By amendment to the Charter as voted upon in 1944, the membership of the Society was restricted to five hundred at the most, and these were to be men fully devoted to Jehovah God as dedicated, baptized disciples of Jesus Christ. These are selected by the Board of Directors of the Watch Tower Society. But their spiritual status must also come under scrutiny. Why so? Because not all these present-day members of the Society are spirit-anointed members of the “faithful and discreet slave” class. At this writing there are just 450 members of the Society, but less than half (or 200) of them are of the anointed remnant of the “slave” class. So the major number are disciples of Christ who have no heavenly hope. They are of Christ’s “other sheep” whose hope is to gain everlasting life in a Paradise earth under his heavenly kingdom.

Hence the question arises, Can this majority of voters who are made up of such “other sheep,” by voting in the directors of the Watch Tower Society, at the same time be voting in the members of the anointed governing body of the “faithful and discreet slave” class? Scripturally, they could not do so. Not just because they are not anointed heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, but because the governing body of the “slave” class is not appointed by any man. It is appointed by the same one who appointed the twelve apostles in the first century C.E., namely, Jesus Christ the Head of the true Christian congregation and the Lord and Master of the “faithful and discreet slave” class.​—John 15:16, 19.

Another thing to keep in mind is this: The directors of the Society now have their terms of office expire after three years, and each year there are directors whose term expires and who need to be replaced or be reelected to office by the members of the Society at its annual corporation meeting. Each year also the terms of the three officers of the Society expire, namely, those of the president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer (and now also of his assistant). But is this the case with the members of the governing body of the “faithful and discreet slave” class? No! The members of the governing body are not elected annually, but are in their positions of responsibility permanently as long as they live and continue faithful as disciples of Jesus Christ. That was the case with the twelve apostles and with the fellow elders of the Jerusalem congregation.

The governing body does not have officers such as the Society’s Board of Directors has, namely, president, vice-president, secretary-treasurer and assistant secretary-treasurer. It has merely a chairman, such as the governing body of the first century had. Apparently, the apostle Peter was the chairman of the governing body on the festival day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., and the disciple James, the half brother of Jesus Christ, was the chairman at a later date, according to the account in Acts of Apostles. From this, and from what historical evidence there is available, the chairmanship of the governing body rotated, just the same as the chairmanship of the presbytery or “body of elders” of each Christian congregation rotated among the coequal elders.​—1 Tim. 4:14.

From this it can clearly be seen that, when a member of the Society’s Board of Directors is elected each year to the presidency of the Watch Tower Society, he is not simultaneously elected to the chairmanship of the governing body of Jehovah’s witnesses. Any member of the governing body can be chairman thereof without being at the same time the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. It all depends upon the rotation system for the chairmanship in the governing body. Only if the rotation method puts an individual in the chairmanship at the same time that he is elected by the Board of Directors to the presidency will one occupy the chairmanship and the presidency at the same time, for at least a year.

SIZE OF THE GOVERNING BODY

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.

How is it, then, that members of the governing body come to be directors of the Pennsylvania corporation? This is according to the will of the voting members of the Watch Tower Society. They choose to be guided by God’s inspired Word. They look to Jehovah God through Jesus Christ to direct them in this matter of voting for the Society’s directors. From the Society’s present-day Charter (as amended in 1944) the Society as a legal corporation is merely an “administrative agency”a of Jehovah’s witnesses. Hence, also, of the governing body of Jehovah’s witnesses. So the Society’s voting members see that this governing body could most directly use that “administrative agency” as an instrument in behalf of the work of the “faithful and discreet slave” class by having members of the governing body on the Board of Directors of the Society. They recognize that the Society is not the administrative body, but is merely an agency for administering matters.

Hence the Society’s voting members do not desire that there be any basis for conflict and division. They do not want to cause anything like a situation where the “administrative agency” controls and directs the user of that agency, which user is the governing body as representing the “faithful and discreet slave” class. No more so than to have the tail wag a dog instead of the dog’s wagging its tail. A legal religious instrument according to Caesar’s law should not attempt to direct and control its creator; rather, the creator of the legal religious instrument should control and direct it. In harmony with God’s holy spirit, therefore, in order to have the greatest efficiency and perfect harmony between the governing body and the Board of Directors of the legal corporation, the voting members of the Society have wisely elected to the Directorate those whom they know are members of the governing body of the “faithful and discreet slave” class.