Another point worth noting is this: The membership of the governing body is not limited to the number of members of the Board of Directors of the Society, namely, to the number seven. The Christian congregation or the “faithful and discreet slave” class started out on Pentecost of 33 C.E. with twelve members on its governing body, and that governing body located at Jerusalem was increased from the twelve apostles of Christ to include other elders of the Jerusalem congregation. So the governing body at that vital Jerusalem council included the eleven surviving apostles of Christ, and the disciple James who seems to have been chairman for the occasion, also Judas (Barsabbas) and Silas as “leading men among the brothers,” yes, “prophets,” and doubtless Paul and Barnabas. That means at least sixteen anointed Christians associated with the governing body back there at Jerusalem. (Acts 15:22, 32) So it is today: the governing body of the “faithful and discreet slave” class includes more than the seven anointed Christians who are on the Board of Directors of the Society. This fact, in addition, makes it manifest that the voting members of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania do not nominate and elect the members of the governing body of the “slave” class. It further accentuates the difference between the governing body and the legal Board of Directors.

 

The present Governing Body comprises eleven anointed witnesses of Jehovah.

 

 

 

 

 

w71 12/15 p. 759, 762