1st & 2nd Class Christians?????

The Searcher

The Insight Book explains the Matthew 24:45 this way;

"Faithful and Discreet Slave - those forming the Christian congregation are referred to by the apostle Paul as "members of the household of God" (Eph 2:19; 1Ti 3:15), and the same apostle shows that ‘faithful stewardship’ among such household members involved the dispensing of spiritual truths on which

those becoming believers would ‘feed.’ (1Co 3:2, 5; 4:1, 2; compare Mt 4:4.) Whereas this was a prime responsibility of those appointed as ‘shepherds’ of the flock (1Pe 5:1-3), the apostle Peter shows that such stewardship of the divine truths was actually committed to all the ‘chosen ones,’ all the spirit-anointed ones, of the Christian congregation. (1Pe 1:1, 2; 4:10, 11) Thus the entire anointed Christian congregation was to serve in a united stewardship, dispensing such truths. At the same time the individual members making up such composite body, or the "domestics" making up the "house" of God (Mt 24:45; Heb 3:6; Eph 2:19), would also be recipients of the "food" dispensed. (Heb 5:11-14; compare 1Co 12:12, 19-27.) Expanded responsibility would result from faithfulness maintained until

the master’s promised ‘arrival.’

Many problems occur with the assertions made by this so-called "understanding":

1) The F&DS make up the Christian Congregation - why only them?

2) Only they are part of the household of God - why not others?

3) Only they are described as "chosen ones" - Why? What about Isaiah 65:15, 22?

4) "The entire anointed Christian congregation was to serve.........dispensing such truths". So why is this restricted to less than a dozen who claim to be of the heavenly hope? 5) The food was for the domestics only - so nothing for the so-called other sheep?????????

The Searcher

The Insight Book explains the Matthew 24:45 this way;

"Faithful and Discreet Slave - t
hose forming the Christian congregation are referred to by the apostle Paul as "members of the household of God" (Eph 2:19; 1Ti 3:15), and the same apostle shows that ‘faithful stewardship’ among such household members involved the dispensing of spiritual truths on which those becoming believers would ‘feed.’ (1Co 3:2, 5; 4:1, 2; compare Mt 4:4.) Whereas this was a prime responsibility of those appointed as ‘shepherds’ of the flock (1Pe 5:1-3), the apostle Peter shows that such stewardship of the divine truths was actually committed to all the ‘chosen ones,’ all the spirit-anointed ones, of the Christian congregation. (1Pe 1:1, 2; 4:10, 11) Thus the entire anointed Christian congregation was to serve in a united stewardship, dispensing such truths. At the same time the individual members making up such composite body, or the "domestics" making up the "house" of God (Mt 24:45; Heb 3:6; Eph 2:19), would also be recipients of the "food" dispensed. (Heb 5:11-14; compare 1Co 12:12, 19-27.) Expanded responsibility would result from faithfulness maintained until
the master’s promised ‘arrival.’
Many problems occur with the assertions made by this so-called "understanding":
1) The F&DS make up the Christian Congregation - why only them?
2) Only they are part of the household of God - why not others?
3) Only they are described as "chosen ones" - Why? What about Isaiah 65:15, 22?
4) "The entire anointed Christian congregation was to serve.........dispensing such truths". So why is this restricted to less than a dozen who claim to be of the heavenly hope?
5) The food was for the domestics only - so nothing for the so-called other sheep?????????

The Searcher

According to Scripture, Who Are Jesus' "Brothers"?

(Matthew 12:50) whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

(Matthew 13:38) The field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom;

(Matthew 25:40) To the extent that YOU did it to one of the least of these my brothers, YOU did it to me.

(Mark 3:35) Whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother."

(Luke 8:21) In reply he said to them: "My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."

(John 1:12,13) However, as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become God’s children.........

(John 15:14) YOU are my friends if YOU do what I am commanding YOU. (Rom. 8:14) For all who are led by God’s spirit, these are God’s sons. (1 John 5:1) Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God..........(Revised Standard Version)

A favourite phrase used by some to qualify such reasonings is, "by extension". Nowhere in the Bible is there even a hint of such a term.

Jesus spoke the truth when he said that there would be "one flock, one shepherd" - not different classes of sheep and distinctions, as we are continually told.

Therefore, each must ask themselves, who really is a (not 'the') faithful slave to Christ?

Fernando

Hey The Searcher!

Indeed!

"The Truth" in scripture is simple and liberating, although hidden to spiritually blind religionists and their spiritually blind leaders the ruling religious clergy class.

TTATT or "the truth" according to the WBT$ - another matter entirely...

blondie

The WTS has recently said that only the anointed are "sons of God" now, brothers of Christ. The "other sheep" don't receive that privilege until after passing the "test" from Satan at the end of the 1,000 year reign. It is interesting that the WTS teaches that the anointed become PERFECT upon death and resurrection, but the "other sheep" take 1,000 years. Right now the WTS says that non-anointed jws can only be God's friend.

Bobcat

Searcher:

Good points about who Jesus' brothers are. The Society always goes to Hebrews chap.2 to define this rather than stick to Matthew which would provide the closest context for the wording of the parable of the sheep and goats.

In that parable (Mt 25:31-46), Jesus called his disciples, "the least of these my brothers" (v.40) and "these least ones." (v.45) "Least" (Greek elachistos) is the superlative of mikros, translated "little ones" in Matthew and Mark. It is interesting to see how "little ones" are described:

Mt 10:42 "disciples"

Mt 18:6 "who put faith in me"

Mk 9:42 "that believe"

Another point of note is that the Society says the "brothers" can't be the same as the sheep since they are both referred to in the same context. Yet just a few verses earlier they say that the 'faithful slave' is the same as the "domestics," even though they are similarly used in the same context. (Mt 24:45-47) Their logic is whatever it needs to be to maintain their 'flashes of light.'

A good counter verse is Hebrews 6:10 where those Jewish Christians "have ministered to the holy ones." Using the Society's logic, that would mean that those Jewish Christians could not themselves be "holy ones" since they "ministered to them." Same with Matthew 10:42 where anyone who 'gives a cup of water to someone because he is a disciple' would not lose their reward. By the Society's logic, giving a cup of water to one of Jesus' disciples would prove that the giver was not a disciple. Pure nonsense.

One of the biggest things (to me) that disproves the Society's explanation of the sheep and goats parable is the fact that the Society has to dispense with what Jesus said the sheep would do. In the parable, the sheep give personal help to Jesus' brothers. This is definitely doable if the "brothers" are Jesus' disciples. But by identifying these 'brothers' as the 144,000, because there are so few and no one can know for sure who is, it becomes impossible to do what Jesus said the sheep would do. The Society replaces their actions with, 'help in the preaching, obey the elders, and give money to the Society.'

Rev chap.14 puts the lie to the Society's explanation of who the wheat are in the 'wheat and weeds' parable. But I'll save that for another time.

Take Care

Ding

In reality, the GB doesn't believe there's a difference.

By their own statements, they neither know nor care who the "anointed remnant" are.

LongHairGal

The Searcher:

They keep this 2-tier system hidden from potential studies because people might reject the whole religion. I didn't know about this until I was in for a while. Typical bait and switch: telling people "we are just bible students" and "we don't have a clergy class", when the reality is totally different.

I never accepted anybody's divine claims. I felt it was the height of presumptuousness and let it go in one ear and out the other.

designs

God's very picky unlike Mr. Rogers

Sulla

The idea of two classes of Christian, one that gets better stuff than the other, is a very old heresy. Goes back around 2,000 years or so to the gnostics. Rutherford picked it up, liked it, ran with it.

1st & 2nd Class Christians?????

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