"If we were following a man..." Part 1

Who is the Faithful and Discreet Slave of Matt 24:45?

Overview:

1881-1896: a collective servant, body of Christ ***

(WT, Oct 1881, "Proclaimers" pg 142)

1896-1927: a single person, more specifically, CT Russell.

(WT 3/01/1896, WT 4/01/1920)

1927-1950: a collective servant, body of Christ ***
("Proclaimers" pg 142)

1950-present - "The mother organization."

(WT 9/15/1950 p. 326)

***This revert back to former "truth" is a violation of the "new light" rule, as established by CT Russell. He made it clear that such contridictions would prove his religion to be man-made.***

"If we were following a man undoubtedly it would be different with us; undoubtedly one human idea would contradict another and that which was light one or two or six years ago would be regarded as darkness now; But with God there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and so it is with truth; any knowledge or light coming from God must be like its author. A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth. "New light" never extinguishes older light," but adds to it…" (Watchtower, Feb 1881, p.3)

More detail regarding the changing doctrine of

"The Faithful and Discreet Slave"

1 March 1896 Watchtower: "In our examination of this text we seem to have treated the term 'that servant' as though the Spirit had erred in saying 'that servant' when it meant servants (plural), and we applied it to all true servants of God. Since then we have been met from various quarters with objections to so general an application, and the suggestion that it would be wrong to allow modesty or any other consideration, good or bad, to warp our judgment in the exposition of the inspired Word; to which proposition we agree."

15 April 1904 Watchtower: "but since the servant mentioned is to dispense food to the other members of the body, his fellow-servants, the term seems to be limited to some particular individual."

He generally was cautious not to claim the title boldly, but he allowed others to identify him as such. For example, Russell as editor of the Watch Tower published letters from readers referring to him as the "faithful servant." (15 November 1915 Watchtower, p. 351)

In 1927, Russell's successor, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, published an article in The Watchtower to the effect that the "faithful servant" was a class of people, not an individual. Jehovah's Witnesses--Proclaimers of God's Kingdom concludes that "...the idea that Russell himself was the faithful and wise servant...came to be generally held by the Bible Students for some thirty years." (1896-1927)

15 September 1950 Watchtower p. 326 "The Father is the great Provider of spiritual food, and he delegates to his organization the duty of preparing and serving this life-sustaining 'meat in due season'. The table is the Lord's, he sits at the head, and the children seated at the table are waited on and served and helped by the mother organization.—Matt. 24:45; Ps. 23:5; Isa. 25:6"

For more detail, visit Wikipedia: Faithful_and_Discreet_Slave (with references)

In future posts, I will cover other areas where "one human idea would contradict another and that which was light one or two or six years ago would be regarded as darkness now."