. (To that I say, amen!)

You can also check the dictionary.

What is Hosanna ?

hoshi'annah means ' rescue us ! ', in an imperative mode (-nh), which is like a command, demand, or very urgent plea. It was originally the cry of a desperate people toward their hero. By Jesus' time, it had already become a less-agitated term of adoration, signifying that the one they were hailing was the one they expected to get rid of the Romans. By the time Christianity had started becoming a force in the Roman world (and thus Palestine), the term had entirely become a greeting of praise for a leader who was expected to cause any sort of desired change. Today, most Christians have no idea of its original thrust, and think it's just another praise word like hallelujah. The crowd in Jerusalem likely had not even a thought that Jesus was there to save them from something even worse than Rome : death.

What is meant by 'More Jesus'?

"more" or "more Jesus": The trem was originally used in independent charismatic circles as a prayer calling on God to support what was going on in a gathering which was actively 'in the Spirit' or was starting in renewal. In that use, the phrase highlights how charismatics believe worship is about intimacy with God. It also ties into their end-times beliefs; they look forward to the Kingdom where Christ will be with them in full. In many places, the phrase has shifted in meaning. There, the pastor or worship leader starts calling out for 'more Jesus', signaling the start of a burst of manifestations. In that use, it's a 'trigger' or 'magic' or 'queue' word for certain expected behaviors.

What Is Maranatha ?

made of two Aramaic/Syrian words, maran'atah, meaning, "our Lord comes," or (treating the -a(h) ending as if for speed) "Lord, come quickly". This phrase is how early Christians greeted each other. The use comes from Revelation 22:20, the very end of the book, where it is used as a plea or prayer. This hope is the same one as found in different words in the Lord's prayer, "Your Kingdom come", only in Revelation is maranatha said with a different backdrop, one where the immediacy of persecution strips away any comfort about the world they were living in. In that setting, the coming of the Lord and His Kingdom seems more of a matter of life and death in the here and now.

In 1 Corinthians 16:22, the line reads, "Our Lord is coming, and he will judge those who have tried to stop Him." It is used here in context with the Greek term anathema ("put away, throw out"). Because of this tie between the 'coming' and 'judgement', some sources take maranatha in other settings to be a short form of a curse. Not so; all it means in Corinthians is that the Lord's coming will end all rebellion against God -- the curse is not in the coming but in the 'anathema', and even the 'anathema' is more of an assertion of justice than it is a curse.