• Development of the Organization Structure
    Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom

    • But did not Acts 14:23 indicate that elders in the congregations were to be designated to office by a ‘stretching forth of the hand,’ as in voting? The first of those Watchtower articles entitled “Organization” acknowledged that this text had in the past been misunderstood. It was not by a ‘stretching forth of the hand’ on the part of all the members of the congregation that appointments had been made among first-century Christians. Instead, it was shown, the apostles and those authorized by them were the ones that ‘stretched forth their hands.’ This was done not by participating in a congregation vote but by laying their hands on qualified individuals. This was a symbol of confirmation, approval, or appointment.k The early Christian congregations at times made recommendations of qualified men, but final selection or approval was given by the apostles, who had been directly commissioned by Christ, or by those authorized by the apostles. (Acts 6:1-6) The Watchtower drew attention to the fact that only in letters to responsible overseers (Timothy and Titus) did the apostle Paul, under the direction of holy spirit, give instructions to appoint overseers. (1 Tim. 3:1-13; 5:22; Titus 1:5) None of the inspired letters addressed to the congregations contained such instructions.

  • Development of the Organization Structure
    Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom

    • k When the Greek verb khei·ro·to·neʹo is defined as meaning only ‘to elect by stretching out the hand,’ this fails to take note of the later meaning of the word. Thus, A Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott, edited by Jones and McKenzie and reprinted in 1968, defines the word as meaning “stretch out the hand, for the purpose of giving one’s vote in the assembly . . . II. c. acc. pers. [with accusative of person], elect, prop[erly] by show of hands . . . b. later, generally, appoint, . . . appoint to an office in the Church, [pre·sby·teʹrous] Act. Ap. [Acts of the Apostles] 14.23.” That later usage was current in the days of the apostles; the term was used in that sense by the first-century Jewish historian Josephus in Jewish Antiquities, Book 6, chapter 4, paragraph 2, and chapter 13, paragraph 9. The grammatical structure itself of Acts 14:23 in the original Greek shows that Paul and Barnabas were the ones who did what was there described.