The faithful and discreet slave is the term used by Jehovah’s Witnesses to describe the religion’s Governing Body in its role of directing doctrines and teachings. The group is described as a “class” of “anointed” Christians that operates under the direct control of Jesus Christ to exercise teaching authority in all matters pertaining to doctrine and articles of faith.
The concept is a central doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ system of belief and is based on their interpretation of the Parable of the Faithful Servant in Matthew 24:45–47, Mark 13:34-37 and Luke 12:35-48.
The doctrine has undergone several major changes since it was formulated in 1881 by Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Bible Student movement. Russell initially 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”. Bible Students consequently regarded Russell as the “faithful and wise servant” of the parable. In 1927 the Watch Tower Society announced that the “servant” was not in fact an individual, but was made up of the entire body of faithful spirit-anointed Christians; by 2010 that group numbered about 11,000 Witnesses from around the world. In 2012 the society announced an “adjustment” of the doctrine, explaining that the slave was now understood to be synonymous with the Governing Body, a small group of anointed elders serving at the religion’s world headquarters. The announcement also marked a change in belief about the timing of the slave class’s appointment by Christ: it was said to have taken place in 1919 rather than in apostolic times, as previously believed.
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Keywords: 1914, Charles Taze Russell, Russell, Charles Tazz Russell, JW, Jehovah, Jehovah's Witness, Jehovah witnesses, Jehovah's witnesses, Watchtower, Watchtower organization, world translation, Student movement, Rutherford, Judge Rutherford, Watchtower society
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