“Verily,
verily, I say unto you” was a phrase often used by Jesus Christ. Verily means “in truth; as a matter of truth
or fact; in deed, fact, or reality; really, truly. Frequently used, almost entirely, as an
emphatic affirmation of the truth of the statement.”[i] Knowing that Jesus Christ is the source of
truth and cannot lie [Ether 3:12], does He really need to use this phrase to
emphasize that He is telling the truth?
The NIV Bible translates this phrase, “I tell you the truth”. Perhaps because we are so familiar with the
phrase, we do not realize that it is designed to be emphatic. We should pay special attention to the
“verily, verily” phrases and even the singular “verily” should alert us to
something that Jesus especially wants us to know.
There are about
90 of the “verily, verily” phrases and over 250 uses of “verily, I say unto
you” in the scriptures. The Old
Testament, however, does not contain this phrase and it is only written in the
four Gospels of the New Testament. The
book of John is the only one that
“verily, verily” occurs, whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke use the phrase
“Verily, I say unto you”. Both the
singular and plural “verily” are in the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and
Covenants. Almost all the “verily”
phrases in the scriptures are spoken by Jesus Christ.
There are 36
passages in the Doctrine and Covenants that say, “Verily, thus saith the Lord”
with most of them at the beginning of a section. This makes sense because the Lord wanted the
members of the Church to know that the revelation truly came from Him. Similarly, when addressing revelations to
individuals, the Lord would often say, for example, “Verily, thus saith the
Lord unto you my servant Thomas”.[ii] The emphasis was to let that person know that
truly this revelation was for him from the Lord.
In studying
how the word “verily” has been used, it seems that there are different reasons
for the emphasis of truth. One reason
would be analogous to a teacher or a coach on the first day of class for the
new year. He or she would lay out the
rules to the class, along with the consequences. Amid the possible groans among the students,
the teacher then would say something to the effect, “Hey, these are the rules
and the consequences. I am not
kidding. This is real.” We, as children of God, often complain about
the rules and the consequences and Jesus Christ is telling us that they are
real. For example,
“Verily, verily, I say that I would
that ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them;
otherwise ye have no reward of
your Father who is in heaven”. [3 Nephi 13:1]
“Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For
with what judgment ye judge, ye shall
be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be meted unto you”. [3 Nephi 14:1]
“Keep my commandments continually,
and a crown of righteousness thou shalt receive. And except thou do this, where I am you
cannot come. And verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is
my voice unto all”. [Doc. & Cov.
25:15-16]
It is
interesting to note that in many of the “verily, verily” phrases, Jesus Christ
is telling us about Himself. He wants us
to know emphatically that He is real and what He can do for us is real. Stephen Robinson, in his book, “Believing
Christ” said the problem is not that we believe in Christ, but we do not
believe Christ. We need to believe what
He says is true. He means what He says.
“Not only must we believe that he is who he
says he is, we must also believe that he
can do what he says he can do. We must
not only believe in Christ, we must also believe
Christ when he says he can clean us up and make us celestial”.[iii]“And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God…Verily, verily I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father…” [3 Nephi 11:35]
Another
reason for the emphasis of truth would be to get our attention, to wake us up
to the reality of our situation.
Sometimes, when my children were younger and I asked them to do
something, I would get ignored or they would say they would do it in a few
minutes as those minutes turned into hours.
It was when I said, “I really mean it!” that they knew I really
did! I had to reach the “verily, verily”
stage in order to get their attention.
Many of the “verily, verily” phrases are in connection with the second
coming of Jesus Christ and the need to prepare.
“Wherefore, be faithful, praying
always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the
bridegroom---for behold, verily, verily,
I say unto you, that I come quickly”.
[Doc. & Cov. 33:18]
Some of the
“verily, verily” phrases are calls to repentance. Often we are ignorant of our sins and are
deceived in feeling justified for our actions.
Jesus wants us to know that certain behaviors or perceptions need to be
changed. For example,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he
that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is
of the devil, who is the father of contention…”[3 Nephi 11:29]
“Verily, verily, I say unto you my
servants, that inasmuch as you have forgiven one another your trespasses, even so I, the Lord, forgive
you….For of him unto whom much
is given, much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall
receive the greater
condemnation”. [Doc. & Cov. 82:1, 3]
Other uses of
the “verily, verily” phrases are important instructions directed to the
disciples and followers of Jesus Christ.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, I
give unto you to be the salt of the earth…”[3
Nephi 12:13] and “Verily, verily, I say
unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that
is set on a hill cannot be hid”. [3 Nephi 12:14]
“Verily, verily, I say unto you,
this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye
have seen me do that shall ye also do“. [3 Nephi 27:21]
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, as
I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one
thing, behold, there will I be in the midst of them--even so am I in the midst of you. Fear not to do good…for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore if ye so good ye shall also reap good for your
reward”. [Doc. & Cov.
6:32-33]
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, the
field is white already to harvest; wherefore,
thrust in your sickles, and reap with
all your might, mind, and strength”. [Doc. & Cov. 33:7]
These are
just samples of the many uses of the “verily” phrases. As we read the scriptures, let’s pay
attention to the “verily” phrases for “they become an internal highlighter
within the text itself. Instead of a
yellow marker or a red pencil, Jesus is marking our scriptures with His own
highlighting system. In the same way that Mormon uses ‘and thus we see that’ to
point out some of the essential doctrines, Jesus repeats ‘verily, verily’ to
draw our attention to what really counts”.[iv]
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