Who Is the Faithful and Discreet Slave?

The July 15, 2013 Watchtower asks Jesus’ question in its title and answers with a small group of men. The parable asks the question too. It does not name the group.

The question

Who is the faithful and discreet slave of Matthew 24:45“Show the words of Matthew 24:45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?King James Version? Jehovah’s Witnesses answer that Jesus appointed a composite slave, a small group of anointed brothers, and that this slave is the Governing Body. Christians read the same sentences as a parable about servants who stay faithful until the master comes, not as a charter for one modern organization.

The people in the conversation are often sincere Bible readers who trust a channel because they believe Jesus promised one. A useful talk states that trust in their words, then reads the parable with them. The Watch Tower and Scripture is the wider question of how a publication and a passage sit together. This page stays with Matthew 24 and Luke 12.

What Jehovah’s Witnesses teach

The New World Translation of Matthew 24:45“Show the words of New World Translation of Matthew 24:45“Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?New World Translation (2013)Open on jw.org ↗ (1) reads:

“Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time?

The Watchtower of July 15, 2013, “Who Really Is the Faithful and Discreet Slave?,” gives the Society’s clarified answer. Paragraph 10 (2):

Who, then, is the faithful and discreet slave? In keeping with Jesus’ pattern of feeding many through the hands of a few, that slave is made up of a small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence. Throughout the last days, the anointed brothers who make up the faithful slave have served together at headquarters. In recent decades, that slave has been closely identified with the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Note, however, that the word “slave” in Jesus’ illustration is singular, indicating that this is a composite slave. The decisions of the Governing Body are thus made collectively.

The article’s own summary says the same thing in shorter lines:

“The faithful and discreet slave”: A small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence. Today, these anointed brothers make up the Governing Body

“His domestics”: All who are fed, whether they are of the anointed or of the other sheep

“Appointed over his domestics”: In 1919, Jesus selected capable anointed brothers to be his faithful and discreet slave

“He will appoint him over all his belongings”: Those who make up the composite slave will get this appointment when they receive their heavenly reward. Along with the rest of the 144,000, they will share Christ’s vast heavenly authority

The same article says the illustration began to be fulfilled after 1914, not at Pentecost, and that the first appointment over the domestics came in 1919. It also says the publications used to teach something else: that the slave was all anointed Christians as a group from Pentecost onward, and that the appointment over all the belongings happened in 1919. The 2013 article says why the earlier account was set aside: “further careful study and prayerful meditation indicate that our understanding of Jesus’ words about the faithful and discreet slave needs to be clarified.”

The warning about an evil slave is addressed in a box in that issue. The Society’s reading is that Jesus was not predicting a rival class:

Was Jesus foretelling that there would be an evil slave class in the last days? No. Granted, some individuals have manifested a spirit similar to that of the evil slave described by Jesus. We would call them apostates, whether they were of the anointed or of the “great crowd.” (Rev. 7:9) But such ones do not make up an evil slave class. Jesus did not say that he would appoint an evil slave. His words here are actually a warning directed to the faithful and discreet slave.

That is the strong form of the teaching. One slave, not every anointed person. The Governing Body, acting together. Appointed in 1919 to feed the domestics. A second appointment still future. A warning, not a second organization. Spiritual health, the article says at the outset, depends on recognizing this channel.

The February 2017 study article “Who Is Leading God’s People Today?” repeats the identification and adds a limit. Paragraph 10 (3):

The July 15, 2013, issue of The Watchtower explained that “the faithful and discreet slave” is a small group of anointed brothers who make up the Governing Body.

Paragraph 12:

The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction. In fact, the Watch Tower Publications Index includes the heading “Beliefs Clarified,” which lists adjustments in our Scriptural understanding since 1870. Of course, Jesus did not tell us that his faithful slave would produce perfect spiritual food.

The Society says this openly. The slave is the channel. The channel is not inspired, can err, and has adjusted teachings since 1870. Jesus, on their reading, did not promise perfect food. The 2013 change about the slave’s own identity is one of those adjustments: an earlier published view was replaced.

What the parable says

Matthew 24:45“Show the words of Matthew 24:45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?King James Version (4), in the King James Version: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?” The next verse blesses that servant if the lord finds him doing so when he comes, and says he will make him ruler over all his goods. The paragraph then warns of a servant who says the lord is delaying, beats his fellow servants, and is cut off when the lord comes.

Luke tells the same illustration and records a question the Matthew paragraph does not. Luke 12:41–42“Show the words of Luke 12:41–42^12:41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? ^12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?King James Version (5): “Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?” Peter asks whether the parable is for the apostles or for everyone. Jesus answers with the steward, and the following verses speak of servants who knew the lord’s will and servants who did not. The question on the page is “is this for us, or for all?” The answer’s shape is a call to faithfulness, with more required of those who knew more.

The King James wording is “servant” and “steward.” The New World Translation’s “slave” is a defensible rendering of the Greek word for a bondservant. The difference that matters is not that English choice. It is the identification of the figure with a named body appointed in a named year.

Nothing in Matthew 24:45“Show the words of Matthew 24:45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?King James Version or Luke 12:42“Show the words of Luke 12:42And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?King James Version says “Governing Body,” “1919,” or “headquarters.” Those come from the Society’s reading of the illustration inside a larger timetable: 1914 as the start of Christ’s presence, an inspection of the temple, and a selection of Bible Students. A Witness who believes that timetable hears the parable as a prophecy with a dated fulfillment. A reader who does not grant the timetable still has the parable. The sentences have to work as the warning they are, inside the discourse about a master who comes when the servants do not expect him.

The Society’s own note on the evil slave should be kept. They do not say Jesus appointed two slaves, a good organization and an evil one. They say the hard lines are a warning to the faithful slave, framed with “if ever.” Christians can agree that the paragraph is a warning to whoever has been trusted with the household, and still ask why the trusted one must be a single twentieth-century board. A warning to stewards is how Luke leaves the parable after Peter’s question.

A Christian response

Jesus feeds his people. Christians say that. He does it by his word, by the Spirit, and by servants who teach. Acts 17:11“Show the words of Acts 17:11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.King James Version (6) praises the Bereans because they received the word with readiness and searched the scriptures to see whether the things they were told were so. That is not a slogan against organization. The apostles taught, wrote, and expected churches to listen. It is a check on any teacher, including a teacher who says the check does not apply to his channel.

The 2017 Watchtower already says the Governing Body is not inspired and can err, and that published beliefs have been clarified since 1870. The 2013 article is an example, not an exception: the meaning of this very parable was revised. A channel that can revise the identity of the slave is not a second scripture sitting beside Matthew. The Society says as much when it refuses the word “infallible.” The Christian conclusion is the one that refusal points to. The text that judges the food is the text the slave claims to be serving. When a publication and a later publication differ, Matthew 24:45“Show the words of Matthew 24:45Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?King James Version does not tell the reader which magazine is the arrival of the master. It tells servants to be found feeding the household when he comes.

Read the parable in both translations, and read Luke’s question with it. Ask, without a sneer, where the chapter names the Governing Body, and what a servant is supposed to do when the food changes. Many Witnesses will answer with the 1914 framework and with the care they have received from the publications. Hear that. Then stay with Peter’s question: “unto us, or even to all?” The Christian reading is that the parable binds every servant, and binds teachers more heavily, until the master comes. It does not install one board as the only mouth through which the master speaks.

Common objections

Without the slave, everyone invents a private religion. Teachers matter. Creeds, churches, and commentaries exist because private invention is a real danger. The New Testament answer is Scripture tested in the open, as the Bereans did, and a church that can be corrected by that Scripture. A board that says it can err has already admitted it is not the final court. The final court it appeals to is the Bible. Read that.

The apostles were a governing body, so a governing body today is the same thing. Acts shows apostles and elders in Jerusalem deciding a question and writing to the churches. The February 2017 article makes that comparison. The apostles were witnesses of the risen Jesus, and their decision in Acts 15 was argued from Scripture in a letter the churches kept. A later board can imitate their care. Imitation is not identity. Matthew 24 does not say the steward will reappear in Brooklyn or Warwick in 1919.

You are attacking men who sacrifice a great deal. The parable is about faithfulness, and the article’s tone about the brothers at headquarters is often grateful. Gratitude is not the identification. A Christian can respect the labor and still say the verse does not name them. The 2017 article asks to be remembered in prayer. Prayer for real people is not the same act as accepting a claim about 1919.

Keep reading

• The Watch Tower and Scripture
• How reliable is the New World Translation?
• The deity of Christ