Hi y'all,
So I attended a Bible Student's meeting yesterday where they were discussing scriptures to prepare for their annual business meeting. At that meeting, they come to a consensus for any Elders, Deacons, etc. That particular group requires 80% of the group to be in agreement on any particular issue.
Anyway, I was doing some research on the appointment of Elders in the first century congregation (according to the Bible). It does seem possible that Paul (or someone directly under his direction) may have appointed Elders through Holy Spirit, possibly after the congregation gave their recommendation for those individuals. However, the question to a modern JW would be: Do these scriptures show that congregations should only have Elders appointed via the "organization".
Here is where it gets awfully sticky for the GB. If they are going to state that the "organization" must approve of any Elders who are appointed, they would have to be admitting having the same type of authority as Paul or other Apostles. Lets say Christ did want traveling brothers, under the direction of Apostles, to appoint Elders in each congregation. Well, one limitation to that would be that the traveling brother would have to take under consideration the consensus of the congregation anyway. He couldn't just walk off the street and appoint who would appear to be the most spiritually qualified. He would rely on the congregation members, likely gathering them altogether and asking for a consensus or any objections. When Paul and Barnabas were appointing Elders (Acts 14:23) in brand new congregations, it doesn't seem that there were existing Elders already that they would simply take a vote from for appointment of new Elders.
So, there are two possibilities. One is that the Apostle Paul was asking for a general consensus on certain brothers and then making the final judgement (which means HE was appointing them and had the final say). The other option was that he was directing the congregation on HOW to choose from amongst themselves proper Elders. In this sense, he was going around and appointing Elders, meaning he was overseeing the process, but not telling them what to do.
If the Apostle Paul had the final say, or just came in and let the Holy Spirit help him direct Elders, and the congregational consensus was not needed, this puts the GB in a quandry. They would truly be making themselves "Apostles". Today, they send out COs to review the consensus for appointment/deletion of Elders (Titus 1:5?) and the buck stops with the CO (having been sent ultimately by the GB). Therefore, the GB is ultimately considering themselves Apostles!
Many reformed Christians believe that a high council (Jerusalem council) is no longer necessary, since there are no Apostles left. They believe the Epistles were the final say in how the congregations should be formed and managed.
In conclusion, it seems that the GB might as well come out and say that they are Apostles. This would only make sense. They can't have the best of both worlds, by saying 1) The Bible is the final authority and we are just men taking the lead. 2) But, we are to be viewed with the exact authority of Paul and the other Apostles.
So, which is it, GB?
