What did Jesus mean when he said "verily, verily?"

One unfortunate side effect of being familiar with the scriptures is that it becomes easier to gloss over what we read but do not understand. I advise my children to slow down as they are reading, and frequently ask themselves things like:

What does this mean? 

Why is this written that way?

Why were these particular words chosen? Why were other words not chosen?

Is there a clearer way of phrasing this?

How would I explain this idea to someone who does not know scriptural jargon?

What real-world, modern situations are comparable to what I am reading about?

Is there anything in my life that does not accord with the principle I am reading about here?

One phrase that we see often in the New Testament teachings of Jesus is "verily, verily."

As you read that, did you stop to ask why he said that, or what he meant? Have you ever asked the Lord why he said that? Have you spent any time searching that out?

I have.

What he meant

When the Lord said this, what he was saying was a rich composite of the following ideas:

• I know that you do not know what I am about to tell you.
• What I am about to tell you is not my opinion.
• I know that what I am about to say is true.
• The Father taught me what I am about to teach you.

Jesus' audience knew exactly what he was conveying when he said, "verily, verily." It was an extremely audacious statement, and while some of them responded by paying close attention to what followed, knowing it would be consequential either toward their eternal outcome or the judgment of who and what Jesus was, most did not. Most people were highly offended by Jesus saying such things.

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. (Mark 6:3)

How dare he.

Why he said it

When Jesus said this, it was not to present evidence that what he was saying was true. He used reason and evidence to prove his points, not dogmatic assertion. Rather, he was making a distinction, trying to help his audience understand that while the topics he discussed might be familiar to them and resemble the things they might speak about, he was not coming from the same place they would be were they to say something similar.

Sometimes, when further light is revealed to you, it causes you to be offended. In such cases, it is helpful to have a warning that what is about to say is probably going to offend you. You can guard your heart and exert extra effort on maintaining an open mind. It helps.

Sometimes, when further light is revealed to you, even if it is something you never would have ever come up with on your own, you respond by pretending that it is of little worth, or that you already knew it. In such cases, it is helpful to consider that you do not know it before you first hear it. When I know that what I am about to tell someone is something that they do not know, and I think they are likely to respond this way, I will ask them the question I know they do not know the answer to before I tell them the answer. Like I did with this post. Sometimes, that's not enough, but it does help them.

An interesting connection to the idea of tightly coupled truths

Trotting out this phrase was always a two-edged sword for the Lord. Doing so would always cause many people to get offended, even before he said whatever he was going to say, which was likely to be offensive enough as is.

Jesus was not wantonly displaying arrogance in saying "verily, verily." Why did he say it? Only because he was about to say something that would be absurd for anyone to say without claiming to know significantly more about God than the audience.

While saying "verily, verily" would offend many, the greater good in the end would come only from clearly stating at the outset that he had firsthand knowledge of what he was about to say.

There are a great many truths that God has to give which are inseparably coupled to things that many people will find highly offensive, repulsive, hard to hear, critical, and so on. While many things can be presented in a softer or easier way, some simply cannot, because to do so would require removing key components of the idea, and reducing the benefit by doing so.

Remember these things.