Jehovah's Witnesses

A worldwide body that appeals to the Bible alone, immerses believers, preaches from house to house and keeps the Lord's Supper once a year, and that teaches that Jesus is God's first creation, the Spirit is God's force and the dead cease to exist.

jw.org, What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?

jw.org, Jehovah's Witnesses (home page)

jw.org, What Is the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses?

jw.org, Who Was the Founder of Jehovah's Witnesses?

jw.org, What Is the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society?

jw.org, How Do Jehovah's Witnesses Treat Those Who Used to Belong to Their Religion?

The Watchtower (Study Edition), August 2024, Help for Those Who Are Removed From the Congregation

jw.org, Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Observe the Lord's Supper Differently From the Way Other Religions Do?

jw.org, Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Accept Blood Transfusions?

jw.org, What Is the Holy Spirit?

jw.org, Who Is the Archangel Michael?

jw.org, Why Is Jesus Called the Son of God?

jw.org, Young People Ask: What Is the Meaning of Baptism?

The Watchtower, 1 April 2002, Why Be Baptized?

jw.org, How Do I Become One of Jehovah's Witnesses?

jw.org, Do Jehovah's Witnesses Have Their Own Bible?

New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Bible), John 1, on jw.org

New World Translation (Study Bible), Colossians 1, on jw.org

New World Translation (Study Bible), Hebrews 1, on jw.org

New World Translation (Study Bible), John 20, on jw.org

New World Translation (Study Bible), Romans 10, on jw.org

New World Translation (Study Bible), Acts 5, on jw.org

jw.org, What Are Meetings Like in Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses?

jw.org, Attend a Meeting

jw.org, 2025 Service Year Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide, Grand Totals

jw.org, How Are Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses Organized?

jw.org, Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Call Their Meeting Place a Church?

jw.org, Door-to-Door Ministry—Can It Earn You Salvation?

jw.org, Why Do Jehovah's Witnesses Go From Door to Door?

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), Proclaiming the Lord's Return (1870-1914)

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), A Time of Testing (1914-1918)

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), Advertise the King and the Kingdom! (1919-1941)

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), Declaring the Good News Without Letup (1942-1975)

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), Growing in Accurate Knowledge of the Truth

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), How We Came to Be Known as Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), Development of the Organization Structure

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom (1993), Meetings for Worship, Instruction, and Encouragement

Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, "Say, What Does This 1975 Mean?" (Watchtower Online Library, Beliefs Clarified)

The Watchtower, 15 March 1980, Choosing the Best Way of Life (pp. 16-20)

Enjoy Life Forever! (jw.org), Lesson 39, God's View of Blood

jw.org, Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Go to War?

jw.org, What Happened to Jehovah's Witnesses During the Time of the Holocaust and in the Concentration Camps?

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, media release, 28 November 2016, Report of Case Study 29 (text as reproduced by BishopAccountability.org; the Commission's own page would not load)

Jehovah's Witnesses trace their present understanding of the Bible to the 1870s and a small Bible class in Pittsburgh led by Charles Taze Russell. They say Russell was not the founder of a new religion. His magazine, Zion's Watch Tower, and the Society that grew around it gathered Bible Students for half a century, and in 1931 the group took the name Jehovah's Witnesses. Since then the body has grown from small groups into a worldwide organization governed from New York.

A Bible class in Pittsburgh

Charles Taze Russell, then a young man in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and a few acquaintances formed a class for Bible study. Jehovah's Witnesses say their present understanding of the Bible can be traced back to this decade and to the work of Russell and his associates. Their own history says Russell "was not the founder of a new religion."

Russell meets Barbour's Adventist paper

In January 1876 Russell received a copy of the Herald of the Morning, which he saw was "identified with Adventism," edited by Nelson H. Barbour of Rochester, New York. Barbour taught that Christ's return would be invisible and that the harvest had begun. Russell met him, and in 1877 the two published Three Worlds, and the Harvest of This World, which dated Christ's invisible presence from the autumn of 1874.

Russell breaks with Barbour; Zion's Watch Tower begins

When Barbour denied that Christ's death was a substitute for sinners, Russell upheld the ransom and withdrew. In July 1879 he began publishing Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence; the first issue printed 6,000 copies.

The Society is incorporated

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania was formed as a nonprofit corporation under the laws of Pennsylvania. Jehovah's Witnesses use it to support their worldwide work, which includes publishing Bibles and Bible-based literature.

The Gentile Times end

For decades Russell and his associates had proclaimed that the Gentile Times would end in 1914, and the Bible Students looked to that year with high expectation. October 1914 passed with them still on earth. Jehovah's Witnesses now teach that Jesus began ruling as King in heaven in 1914.

Russell dies; Rutherford becomes president

Russell died on a train at Pampa, Texas, on October 31, 1916, at age 64. At the Society's annual meeting on January 6, 1917, Joseph F. Rutherford was elected president. Four directors opposed his administration that year and left the headquarters, and some Bible Students withdrew with them; their own history says some later returned.

The name Jehovah's Witnesses

At a convention in Columbus, Ohio, on July 24-30, 1931, the Bible Students embraced the name Jehovah's Witnesses, taken from Isaiah 43:10, 12. Their own history says it was the work they were to do, and not a name for a group, that was under consideration.

Persecution under the Nazis

Witnesses in Germany and the occupied countries refused to vote, to salute the swastika, to say "Heil Hitler!" or to serve in the military. About 1,500 of some 35,000 died during the Holocaust; close to 400 were executed, and more than 1,000 died in camps and prisons.

The 1975 expectation

The book Life Everlasting—in Freedom of the Sons of God aroused "considerable expectation" about 1975. The Watchtower of March 15, 1980 said that alongside the cautions "there were other statements published that implied that such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a mere possibility", and that "It is to be regretted that these latter statements apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones".

The Governing Body enlarged

After conventions in 1971 drew attention to the pattern of the early congregation, the Governing Body was enlarged beyond the seven directors of the Society who had served as a governing body. Its chairmanship was set to rotate yearly. Oversight of the congregations was adjusted so that there was no longer one congregation servant but appointed elders and ministerial servants.

Australia's Royal Commission reports

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released its report on Case Study 29, on the response of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia, on November 28, 2016. Its findings are stated under "Removal from the congregation and the Commission's report" in Part 4.

"Removed" in place of "disfellowshipped"

The August 2024 Watchtower study edition said the body would no longer use the word disfellowshipped and would say instead that a person is removed from the congregation. It also said each Christian may use his conscience over whether to greet such a person at a meeting, where before they would not.

The service-year report

The 2025 service-year report counted a peak of 9,205,326 publishers in 241 countries and territories, 119,652 congregations and 304,643 baptisms.

Charles Taze Russell

Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, to Presbyterian parents, he formed a Bible class in 1870, began Zion's Watch Tower in 1879 and was the Society's editor and publisher. He died on October 31, 1916.

Joseph F. Rutherford

Elected president of the Society in 1917. He was president when the name Jehovah's Witnesses was taken in 1931, and he died on January 8, 1942.

Frederick W. Franz

Gave the closing talk at the 1966 Baltimore convention where the 1975 questions arose, delivered the July 2, 1971 talk at Yankee Stadium on a body of older men in each congregation, and was the Governing Body's first rotating chairman in October 1971.

The Governing Body

A small group of mature Christians who give direction to Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide through six committees. Its members are named on jw.org, and they say they are not the leaders of the organization, since Jesus is the Head of the congregation.

The Adventist link. Their own history names the debt. Russell's wavering faith was restored by a Second Adventist preacher, Jonas Wendell, and he studied with George W. Stetson, pastor of the Advent Christian Church at Edinboro, Pennsylvania, and with George Storrs, publisher of the Bible Examiner, who had taught that the soul is mortal and the wicked are not tormented forever. His time prophecy came through Nelson Barbour, whose paper was "identified with Adventism" and who convinced him that Christ's invisible presence had begun in 1874 (Proclaimers, "Proclaiming the Lord’s Return"). Barbour and Russell parted in 1878-79 over the ransom. The Bible Students were not a congregation of the Millerite churches; they took from these Adventist teachers the doctrine of the dead and the use of time prophecy.

Who gave the name. The official history says the Bible Students had called themselves Bible Students and, from 1910, used the name International Bible Students' Association. In 1931 they took the name Jehovah's Witnesses, and the book quotes one author who calls it "the greatest stroke of genius" on Rutherford's part.

The Governing Body before 1971. Before 1971 seven directors of the Society served as a governing body for Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1971 membership was enlarged and no fixed number was set; there were 11 then, as many as 18 for a few years, and 12 in 1992. Their own history says all of them are men anointed of God as joint heirs with Jesus Christ.

The Bible alone is the basis of belief, read in the light of the Governing Body's direction; Jesus is not Almighty God.

Jehovah's Witnesses say they base their beliefs solely on the Bible, all 66 books of it. They have their own translation, the New World Translation. They also say the Governing Body provides direction for Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, and they describe it as the visible agency Christ uses: Christ, as head of the congregation, entrusts the "faithful and discreet slave" with responsibility. The Governing Body says its members are not the leaders of the organization, and that they look to the Bible for guidance. They hold that the Bible shows Jesus is not Almighty God and that the Trinity has no scriptural basis. Their meetings study the same material in every congregation.

We base our beliefs solely on the Bible.

The Governing Body is a small group of mature Christians who provide direction for Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide.

Since the visible agency that would be used by Christ is the faithful and discreet slave

Their statement of belief adds: "we have learned from the Bible that Jesus is not Almighty God and that there is no Scriptural basis for the Trinity doctrine." (jw.org, What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?, "Jesus.") The Governing Body page says the body "follows the pattern set by 'the apostles and elders in Jerusalem'" and that "Jehovah God has appointed Jesus Christ as the Head of the congregation."

Saved through the ransom of Jesus by faith, a changed life and baptism by immersion, as a symbol of dedication to Jehovah.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that deliverance from sin and death is possible through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, and that salvation cannot be earned but comes through God's undeserved kindness. To benefit from it, a person must exercise faith in Jesus, change his course of life and be baptized. They baptize believers only, by full immersion in water, and they say this is what the Bible shows. Baptism, on their account, is a public symbol of a private dedication to Jehovah made earlier in prayer; it does not itself wash away sins. Candidates are first taught the Bible and must live by it, and the elders talk with them before baptism.

Deliverance from sin and death is possible through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus.

To benefit from that sacrifice, people must not only exercise faith in Jesus but also change their course of life and get baptized.

The baptism referred to in the Bible is complete immersion in water—not just a sprinkling of water—and it has rich symbolic meaning.

The Watchtower article "Why Be Baptized?" says candidates "undergo water immersion" in symbol of dedication, and that Peter, in urging his hearers at Pentecost to be baptized for forgiveness of sins, "was not talking about baptism to symbolize repentance over sins against the Law; nor did he mean that baptism in Jesus’ name pictures the washing away of sins." It also says the dedication must come first and that "Unlike those who sprinkle babies or force Scripturally uninformed masses to be baptized, Jehovah’s Witnesses never coerce anyone into baptism."

The Memorial of Jesus' death, once a year on Nisan 14, with bread and wine as symbols; only those called to heaven partake.

Jehovah's Witnesses call the Lord's Supper the Lord's Evening Meal or the Memorial of Jesus' death. They say it is not a sacrament and does not impart grace or forgiveness; it is a remembrance. They say Jesus commanded his disciples to keep it but did not say how often, and that because he began it on Passover, which was observed once a year, the early Christians kept it once a year and Witnesses follow that pattern. It is held after sundown on Nisan 14, reckoned by the lunar calendar. They use unleavened bread and plain red wine, as symbols and not the literal flesh and blood of Christ. Only a small fraction of Witnesses partake of the bread and wine: those who have been called to rule with Christ in heaven, whom they number at 144,000. The large majority, who hope for everlasting life on earth, attend without partaking.

The observance is not a sacrament, or a religious practice that imparts merit such as grace or the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus commanded his disciples to commemorate the Lord’s Evening Meal, but he did not specifically say how often.

When Jehovah’s Witnesses observe the Lord’s Evening Meal, only a small fraction of us partake of the bread and wine.

On who partakes: "It includes, not all Christians, but only 'those who have been called' in a special way by God." And on those who do not: "While those of us with an earthly hope do not partake of the Memorial emblems, we do join in expressing thanks for the sacrifice that Jesus made in our behalf." (jw.org, "Who partake?" and "Bread and wine.") The 2027 Memorial is announced for March 22, 2027 (jw.org, Memorial).

Congregations overseen by a body of unpaid elders with no clergy class, under a Governing Body that directs the work worldwide.

Jehovah's Witnesses are organized into congregations, each overseen by a body of elders. They say the elders do not form a clergy class and are unsalaried, and that no one tithes and no collection is taken at meetings; all activities are supported by anonymous donations. Their own history says that after 1971 each congregation was to have a body of older men, all of the same official status, in place of one congregation servant, and that elders receive their positions by appointment. About twenty congregations form a circuit, and traveling elders called circuit overseers visit them. Above them the Governing Body, assisted by six committees, directs the preaching work, oversees the publications, meetings and schools and the use of donated assets. The Governing Body says its members are not the leaders of the organization.

We are organized into congregations, each of which is overseen by a body of elders. However, the elders do not form a clergy class, and they are unsalaried.

These received their positions by appointment

Like those faithful men, the members of the Governing Body are not the leaders of our organization.

Their own statement of why the elders are not clergy: "We do not practice tithing, and no collections are ever taken at our meetings." (jw.org, "Our organization.") The Governing Body page lists its work as overseeing the preparation of Bible-based instruction and supervising "the worldwide work of Jehovah’s Witnesses by directing our public ministry and overseeing the use of donated assets."

Meetings, prayer, Bible study and preaching; no cross or images; songs sung with recorded orchestral accompaniment.

Jehovah's Witnesses list the key parts of their worship as prayer to God, reading and studying the Bible, meditating on it, meeting together to pray, study, sing and encourage one another, preaching the good news of the Kingdom, helping those in need, and building and maintaining Kingdom Halls. They do not venerate the cross or any other images, and they do not call their meeting place a church. Meetings begin and end with song and prayer. Their songbooks are their own, and their history records that from 1966 orchestral recordings of the songbook were used as accompaniment in congregation meetings. Participation by the audience is voluntary.

We do not venerate the cross or any other images.

Jehovah’s Witnesses hold meetings for worship twice each week.

Orchestral recordings of the entire book were made and were extensively used as accompaniment in congregation meetings.

Their own summary of the early pattern they follow: "Early Christian meetings consisted mainly of songs, prayers, and the reading and discussing of the Scriptures—all free of any ritual." (jw.org, What Are Meetings Like?) Their history adds that singing in local congregations was largely dispensed with about 1938 and revived in 1944.

The holy spirit is God's active force, not a person.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the holy spirit is God's power in action, his active force, and that it is not a person. They point to the Bible's calling God's spirit his "hands," "fingers" and "breath," and to its never naming the spirit as it names the Father and the Son. They say the Bible does sometimes personify the spirit, as it does wisdom, death and sin, and that the masculine "he" for the helper in John 16 follows Greek grammar. Baptism "in the name of" the holy spirit, they say, means recognizing its power and role in carrying out God's will. They list among its works the miracles of God's ancient servants and their zealous preaching.

The holy spirit is God’s power in action, his active force.

By referring to God’s spirit as his “hands,” “fingers,” or “breath,” the Bible shows that the holy spirit is not a person.

They answer the argument from baptism: "A person who is baptized 'in the name of' the holy spirit recognizes the power and role of the holy spirit in accomplishing God’s will." (jw.org, What Is the Holy Spirit?) The saved pages do not say whether miraculous gifts are given today, so this chart does not state a position on that.

The dead cease to exist until the resurrection; 144,000 reign in heaven and the rest live on a paradise earth; Christ has ruled since 1914.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the Kingdom of God is a real government in heaven, that Jesus began ruling as King in 1914, and that this Kingdom will replace human governments and accomplish God's purpose for the earth. The dead pass out of existence, do not suffer in a fiery hell, and will be brought back by a resurrection; those who refuse to learn God's ways after being raised will be destroyed forever. A relatively small number, 144,000, will be raised to life in heaven to rule with Christ. The rest of the obedient will live forever on earth in a paradise. Wicked angels have been cast out of heaven. The Watchtower later regretted that some statements had made 1975 look "more of a probability than a mere possibility."

People who die pass out of existence.

A relatively small number of people—144,000—will be resurrected to life in heaven to rule with Jesus in the Kingdom.

Jesus is the King of God’s Kingdom in heaven. He began ruling in 1914.

Also: "They do not suffer in a fiery hell of torment." ("Death.") And on the hope of the rest: "God will bless obedient people with perfect health and everlasting life in an earthly paradise." ("Earth.") On 1975 their history says that after a convention talk in 1966 gave the caution, "many of Jehovah’s Witnesses acted in harmony with the spirit of that counsel. However, other statements were published on this subject, and some were likely more definite than advisable." (Proclaimers, "Say, What Does This 1975 Mean?")

Jesus as Michael, God's first creation

Jesus is the Son of God, the first thing God created, and is the archangel Michael; he is not Almighty God.

Jehovah's Witnesses honor Jesus as Savior and Son of God, and they say they are Christians. They teach that he is not Almighty God, that God created him before anything else, and that he is evidently the archangel Michael, a name given to him before and after his life on earth. They read the opening of John's Gospel in their own translation, the New World Translation, as "the Word was a god." They hold that the Trinity has no basis in Scripture.

However, we have learned from the Bible that Jesus is not Almighty God and that there is no Scriptural basis for the Trinity doctrine.

God created Jesus before he created anything else.

Jesus has “an archangel’s voice” because he is the archangel, Michael.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.

For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, And he shall be to me a Son? And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire: but of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

Jehovah's Witnesses are right that the Father is the one God, that the Son is distinct from him, and that Jesus is the Son who gave himself as the ransom. They fail where the texts leave no room. John writes that "All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made" (John 1:3); whoever made all that has been made is not himself among the things made, and the Word who "was with God" is also the Word who "was God" (John 1:1). To the Son the Father says, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8), and the angels are bidden to worship him (Hebrews 1:6), yet Michael is an angel, and to no angel did the Father ever say such a thing (Hebrews 1:5). The teaching that Jesus is a created angel is the very comparison the first chapter of Hebrews sets out to refute.

Paul says that "in him were all things created" and that "he is before all things" (Colossians 1:16-17); the word "other," which the New World Translation inserts into that verse, is not in the text. Thomas answered the risen Lord, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28), and Jesus did not correct him.

"A god" and the verse they are named for. The New World Translation reads John 1:1 as "the Word was a god." But the Witnesses take their name from Isaiah 43:10, where Jehovah says, "before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." If the Word is a god who was made, he is the one thing that verse says never was. Michael and the Son. "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 1:9); the Son said in his own name, "Get thee hence, Satan" (Matthew 4:10). The archangel's voice at the Lord's coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16) no more makes the Lord an angel than the trump of God makes him a trumpet. What the New World Translation does. At Hebrews 1:8 it reads "God is your throne forever and ever," moving the word God from the Son to the throne, and in Colossians 1:16-20 it adds "other" four times. At Thomas's confession it keeps "My Lord and my God!" In every place where the Son is called God, the sentence has to be read as meaning something else. What they hold rightly. The Son is not the Father (John 14:28, which the Witnesses cite), and he truly died as a ransom. But a ransom needed a man who was also the Lord of all, and the New Testament says so in one voice.

The 144,000 and the great crowd

Only 144,000 go to heaven and partake of the Memorial; the rest hope for everlasting life on earth.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that a limited number, 144,000, are called to rule with Christ in heaven, and that these alone are in the new covenant and partake of the bread and wine at the Memorial. The vast majority hope instead to be part of "a great crowd" who gain everlasting life on earth. Both groups, they say, are Christians who share in thanks for Jesus' sacrifice. Their own history says all members of the Governing Body are anointed.

It includes, not all Christians, but only “those who have been called” in a special way by God.

the vast majority of us hope to be part of “a great crowd” who will gain everlasting life on earth.

After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands;

Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.

For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.

The New Testament knows one body of sons and heirs, not two. "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God," and every such son cries "Abba, Father" and is "joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:14-17); "if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). Paul says the same of every baptized believer: "ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus," "ye all are one man in Christ Jesus," and "heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3:26-29). There is no second, earthly class of the baptized who are not heirs. Having made the division, the Witnesses fence the Lord's table with it, so that nearly the whole body is told not to eat the bread or drink the cup Christ gave to all who are his (see the Supper).

The "great multitude, which no man could number" stands "before the throne and before the Lamb" (Revelation 7:9) and serves God "day and night in his temple" (Revelation 7:15), and John later hears "a great multitude in heaven" (Revelation 19:1).

Their best texts. The Witnesses point to the number in Revelation 7:4 and to the "little flock" of Luke 12:32. But the 144,000 are "sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel" (Revelation 7:4), and the Witnesses read the number literally while reading the tribes as a figure, since their own history calls this company spiritual Israel (Proclaimers, "Growing in Accurate Knowledge of the Truth"); the same vision cannot be literal in its number and figurative in its names at once. And the "little flock" to whom the Father would "give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32) were the disciples Jesus was speaking to, not a class set apart from later believers. A church that rests a division on one chapter of a vision should not rest the Lord's table on it.

No blood transfusions

Witnesses refuse transfusions of whole blood and of its four main components; the use of fractions of those components is left to each one's conscience.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the Bible forbids taking blood into the body to sustain it, and they do not accept blood transfusions. They say this is a religious matter and not a medical one, and they cite Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:10, Deuteronomy 12:23 and Acts 15:28, 29. They do not refuse medical care; they go to doctors who can give care without blood. Their teaching draws a line within blood itself: whole blood and its four main components, red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma, are refused, while fractions of those components, and some procedures using a person's own blood, are left to each member's conscience.

We avoid practices that displease God, including the misuse of blood by taking blood transfusions.

This is a religious issue rather than a medical one.

These include the transfusion of whole blood or any of its main components—red cells, white cells, platelets, and plasma.

And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, that eateth any manner of blood, I will set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well.

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

And he saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

The Witnesses are right that Scripture forbids eating blood, and their zeal to obey it at cost is plain. Leviticus 17 forbids the man "that eateth any manner of blood," and gives the reason: "the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls" (Leviticus 17:10-11). Every one of these texts forbids eating, set beside idol feasts and strangled meat; none speaks of blood given from one living man to keep another alive, which honors the very thing Leviticus says the blood stands for, the life. Their own rule shows that the line is not in the text: plasma is forbidden but fractions taken from plasma are left to conscience, and no verse names a component or a fraction. To bind members to refuse care that could save a life, by a line the organization draws, is to teach as a command of God what the apostles did not write.

Acts 15 carries the word to Gentile believers, "that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication" (Acts 15:29). When the Lord was asked about a command God had truly written, he answered, "Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill?" (Mark 3:4).

What the text does bind. Not eating blood as food, and not using it in worship. Christians who keep that are on the line. What it does not bind. A transfusion is not the eating of a meal, and the church at Jerusalem gave the four abstentions as "no greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28). A church may not add to a burden the apostles lightened, and it may not divide blood into parts the apostles never named. The sincerity is not in doubt. Members who bear loss for the sake of this command do so out of a wish to obey God, and that is to be respected, even where the reading they obey is mistaken.

Removal from the congregation

An unrepentant wrongdoer is removed, and members do not socialize with him; the elders handle the case.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that a baptized member who commits a serious sin and does not repent must be removed from the congregation, and that the elders first try to help him. The congregation is told only that the person is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses. Members do not socialize with a removed person, though he may attend meetings, and he may be welcomed back when he repents. Until 2024 they called this disfellowshipping. In August 2024 they said they would say "removed," and that each member may use his conscience on whether to greet such a person at a meeting. Someone who leaves and actively works against the congregation is treated differently: they follow the command not to "say a greeting" to him.

The elders simply announce to the congregation that the person is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

So we do not socialize with someone who has been removed.

In the past, we would not greet such a person.

but as it is, I wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat. For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.

Sufficient to such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the many; so that contrariwise ye should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you to confirm your love toward him.

Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching, receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting: for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works.

And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word may be established. And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.

The Witnesses stand on the text where they hold that a church must put out a brother who keeps on in open sin: "Put away the wicked man from among yourselves" (1 Corinthians 5:13), "no, not to eat" with him (1 Corinthians 5:11), with the aim of his repentance and return (2 Corinthians 2:6-8). They go beyond it in two ways. They apply 2 John 9-11, which John wrote of deceivers who deny that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh, to a person who leaves and actively tries to undermine the congregation, and until 2024 they refused every removed person even a greeting. And the elders' judgment of a member's sin has been allowed to stand in the place of the state's judgment of a crime. The 2024 softening of the greeting rule is a step toward the apostle's own words, and it is credited.

Many churches have let this command lapse; the Witnesses have not. On the elders' judgment standing in the place of the state's, the Royal Commission's findings follow.

The Royal Commission. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, in its report of Case Study 29 (released 28 November 2016), looked at the response of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia. Its media release states that it examined case files "which recorded allegations, reports or complaints of child sexual abuse by 1,006 members of the organisation," and that it found "children are not adequately protected from the risk of child sexual abuse in the Jehovah’s Witness organisation and does not believe the organisation responds adequately to allegations of child sexual abuse." It said the organization relies on outdated policies, among them the two-witness rule, which it "applies inflexibly even in the context of child sexual abuse" and which, the Commission considered, "showed a serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse"; that its internal disciplinary system "was not child or survivor focused"; and that its general practice of not reporting serious instances to police or authorities showed "a serious failure" to provide for the safety of children. This chart states only what the Commission's media release says; the report itself, and the archived copies of the Commission's pages, could not be retrieved for this chart. The Witnesses' answer is on their own pages. The answer of Scripture. "rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil" (Romans 13:3), and the authorities are God's minister to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer (Romans 13:4). A church that holds the apostles' discipline of the soul must also let the state do its God-given work on the crime.

The New World Translation

Their own Bible, which restores the name Jehovah in the New Testament and renders John 1:1 as "a god."

Jehovah's Witnesses have used many translations, but in languages where it is available they especially appreciate the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. They say they value it for its use of God's name, its accuracy and its clarity, and that it is distributed without charge. The translation committee is anonymous. It prints the name Jehovah in the New Testament as well as the Old, and it reads the last clause of John 1:1 as "the Word was a god."

we especially appreciate the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures for its use of God’s name, for its accuracy, and for its clarity.

the New World Translation restores the divine name in the thousands of places where it existed in the original text, while the committee that produced the translation remains anonymous.

In the beginning was the Word,+ and the Word was with God,+ and the Word was a god.*+

because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:

for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

The Witnesses love the name of God, and that is right: the ASV itself uses Jehovah for the name in the Old Testament, and the apostles quote that Scripture in the New. But the New Testament Greek reads Lord, and a translation that changes it to Jehovah at will makes the text say what the translators believe. Romans 10:9 says "Jesus is Lord"; Romans 10:13 says "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," and the New World Translation prints "Jehovah" in the second and not the first, though Paul is quoting Joel in the one and confessing Jesus in the other, and the passage joins them. In Acts 5:3-4 Peter says that to lie to the Holy Spirit is to lie "unto God," and the New World Translation itself prints "You have lied, not to men, but to God." A translation that bends the verses which bear on who Jesus and the Spirit are is not a neutral rendering, and a committee that stays unnamed cannot be asked why.

Its own text puts the Spirit and God together there.

The test the Witnesses ask for. Their pages say a good translation must be accurate, and this chart takes the invitation: set the New World Translation beside the Greek at John 1:1, Colossians 1:16-17, Titus 2:13 and Hebrews 1:8 and see which way each rendering moves. Where they stand well. They give their Bible away without charge and carry its translation work into hundreds of languages. Scripture is read and discussed at every meeting, which puts them nearer the first-century habit of reading the word together than many churches that own more Bibles.

House-to-house preaching

Every member is expected to take part in preaching from door to door.

Jehovah's Witnesses are best known for preaching from house to house. They say they follow the example of the early Christians, who spread their message both "publicly and from house to house," and they list preaching the good news of the Kingdom among the key aspects of their worship. A publisher is one who actively preaches the good news of God's Kingdom, and the body counts its members by those who report it.

Preaching the “good news of the Kingdom.”

We follow the example of those early Christians and find that the door-to-door ministry is a good way to reach people.

A publisher refers to one who actively publishes, or preaches, the good news of God’s Kingdom.

And every day, in the temple and at home, they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house,

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.

This is a place where Jehovah's Witnesses stand nearer the New Testament than most churches, and it should be said plainly. The apostles "ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus as the Christ" daily in the temple and "at home" (Acts 5:42), and Paul taught "publicly, and from house to house" (Acts 20:20). The Witnesses' ordinary members carry that command door to door, and many churches have left it to a few. The gospel the apostles took to each house was that Christ is Lord and that a man is saved "by grace" through faith, "not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). A message that sets the Son among the creatures, and that gathers people into one organization as the way of life, is not the message those apostles preached.

The Lord's last command was to "make disciples of all the nations" and to teach them "to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20), and the Witnesses take it as every member's charge. They add that they do not believe they earn salvation by this work. The weakness is not in the method but in what they carry.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. Jehovah's Witnesses go to the Bible in earnest and ask others to do the same; where they stand nearer the pattern, they are credited plainly, and where they stand further, that is said too.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.

The Witnesses say they base their beliefs solely on the Bible, and the Scripture they honor is "profitable for teaching" and makes "the man of God" "complete" (2 Timothy 3:16-17); that is the right start. They fall short in what stands beside it. The Governing Body is described as the "visible agency" Christ uses, every congregation studies the same material, and one who actively promotes teaching against the body's own is treated as an apostate. That body also supplies what the text does not say: a year, 1914, for the start of Christ's reign; a division of the church into two classes at the Lord's table; and a line within blood between components that are forbidden and fractions that are not. The Bereans tested even an apostle, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and the rule is not to "go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6).

When a word of its own failed over 1975, The Watchtower said it was "to be regretted" that some statements had made it look "more of a probability than a mere possibility." The candor is to their credit. But a church that takes the Bible alone as its rule would, when a word of its own failed, go back to the book; the Witnesses go back also to a living office that defines what the book means, and that is why the line sits where it does.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

Credit is due plainly. The Witnesses baptize only those who have been taught and who choose it, and they baptize by immersion, "complete immersion in water—not just a sprinkling" in their own words. They fail in what they say baptism is for. Peter said, "be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), and Ananias said, "be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). The Witnesses' own article says Peter did not mean that baptism "pictures the washing away of sins"; it is a symbol of a dedication already made.

Their practice is that of Acts 8 and Romans 6:3-4, and they keep it where most churches have set it aside. They even say the one baptized is "asking God for a clean conscience," the language of 1 Peter 3:21. And where the apostles baptized the same day a man believed, the Witnesses baptize only after a course of study, a share in the preaching, and the elders' review of more than a hundred questions.

The Witnesses' statements that salvation "cannot be earned," and that it is not their place to judge who will be saved, are fair, and are credited. The weakness is not that they make too little of baptism; they require it. It is that they make it the sign of something else, a vow of dedication, rather than the point at which, in Peter's words, sins are remitted.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves.

The Witnesses are right in what they deny: the bread and the cup are not changed into flesh and blood, and the meal is a remembrance and not a sacrifice. They err in two ways. First, the Supper is kept once a year, though the first day of the week is the day of the breaking of bread: "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). Second, nearly every member watches and does not eat. The Lord said "this do in remembrance of me" to all who are his (1 Corinthians 11:24-25), and of the cup, "Drink ye all of it" (Matthew 26:27).

Paul's "as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup" (1 Corinthians 11:26) assumes a frequent meal, and a church that argues from the Passover cannot pass over the pattern of Troas. The Lord's word is that life is found in him: "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves" (John 6:53), and he spoke it of no class. The apostle's only test is self-examination, "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat" (1 Corinthians 11:28), not a class he is told he belongs to.

On the day: the Witnesses' own page admits that Jesus "did not specifically say how often" and that some observe it weekly. The silence of the command is met by the example of the disciples, who broke bread on the first day of the week. On the table: the cup is "the new covenant in my blood" (1 Corinthians 11:25), and that covenant is the one in which "all shall know me, From the least to the greatest of them" (Hebrews 8:11). A Supper that the great majority attend in order not to eat it is the one kind of restriction the text leaves no room for.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.

The Witnesses have a body of elders in each congregation, with no clergy class and no tithe, which is the New Testament pattern: "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), and elders who shepherd "nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind" (1 Peter 5:2). The departure is above the congregation: elders are appointed, and doctrine is set, from the Governing Body down through branches and circuits, and a congregation governs neither its elders nor its teaching. The structure alone would give the middle of the scale, and this chart moves it one step further out, because the Governing Body does not only govern: as the "visible agency" Christ uses, it sets doctrine of its own, and one who promotes teaching against it is treated as an apostate. An elder is to be "holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching" (Titus 1:9), and even an apostle wrote, "Not that we have lordship over your faith" (2 Corinthians 1:24). "one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren" (Matthew 23:8) is not a charge against the eldership; it is a charge against any body that stands over the brethren and calls itself their teacher.

Credit is due plainly: in the eldership of each congregation they stand nearer than most. The Governing Body says it is not the leader of the organization, and that Christ is the Head. The structure, however, makes it the final voice.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The Witnesses stand nearest the line here, and the credit is plain. They meet for songs, prayers and the reading and discussion of Scripture, free of ritual, as Paul describes: "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19). They pray to God, and they have no images. One departure is the instrument: their own history records that orchestral recordings of the songbook "were extensively used as accompaniment in congregation meetings," where the New Testament names only the voice. A smaller one is the day: the weekend meeting is for study, but the breaking of bread is not joined to the first day, as it was at Troas (Acts 20:7), and that is weighed under the Supper.

And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:

The Witnesses teach that the Spirit is God's force and not a person, and Scripture does not allow it. Peter said to Ananias, "why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit," and then says the man has lied "unto God" (Acts 5:4); to lie to the Spirit is to lie to God, and one cannot lie to a force. At Antioch "the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2): he speaks, says "me," and calls. He "maketh intercession for us" (Romans 8:26), and baptism is "into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), three persons under one name. Their argument that the Bible personifies wisdom and sin is true, but wisdom and sin do not say "me" and "I have called."

On the gifts, their saved pages state no position, so this item rests on the teaching about the person of the Spirit, which they state plainly.

And he said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.

For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.

The Witnesses rightly hold that Christ will return, that the dead will be raised, and that the end of the age is God's own hour, and they preach it with urgency. They err in the dead, the two ends and the dates. They teach that the dead pass out of existence, but Jesus told the thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43), and Paul wished "to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better" (Philippians 1:23), which is a state of being with him and not an end. And they have fixed dates: 1914 as the year Christ began to reign, though Peter preached at Pentecost that God "hath made him both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36), and the 1975 expectation, which their own history says was in some statements "more definite than advisable." "of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36), and a body that tells its people to look for a year has done what the Son did not.

They teach that the wicked are destroyed forever, but the same Lord said, "these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46), putting the two together.

The 144,000 and the great crowd are weighed under "The 144,000 and the great crowd" above; the line here is on the doctrine of the dead, of punishment and of dates.

Jehovah's Witnesses hold much that Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. They baptize believers only, and by immersion. They have a body of elders in every congregation, no clergy class and no tithe. They meet for songs, prayer and the reading of the Bible, free of ritual, and they use no images or cross. They deny that the bread and the cup are changed into flesh and blood, and they hold that the Lord's death is a remembrance and not a sacrifice. They teach that the Lord will return and that the dead will be raised. They preach from house to house, as the apostles did, and at their own cost. They give the Bible away freely and read it at every meeting. They refuse to take up the sword in any nation's wars, on the Lord's word, "Put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matthew 26:52); under the Nazis close to 400 of them were executed and more than a thousand died in camps and prisons rather than serve. And they honor the name of God and take his word about blood, at the cost of friends and sometimes their lives, as a thing to obey.

Measured by the New Testament alone, Jehovah's Witnesses stand on the line in who is baptized and how, in the eldership of each congregation, in having no images, in preaching to every house, and in refusing to take up the sword. They stand short in who Jesus and the Spirit are, in what baptism is for, in the Supper's day and its table, in the Governing Body above the congregation, in the dead and the dates, and in their Bible. The Lord Jesus is not the first thing God made. He is the Word who "was God" and through whom all things came to be, and the Spirit who spoke to the church at Antioch is God, not a force. The Supper belongs to every disciple on the first day of the week. And a body that sets its own understanding beside the book has set up a second rule beside it.

These are not the failings of people who left the Bible alone. They read it more than most, they carry it to every door, and they keep their convictions at real cost. The answer is not to doubt their sincerity but to bring the last of their faith to the Scriptures alone: to confess with Thomas, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28), to see in the Spirit the God to whom Ananias lied (Acts 5:3-4), and to bind no one by anything but "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3).

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