Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE QUESTION OF JESUS' SELF-UNDERSTANDING §15.8
already in the Jesus tradition we find reference to 'the tradition of the elders'. 404
And the implication of Jesus' debates with other teachers regarding various matters
of halakhah is that present conduct was based on the developing halakhah being
passed down. Jesus is recalled as resisting that trend in one degree or other. 405
(3) The main thrust of Jesus' teaching was not directed to the exposition of
Torah. As already noted, claims that he set himself against the Torah are seriously
overstated; on the contrary, we can certainly say that his teaching was thoroughly
rooted in Scripture. 406 At the same time, however, the main category in
his teaching (the kingdom of God) and the principal mode of his teaching (parables)
were more innovative than traditional in character.
(4) Two features of Jesus' teaching style have attracted considerable attention.
First, his use of 'Amen' to introduce a particular utterance. The term is familiar
in both Hebrew and Aramaic ('amen) as marking a strong solemn affirmation of
what has been said, most typically in a formal liturgical context. 407 The Jesus tradition
gives clear testimony that Jesus used the term consistently in his own teaching.
408 And that he did so in a quite distinctive way. For whereas in regular usage
'Amen' affirmed or endorsed the words of someone else, in the Jesus tradition the
term is used without exception to introduce and endorse Jesus' own words. 409 This
quite unique use can hardly be attributed to the early Christians; their own use of
'Amen' was in accord with the traditional pattern. 410 Of course, we can hardly exclude
the likelihood that in performing the tradition the tradents/teachers extended
the motif within the tradition. But neither can it be seriously doubted that the usage
began with Jesus and was a distinctive feature of his own teaching style. Why else
404. Mark 7.5, 8-9, 13/Matt. 15.2-3, 6.
405. See above, particularly §14.4.
406. See the conclusion to §14.4 above.
407. Num. 5.22; Deut. 27.15-26; 1 Kgs. 1.36; 1 Chron. 16.36; Neh. 5.13; 8.6; Pss.
41.13; 72.19; 89.52; 106.48; Jer. 11.5; 28.6; in Isa. 65.16 Yahweh is twice described as 'the
God of truth C'lohe-'amen)'. In the DSS the formula is usually the double 'Amen, Amen' (1QS
1.20; 2.10, 18; 4Q286 fragment 5 line 8; fragment 7 4.1, 5, 10; 4Q287 fragment 1 line 4; fragment
4 line 3; fragment 5 line 11; 4Q289 fragment 2 line 4; 4Q504 fragment 4 line 15;
fragment 17 2.5; fragment 3 2.3; frags. 1-2 1.7; 7[recto].2, 9; 4Q507 fragment 3 line 2; 4Q511
fragments 63-64 4.3).
408. See below, n. 418. Parentheses in the list there indicate where the Synoptic parallel
lacks 'Amen'. The list shows that the formula ('Amen, I say to you') was favoured by Matthew,
but not by Luke; if Matthew extended the motif, equally Luke may have reduced it.
409. Jeremias, Prayers 112-15: 'It has been pointed out almost ad nauseam [referring to
Dalman, et ai] that a new use of the word amen emerged in the four gospels which is without
analogy in the whole of Jewish literature and in the rest of the New Testament' (112). See also
Fitzmyer, Luke 536-37; Keck, Who Is Jesus? 101-102.
410. Of some thirty other examples in the NT, 1 Cor. 14.16 is the most interesting; otherwise
it is characteristically attached to the end of a doxology.
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