Faithful and discreet slave

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses. (Discuss)

The faithful and discreet slave is the term used by Jehovah's Witnesses to describe the collective body of "anointed" Christians alive on earth. This "remnant" of the 144,000, whose members expect to ascend to heaven at death,^[1] currently numbers about 10,000. Jehovah's Witnesses believe this group exercises teaching authority in all matters pertaining to doctrine and articles of faith.^[2][3]

The "faithful and discreet slave" is described as a "class" of Christians that operates under the direct control of Jesus Christ^[1] and has been delegated the task of "feeding" Christians with scriptural instruction and exercising direction over their interests and affairs.^[4] The concept is a central doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses' system of belief^[5] and is based on their interpretation of one of the parables of Jesus Christ at Matthew 24:45-47 ("a faithful and wise servant" KJV).

Watch Tower Society publications teach that Jesus uses this group exclusively "to publish information on the fulfillment of Bible prophecies and to give timely direction on the application of Bible principles in daily life"^[6] as the only means of communicating God's messages to humans. Hence, it is referred to as God's "prophet"^[7] and "channel".^[8] The group is also said to appoint men to positions of responsibility within Jehovah's Witnesses "through its Governing Body".^[9] In practice, all decisions on doctrines, activities and oversight of Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide are made by the members of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. According to the Watch Tower Society, no global network of anointed Witnesses exists to reveal new spiritual truths, and the "slave class" is represented by "a limited nunber" of anointed men on the Governing Body. The Watchtower noted: "The Governing Body does not consult with each individual member of the slave class before making decisions."^{[10][11][12][13]}

The doctrine was originated by Watch Tower Society founder Charles Taze Russell, who in 1881 first applied it to the "church" — the "little flock" of 144,000 who would go to heaven — but five years later explained that it was an individual who would act as a sole "channel" or agent for Christ, dispensing "food", or new truths, for God's "household".^[14] Russell's followers identified him as that "servant" until that view was rejected in 1927.

Origin and history

The parable on which Jehovah's Witnesses base their doctrine of the "faithful and discreet slave", as rendered in the King James Version, reads: "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods."

Current Watch Tower teachings hold that the "faithful and discreet slave" class has had a continuous uninterrupted existence since being appointed by Christ at the time of Pentecost AD 33,^[15] when the first 120 people upon whom holy spirit was poured out began "feeding" Jews with spiritual food. As new disciples came in, they filled the role of "domestics" and joined in feeding others. The apostles and other early Christian disciples who wrote the books of the New Testament were also part of the "slave" class providing spiritual food to Christians.^[16]

The Watchtower has claimed members of the "slave" class were a close-knit body of Christians rather than isolated, independent individuals, and that one generation of the "slave" class fed the succeeding generation to maintain the unbroken line for more than 1900 years,^[16][17] providing the same spiritual food to Christians worldwide.^[15] Watch Tower publications have not identified the groups filling the role of the "slave" class between the close of the Apostolic Age and the early 20th century, suggesting it disappeared from "clear view",^[17] but has implied they might have included the Lollards and the Waldensians (the latter movement described by The Watchtower as "faithful witnesses of Jehovah ... who sought to revive true worship of Christianity").^[18][19]

Watch Tower publications assert that Christ, the "master" in the parable, returned in Kingdom power in 1914 and at that date identified those associated with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society as the only group still faithfully feeding his followers.^[20] (Earlier publications identify the date of his inspection as 1919,^[15] while a 1959 publication suggested Russell's group passed God's test of fitness in 1879, the year Zion's Watch Tower began to be published.^[21]) Christ, in fulfillment of the parable, subsequently appointed anointed Christians associated with the Watch Tower Society "over all his belongings". The "belongings" are said to today include Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn headquarters, branch offices, Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls worldwide as well as the "great crowd" of Jehovah's Witnesses.^[20]

Development of doctrine

In 1881, an article in Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence by the magazine's editor Charles Taze Russell identified the "faithful and wise servant" as "that 'little flock' of consecrated servants who are faithfully carrying out their consecration vows – the body of Christ ... the whole body individually and collectively, giving the meat in due season to the household of faith – the great company of believers."^[22][23]

In 1895, Russell's wife Maria claimed that Russell himself was the figure referred to in the parable at Matthew 24:45-47, though Russell initially declined to accept the personal application of the title, suggesting that it should apply to the Watch Tower rather than its editor.^[24] In 1897 Russell agreed that Christ would have made a "choice of one channel for dispensing the meat in due season [emphasis retained from original]" and while he did not refer to that "one channel" as an individual, Russell did apply to it the personal pronoun "he" (for example: "if unfaithful he will be deposed entirely"), and noted "whoever the Lord will so use, as a truth-distributing agent, will be very humble and unassuming" and "he would not think of claiming authorship or ownership of the truth".^[25]

In 1909, in an unsigned article, the Watch Tower mentioned that the "application to us of Matthew 24:45" had come "some fourteen years ago", or about 1895. The article went on to say "the Society's literature was the channel through which the Lord sent them practically all that they know about the Bible and the Divine purposes [emphasis added]". The same article described as "opponents" those who would apply the term "faithful and wise servant" to "all the members of the church of Christ" (Russell's 1881 teaching).^[26]

Even so, many Bible Students did believe Russell to be "the faithful and wise servant".^[27] A few weeks after Russell's death in 1916, the Watch Tower repeated the view, noting in a short biography of its former editor:

Thousands of the readers of Pastor Russell's writings believe that he filled the office of "that faithful and wise servant," and that his great work was giving to the Household of Faith meat in due season. His modesty and humility precluded him from openly claiming this title, but he admitted as much in private conversation.^[28]

The official history of Jehovah's Witnesses simply notes that Russel "did not personally promote the idea, but he did acknowledge the apparent reasonableness of the arguments of those who favored it."^[29]

In 1917, the publisher's preface to the book, The Finished Mystery, issued as a posthumous publication of Russell's writings, identified him as the "faithful and wise servant" appointed by Christ^[30] and as late as 1923, the Watch Tower encouraged the same belief about his role, declaring: "We believe that all who are now rejoicing in present truth will concede that Brother Russell faithfully filled the office of special servant of the Lord; and that he was made ruler over all the Lord's goods ... Brother Russell occupied the office of that 'faithful and wise servant'."^[31]

In 1927, Watch Tower Society president Joseph Rutherford reverted to Russell's original viewpoint, announcing that the "servant" was not an individual, but was made up of the entire body of faithful spirit-anointed Christians.^[32]

In subsequent years the application of the title became blurred. A 1950 The Watchtower appeared to assign to the "mother organization", or Watch Tower Society, the task of feeding Christians "meat in due season",^[33] but in 1951 the magazine defined the "faithful and discreet slave" as a class of people, but whose teachings were imparted through a theocratic organization.^[34]

Criticism of doctrine

Former Jehovah's Witness Governing Body member Raymond Franz has claimed the religion employs its interpretation of the "faithful and discreet slave" parable primarily to support the concept of centralized administrative authority in order to exercise control over members of the religion by demanding their loyalty and submission.^[35] He says the "anointed" remnant claimed to comprise the "slave" class have negligible input into Watch Tower doctrine and direction, which are set by the Governing Body.^[36] He claims the description of the slave in the parable as a "class" of Christians is unsupported by scripture and is used to emphasise the concept of the slave being connected to an organization, thus diminishing its application to individuals in encouraging the qualities of faith, discretion, watchfulness and individual responsibility. He argues that if the application of figures in Jesus' corresponding parables as members of a class were consistent, there would also be a "ten-mina class" and "five-mina class" relating to Luke 19:12-27 and a "many strokes class" and "few strokes class" arising from Luke 12: 47-48.^[37]

Franz also argues that the Watch Tower Society and its entire body of doctrines was built on the independent Bible study of its founder, Charles Taze Russell, who neither consulted any existing "faithful and discreet slave" class for enlightenment, nor believed in the concept as currently taught by the Society.^[38] He concludes: "In its efforts to deny that Jesus Christ is now dealing, or would ever deal, with individuals apart from an organization, a unique 'channel', the teaching produces an untenable position. It claims that Christ did precisely that in dealing with Russell as an individual apart from any organization."^[38]

References

See also

• Jehovah's Witnesses
• Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses
• Organizational structure of Jehovah's Witnesses
• Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania
• Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses
• New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
• 144,000