[From ws5/16 p. 13 for July 11-17]
“Keep perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.”—Eph 5:17
Let’s start this study off by correcting the theme text as rendered above from the NWT.[i] There is no sound basis for inserting “Jehovah” when all the ancient manuscripts—and there are over 5,000 of them—do not use the divine name. What Ephesians 5:17 actually says is to ‘keep perceiving what the will of the Lord is.’ Of course, our Lord Jesus does nothing of his own initiative, so his will constitutes the will of his Father, but by using Lord here, we remind the reader that Jesus is our King, and that all authority has been granted to him. (John 5:19; Mt 28:18) Thus the writer of the article does us a disservice when he takes our attention away from Jesus as he does in the first paragraph. He admits that Jesus gave us the command to preach and make disciples by saying “…Jesus Christ, gave his followers this challenging, though thrilling, command…”, then immediately takes it away from Jesus by continuing with, “…our loyal adherence to Jehovah’s commands, including the command to share in the preaching work…”
Why minimize the importance of Christ’s role? The command to preach comes in the next verse after the statement at Matthew 28:18 that ‘all authority has been given Jesus in heaven and on earth’. If all authority has been given to him not only on earth, but even in heaven over the angels, why do we not give him the honor that is his due?
Could it be that by minimizing Jesus’ role, we can enhance the role of men? First Corinthians 11:3 shows that between God and Man stands Jesus. Ephesians 1:22 shows that he is the head of the congregation. Neither Scripture provides an intermediate position to be filled by an elite body of men, such as the Governing Body, who are commissioned to interpret the will of our divinely appointed Lord.
Bait and Switch
Jesus is our Master. He will punish those of his servants who do not do his will.
“. . .Then that slave who understood the will of his master but did not get ready or do what he asked will be beaten with many strokes. 48 But the one who did not understand and yet did things deserving of strokes will be beaten with few. . . .” (Lu 12:47, 48)
It is therefore in our best interests to perceive what the will of the Lord really is. However, as fully equipped Christians, we must guard against those who would have us follow their will in the name of the Lord. (2Ti 3:17) They do this using a technique called “bait and switch”.
For instance, the bait:
“…the Scriptures do not contain detailed rules regarding what kind of clothing is appropriate attire for Christians….Individuals and family heads are therefore free to make decisions regarding these matters. – Par. 2
“For instance, to have God’s approval, we must act in harmony with his law on blood.” – Par. 4
“What should we do in situations that do not involve a direct Bible command? Under such circumstances, it is our personal responsibility to examine the details and make a choice that is guided, not by mere personal preference, but by what Jehovah will approve of and bless.” – Par. 6
“You may wonder, ‘How can we know what Jehovah approves of if his Word provides no specific command on the matter?’ Ephesians 5:17 states: “Keep perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.” In the absence of a direct Bible law, how can we perceive the will of God? By praying to him and accepting his guidance by holy spirit.” – Par 7
“To acquaint ourselves with Jehovah’s thinking, we need to make personal study a priority. When reading or studying God’s Word, we might ask ourselves, ‘What does this material reveal about Jehovah, his righteous ways, and his thinking?’” – par. 11
By this point, the audience will be more than halfway through the study and in full agreement with what has been written. Their minds are prepared to be accepting and compliant with the will of God. This is the bait. Now the switch.
“Another way to become more familiar with Jehovah’s thinking is by paying close attention to Bible-based guidance from his organization….We also benefit greatly by listening carefully at Christian meetings….Meditating on what is being taught will help us to discern more about Jehovah’s thinking and to make his thoughts our own. By making diligent use of Jehovah’s provisions for spiritual feeding, we will progressively become more familiar with his ways.” – Par. 12
Discerning Crafty Reasoning
Most Witnesses will accept this logic because they view the teachings of the Governing Body as coming from Jehovah himself. That is not the case, even in little, seemingly inconsequential things, such as personal grooming and dress.
The quotes cited above from paragraph 2 and 6 state that these matters are left up to the Christian. Yet this is not really the case in the Organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, is it?
In the workplace it is most common for women to wear pant suits. Yet, in the Americas, our sisters are prohibited from wearing pant suits out in the preaching work or at meetings. They will be spoken to by the elders if they do not conform to the Organization’s standard of dress. So this is not a matter of personal choice. They are not “free to make decisions regarding these matters”.
In the Americas, a brother with a beard will be considered worldly and not given “privileges” of service in the congregation. Congregation members will view him as being rebellious. One reason for this is because it has become a JW tradition not to grow a beard. From 1930 to around 1990, it was not the custom in the western world to sport a beard. That is no longer the case. Beards are now common. So why are we diverging from acceptable standards in grooming in society and enforcing standards of grooming and dress of our own, imposing them on all members?
In part it is to create an artificial separation from the world. This is not the type of separation Jesus referred to at John 17:15, 16. This goes beyond that.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are teaching one thing, but doing another. While imposing their will to control how we dress may seem minor, this technique is also used to press us into service on behalf of JW.org. Witnesses are made to feel guilty if they have a nice house and a good job, because they should be out pioneering, even though the publishers admit that “there is no Bible command that we pioneer”. (Par. 13) The entire pioneer program with its monthly hour requirement is the invention of men. Yet, we are told in this article that it is the will of God.
It is true that the will of the Lord is that we preach the Good News of the Kingdom. He also tells us that if we go beyond the good news, we will be accursed.
“As we have said before, I now say again, Whoever is declaring to you as good news something beyond what you accepted, let him be accursed. [ref. “devoted to destruction”]” (Ga 1:9)
The thing is that if you are a pioneer, you are required to preach a good news that goes beyond the good news that Jesus taught. The Organization freely admits this.
“Note, however, that the message that Jesus said would be proclaimed in our day goes beyond what his followers preached in the first century.” (be p. 279 par. 2 The Message We Must Proclaim)
You are required as a pioneer (or a publisher, for that matter) to proclaim that Christ returned in 1914 and has been reigning ever since. You are also required to preach that the heavenly hope is virtually closed and that there is a new hope, an earthly one. Both these ideas are not supported by Scripture and thus go beyond the message Jesus preached. Thus, if you do this, you are not perceiving the will of the Lord, but the will of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
You will have taken the bait and failed to notice the switch. Or perhaps you did notice it, but failed to take heed. Whether you acted in ignorance or willfully, there is still time to correct your path.
When our Lord returns, we want to be judged as the “faithful steward, the discreet one”, not the one who gets beaten with a few strokes for failing to perceive the will of the Lord, and most certainly not the one who gets beaten with many strokes for perceiving the will of the Lord, but willfully failing to do it.
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[i] New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
I had a remarkable elder in my congregation with whom I had very little dealings. The moment I started growing a mustache, however, I received his undivided attention! It seemed to me he had made it his personal project to get me to shave off my mustache. At the time, I had many other problems trying to raise a family in truth but he never touched on those issues. It amazed me but his constancy finally induced me to shave it off just to have my peace. After having his ‘victory’ we hardly ever spoke again. Remarkable!
Jesus told his disciples to preach the kingdom message and teach people all the things I have commanded you – not much is said about what Jesus commanded his disciples to only the preaching part –
The Good Samaritan message is something Jesus commanded
Even though I disagree with much of christendoms doctrines I still respect them for showing genuine love in helping people physically and emotionally and spiritually – the scriptures teach that knowledge can make people arrogant and that love trumps knowledge
At the beginning of the article there was a mention of inserting ‘Jehovah’ into the NT of the NWT. I’d say this has become really irritating to me. When doing preaching work and reading a scripture aloud to the one preached, I have got back: “What? There’s no ‘Jehovah’ in the NT?!? Aaah.. rrright, you guys have your own translation”, resulting in a lot of bla-bla around why it might be okay etc. When doing my own reading and study, those divine name instances really need special attention and often opening up interlinear to figure out, what was the real… Read more »
Luke 7:33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. And: Mar 1:6 John wore a garment made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey My point: someone clothes or beard has absolutely no impact on the message of the Kingdom and whether people will accept this. It is the… Read more »
The study WT for September on dress and grooming has this somewhat ambiguous statement. “….cultures, a neatly trimmed beard may be acceptable and respectable, and it may not detract at all from the Kingdom message. In fact, some appointed brothers have beards. Even so, some brothers might decide not to wear a beard. (1 Cor. 8:9, 13; 10:32) In other cultures or localities, beards are not the custom and are not considered acceptable for Christian ministers. In fact, having one may hinder a brother from bringing glory to God by his dress and grooming and his being irreprehensible.—Rom. 15:1-3; 1 Tim. 3:2, 7.… Read more »
I’m interested to see what effect the September article you mentioned has on the R&F. Already I have seen on social media a brother who cited the new article and showed a picture of a light beard coming in. I am in the US and he said in the comment that it is “socially acceptable in my area.” A few mixed comments came from that one. Whether or not attempts to grow facial hair among the R&F get squashed, I see quite the controversy either way, since many recognize it is socially acceptable. While reminders to bring honor to God… Read more »
Decisions we FACE… oh dear.. yes I’m in Australia, a bro I was talking to is going to grow one.Easy decision. But he’s trying to decide whether to start dribbling as well….
Thanks Meleti, paragraph 14, be Modest. In regards to grooming it needs to be in line with watchtower policy, not what We perceive what modest means, that’s the Reality. Most corporations have a dress code, which is fine. However within that framework even, ones get unfairly judged and talked to. Over the platform , talks remind ones of this. For example a brothers trousers are to tight or a sisters dress is tight, or to short, these points will be mentioned. I recall a person I was studying with who is baptised brother today. While he was an unbaptised brother… Read more »
Lazarus, your “long hair” story reminded me of a brother (and friend of mine) who became very discouraged by the elders at our congregation. He is a solid brother, who would like to progress to elder, but was held back. I only found out later, after he changed congregations (he moved his residence about a half hour away) that one of the primary reasons he was held back was that our elders had a policy that you could not become an elder if you wore sport coats – no, you had to wear a suit to be an elder. Sport… Read more »
Thank you Meleti, we noticed the clever tactics. Essentially they say ” there isn’t a definite rule in the Bible so you must study, pray and make your own conscientious decision…. But while you’re here, here’s what we think you should do.” ?? I thought paragraph 17 had an ironic statement in it. ” The ideas of imperfect humans come and go, but the psalmist fittingly reminds us: “The decision of Jehovah will stand forever; the thoughts of his heart are from generation to generation” Psalm 33:11 Ha! Doesn’t that just blow right out of the water any hint of… Read more »
Now if only 8 million Witnesses reasoned as you do, MarthaMartha. 🙂
With regard to Eph 5.17, the context makes it quite clear who the “Lord” in question is. For example, verse 20: “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.