Finally, there are other instances in which these inspired Christian Greek Scripture writers appear to have used this term in a broader way, which also carries more weight than merely referring to a servant that performs mundane duties. This is when it is used to apply to any dedicated person who serves God in sacred or spiritual matters, and so here some languages translate it by a more fitting word, namely, “minister,” which conveys the sense of an elevated or godly service. Thus the apostle Paul at Colossians 1:23 refers to himself as one who was “made a minister [di·aʹko·nos],” or one who ‘had become or became a minister.’ (See Authorized Version; Revised Standard Version; Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English; The New English Bible.) Paul also speaks of others as ministers, as in the case of Timothy.​—1 Tim. 4:6, AV; RSV; New International Version.

“DI·A·KO·NIʹA”​—MINISTRY

Closely related to the Greek word di·aʹko·nos is the noun di·a·ko·niʹa, referring to a “service” or a “ministry.” This Greek word is also used in both a secular and a religious, or sacred, sense. It is used in a secular sense at Acts 6:1, where we read: “Now in those days, when the disciples were increasing, a murmuring arose on the part of the Greek-speaking Jews against the Hebrew-speaking Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution [footnote, “ministration”].”

When di·a·ko·niʹa is used in a religious sense some translators in certain languages use a special word for it, rendering it not as a “distribution” or a “service,” but as a “ministry,” meaning an elevated, godly service. Thus in such languages the apostle Paul is made to say regarding his apostleship to the Gentiles, “I glorify my ministry.” (Rom. 11:13, RSV; NE; NIV)a He further wrote that he was grateful that God ‘considered him faithful by assigning him to a ministry,’ a godly, elevated “service.” (1 Tim. 1:12, Kingdom Interlinear Translation) Thus Paul wrote Timothy: “You, though, keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.” Timothy’s evangelizing, or preaching of the “good news,” was not a mundane service. It was a godly, elevated service​—a ministry—​and it constituted him a minister. By the same token today, all who share in this evangelizing ministry are indeed ministers.​—2 Tim. 4:5, AV; NIV; RSV.

It is the way Christian Greek Scripture writers under inspiration use the Greek words di·aʹko·nos, di·a·ko·niʹa and similar ones that sets the pattern for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Actually, not only are Jehovah’s Witnesses a religious organization in the commonly accepted meaning of the term “congregation,” or “church,” but they also constitute an association for the training and equipping of men, women and youths to be ministers, “servants,” in an elevated or godly sense, preachers of the good news of God’s kingdom. For this purpose they have an ongoing body of study courses for the education of men, women and young people in the vital knowledge of the Bible so that they may be increasingly effective as God’s ministers. These study courses are covered at five weekly meetings in which there is exposition of Bible doctrine, interpretation of Bible prophecies, instruction in Christian conduct and training in the preaching and teaching of Bible truths.

ORDINATION AS MINISTERS

As with all religious organizations, Jehovah’s Witnesses have the privilege and right to determine when their students have reached the point where they qualify to be ministers of God’s Word, “servants” in an elevated, godly sense. After an appropriate personal training period they are examined by the duly appointed elders in their congregation. If students can give evidence of having an adequate knowledge of God’s Word, a heart appreciation of its message, and have unreservedly dedicated themselves to Jehovah to do his will and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and if they have brought their lives in line with God’s requirements and principles, they are admitted to baptism and are thereby ordained as ministers. There is sound Scriptural precedent for this procedure, for it was only after Jesus had presented himself for baptism that he began his career as God’s anointed minister, preaching the good news of God’s kingdom.​—Mark 1:9-15.

But is there sound reason for considering baptism, complete submersion in water, as an adequate ordination ceremony?b Perhaps not according to prevailing customs in Christendom, but there certainly is from a Scriptural point of view, even as can be seen from what M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (1877), Vol. VII, page 411, has to say on the subject. According to it, an ordination is “the appointment or designation of a person to a ministerial office, whether with or without attendant ceremonies. . . . A scriptural investigation of this subject can hardly fail to impress any ingenuous mind with the great significance of the fact that neither the Lord Jesus Christ nor any of his disciples gave specific commands or declarations in reference to ordination.” A diploma or an ordination certificate is no more needed by ministers today than one was needed by the apostle Paul.​—2 Cor. 3:1-3.

MINISTRY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

How do Jehovah’s Witnesses carry on their ministry? Some of them serve as appointed elders, and as such they preach and teach in their congregations from the platform and at congregational Bible classes held in the homes of the Witnesses. However, the most extensive and most distinctive method used by the Witnesses in their ministry is that used by the apostles and other early disciples of Jesus in obedience to his command: “Into whatever city or village you enter, search out who in it is deserving . . . When you are entering into the house, greet the household; and if the house is deserving, let the peace you wish it come upon it.”​—Matt. 10:11-13.

Similarly, the apostle Paul distinguished himself by preaching both to congregations and to individuals in their homes. As he told the elders of Ephesus: “You well know how . . . I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house. But I thoroughly bore witness both to Jews and to Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.” (Acts 20:18-21) This provides a fine precedent for God’s ministers today.

Regarding modern-day house-to-house ministry with the use of religious tracts the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (1943) ruled: “The hand distribution of religious tracts is an age-old form of missionary evangelism​—as old as the history of printing presses. . . . This form of religious activity occupies the same high estate under the First Amendment as do worship in the churches and preaching from the pulpits.”

Also, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in the case of Ransom v. United States (1955), that court stated that it could not “validly distinguish . . . between ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses who preach from door to door and on street corners as their vocations, and ministers of more conventional faiths who preach in pulpits, teach in church schools or carry on various other religious activities for their churches.”

Would the fact that these ministers did not devote all their time to their ministry reflect unfavorably on their claim to be ministers, meaning they did not qualify to be such? Not at all, for even the apostle Paul engaged in secular activities to support himself and those with him. (Acts 18:3, 4; 20:33, 34) This position was supported by this ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Wiggins v. United States (1958): “Ministers of Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . have no choice except to engage in secular pursuits in order to obtain funds to make the ministry their vocation. . . . The test . . . is . . . whether, as a vocation, regularly, not occasionally, he teaches and preaches the principles of his religion.”

So who are God’s ministers? They are the dedicated and baptized Christians who make service to God and neighbor their chief aim in life! (Mark 12:28-31) Please see also the three succeeding articles.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 15]

Scripturally, ordination as a minister of God takes place at one’s baptism

[Pictures on page 16]

Following the Bible precedent, Jehovah’s Witnesses pursue their ministry “publicly and from house to house”

That women can be preachers, proclaimers, ministers of the “good news” outside the congregational meetings can be seen from the prophecy at Joel 2:28, 29, which the apostle Peter showed had a fulfillment on the day of Pentecost by saying: “‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy . . . and even upon my men slaves and upon my women slaves I will pour out some of my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.’” Yes, at Pentecost the holy spirit fell upon both men and women.​—Acts 1:14, 15; 2:1-4, 17, 18.

Also pertinent here is Isaiah 61:6, which reads, in part: “As for you, the priests of Jehovah you will be called; the ministers of our God you will be said to be.” This prophecy had its initial fulfillment when the Jewish exiles, as a composite or national group, returned from ancient Babylon. However, as can be seen from the physical facts and in keeping with Romans 15:4 these words are having a modern fulfillment upon spiritual Israelites. (Gal. 6:16)a They were in spiritual captivity to “Babylon the Great” during World War I, and were set free shortly thereafter, with the symbolic fall of that world empire of false religion.

Since this restoration prophecy does find a fulfillment in modern times, who are included in the expression “ministers” or “servants” in an elevated or sacred sense? Is it limited to elders and ministerial servants, or “deacons,” in the congregation? Apparently not. Back there this prophecy applied to all the Jews who returned from Babylon as a composite or national group. Likewise today, this prophecy can be applied to all spiritual Israel who have come out of modern Babylon, both men and women, both old and young​—yes, regardless of age or sex, provided, of course, that they do “minister.”

Does this mean that the term “ministers” is limited now to the anointed spiritual remnant? No, for this expression can be applied also to the “great crowd” of “other sheep” who are assisting the remnant today. This can be seen from the way many other scriptures apply to these “other sheep.”​—John 10:16; Rev. 7:9.

For example, Isaiah 43:10-12 applied first to the natural Israelites whom Jehovah God delivered from Egypt and made his witnesses. Today, this scripture applies to the spiritual Israelites whom Jehovah has delivered from Satan’s organization, making them Jehovah’s Witnesses. Proof that this term cannot be limited to the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel can be seen from the fact that today there are more than two million worshipers of Jehovah who have an earthly hope and who truly are witnessing to their God, Jehovah.

FEMALE MINISTERS

Yes, all dedicated and baptized Christians, regardless of sex or age, can be proclaimers, preachers, ministers, “servants” in an elevated or sacred sense​—provided they give proof thereof by their conduct and their witnessing. Thus the apostle Paul wrote at Romans 16:1: “I recommend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a minister of the congregation that is in Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the holy ones, and that you may assist her in any matter where she may need you, for she herself also proved to be a defender of many, yes, of me myself.” Obviously, Paul’s reference is to something more than merely physical service. It is to something having to do with the spoken word, the Christian ministry. However, she had not been appointed as a female ministerial servant, as Jehovah God through Paul made no provision for women in such an office.

Again, when writing the Christian congregation in Philippi, Paul makes reference to Euodia and Syntyche as “women who have striven side by side with me in the good news [evidently preaching and teaching the good news of God’s kingdom] along with Clement as well as the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.”​—Phil. 4:2, 3.

Also, not to be overlooked is Priscilla, wife of Aquila. She is mentioned repeatedly, most often even ahead of her husband. (Acts 18:2, 18, 26; Rom. 16:3; 1 Cor. 16:19; 2 Tim. 4:19) When eloquent Apollos arrived in Ephesus and it was apparent that he needed further instruction, ‘Priscilla and Aquila took him to their home and they both expounded the word of God more correctly to him.’​—Acts 18:26, Kingdom Interlinear Translation.

Several courts in the United States have recognized female Jehovah’s Witnesses, in carrying on the door-to-door evangelistic work, as ministers. For example, the Supreme Court of Vermont, in Vermont v. Greaves (1941), stated that Elva Greaves “is an ordained minister of a sect or class known and designated as ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’.”

YOUTHFUL MINISTERS

The same principle may be applied to youthful Christians. Although in no sense of the word could they serve as appointed servants in the congregation, their age would be no impediment to their being preachers and proclaimers of the “good news,” ministers of God. Jesus at the age of 12 showed himself to be capable of ‘ministering’ God’s Word. (Luke 2:46-50) Samuel became “a minister of Jehovah” as a mere “boy.” (1 Sam. 2:11, NW; see also American Standard Version; The Jerusalem Bible; Rotherham.) And so in modern times some in their early teens or even younger, after having dedicated themselves to Jehovah and having been baptized, are proving by their activity in preaching the good news of God’s kingdom at every opportunity, as well as by their conduct, that they are indeed ministers of God.​—2 Tim. 2:22; Eccl. 12:1.

A “SACRED SERVICE”

Jesus laid down the rule that a man’s claims must be measured by his works. He stated: “The works themselves that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father dispatched me.” (John 5:36) By the same token, those ministers (or, “servants” in an elevated sense) that God sends forth, male or female, young or old, are to be recognized by their service for the Kingdom interests, their “sacred service” to their God, Jehovah.​—Matt. 4:10; Rom. 12:1, 2.

So among Jehovah’s Witnesses today, anyone who upon adequate instruction in God’s Word has been baptized in symbol of dedicating his or her life to God, and who thereafter seriously undertakes service to Jehovah God in witnessing to his name and kingdom, is truly a minister in God’s view. (John 12:26) However, whether they would always want to introduce themselves when calling from house to house as a “minister” would depend upon the circumstances, including the local attitude toward the term “minister.” In any case, today’s ‘great crowd out of all nations’ are described at Revelation 7:9-17 as ‘rendering God sacred service day and night in his temple.’ All are God’s ministers​—his servants in a sacred, elevated sense.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 18]

At Pentecost, holy spirit commissioned men and women to be ministers of our God, Jehovah

[Picture on page 19]

Youths may serve as ‘ministers of God,’ preaching the “good news” and bringing spiritual comfort to others

Those who are nonpolitical “ministers” of the victorious Almighty God, Jehovah, will be preserved by him through that war of all wars with which the present system of earthly governments will end. What a grand reward that will be for their having kept on faithfully in their Christian ministry to him!

9. Despite the political usage of the term, are there Scripturally “ministers” of God, and what did the Watch Tower magazine say about this in 1882?

⁹ Granted that today some lands use and apply the term “minister” in only a political sense. However, this does not mean that, from the standpoint of the Bible in its original languages, a person who dedicates himself wholly to God and devotes himself to doing the will of Jehovah God is not to be called a “minister,” or di·aʹko·nos, of Jehovah God, in imitation of Jesus Christ. Nearly a century ago, in its monthly issue of June 1882 (page 7), the magazine Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence said concerning religious ministers:

The disciples were sent to preach and teach and baptize. And while we believe that every consecrated member of the body of Christ is a minister in some sense, and all are “anointed to preach the glad tidings,” yet there are various members adapted to different parts of the work, just as there are different members and offices in the human body, which Scripturally is used to illustrate the body of Christ​—the church.

10. What did the magazine issue of January 1, 1892, say about full-time publishers known as colporteurs in the light of what the nominal church of Christendom claims to be God’s ministers?

¹⁰ In its later issue of January 1, 1892 (page 9), the Watch Tower magazine said, under the heading “Views from the Tower,” the following:

Few know these colporteurs as the Lord’s real representatives, or recognize that dignity which the Lord sees in their humility and self-sacrifice. Missionaries? No, say the world and the nominal church, ours are the missionaries, who go to foreign lands. Yes, says the Lord, these are my missionaries, charged with a grand mission​— . . .

Ministers? No, say the world and the nominal church, only ours who wear “clerical” garments and preach from our pulpits are God’s ministers. Yes, says the Lord, my servants (ministers) they are because they serve me, dispensing present truth to my household. I have sent forth the message which they bear. He that despiseth them despiseth me, and he that receiveth the sealing in the forehead which I send by them will know the doctrine, that it is of me. “My sheep know my voice.”

(See also the issue of February 1, 1899, paragraphs 6 and 7, under the heading “Is Present Truth Unreasonable?”)

11. From what language are the words “minister” and “ministry” drawn, and what are they defined as meaning?

¹¹ However, has the Watchtower magazine been self-assuming or presumptuous in saying that every consecrated or dedicated, baptized disciple of Jesus Christ is a “minister”? Not at all! The English words “minister” and “ministry,” as well as the corresponding words in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French, are drawn from the ancient Latin words minister and ministerium, words found in the Latin Vulgate Version of the Bible. Minister is defined as follows: “An attendant, waiter, servant, also a priest’s attendant, or assistant; likewise an inferior officer, underofficer.” Ministerium is defined as “the office or functions of a minister, attendance, service, ministry, in a good or bad sense; an office, occupation, work, task, employment, administration, etc.”​—A New Latin Dictionary, by Lewis and Short, page 1146.

12. How widely is the Bible version first quoted from by this magazine and other Watch Tower publications used even today, and is politics being discussed in the matter of the ministry?

¹² So the words “minister” and “ministry” should have a broad meaning. Here we must remember that, from the beginning, the Watch Tower magazine and associated publications have used as their fundamental Bible translation the Authorized Version, or King James Version, of 1611 C.E. To this day this recognized version is used throughout Great Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations as well as in the United States of America. So in quotations from that commonly used Bible translation, the key words “minister” and “ministry” are used in the sense given to them in the Christian Greek Scriptures (The New Testament), and not in the modern political sense. We are not discussing politics.

LATEST PREFERRED TRANSLATIONS OF THE WORDS

13. How do most Bible translators like to render the controversial word di·a·ko·niʹa into English, and what are God’s dedicated people going to do about the obligations resulting therefrom?

¹³ There are many modern English translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures (The New Testament). How do the majority of these modern English translations prefer to render the controversial Greek word di·a·ko·niʹa for their readers? By the word “ministry,” with all the dignity that the Holy Bible imparts to it. Rightly, the dedicated, baptized witnesses of Jehovah are within the Bible meaning of things to apply to their assigned Christian activity the fitting word “ministry.”

15. What will the Christian witnesses of Jehovah then be obliged to do?

¹⁵ What will that future course of the political powers of the world mean for the Christian witnesses of Jehovah? This: their ministry in behalf of the interests of God’s kingdom will be rejected. No longer will they be preaching “the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” Even after the despoiling of Babylon the Great, they must unflinchingly carry on the proclaiming of the “day of vengeance on the part of our God.”​—Isa. 61:1, 2; 59:17, 18.

16. How will Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate the apostle Paul in what he says in Romans 11:13 according to many translations?

¹⁶ Till then, what are Jehovah’s Witnesses going to do with their “ministry”? Keeping close in mind what is coming according to Bible prophecy, they will wisely determine to do what that fine example, the apostle Paul, did. In Romans 11:13, as an international legate from Jehovah God, the apostle Paul described what he did about it, according to various modern translations of his words: “For I speak to you, the nations, since I am an apostle of the nations; I glorify my ministry.” (The International Hebrew/​Greek English Bible; British Revised Version; The New World Translation; The New American Bible; Rotherham) “I honor my ministry.” (Murdock; The Emphatic Diaglott; Roman Catholic Douay Version; The New English Bible) “I make much of my ministry.” (The New International Version) “I make as much as I can of my ministry.” (Phillips’ Modern English) “I make the most of my ministry.” (An American Translation) “I take pride in my ministry.” (Weymouth) “I magnify my ministry.” (Revised Standard Version) “I make much of my office.” (The Bible in Living English) “I lay great stress on my office.” (Moffatt) “I magnify mine office.” (Authorized Version) Luther’s German Bible translation reads: “I will prize my office [Amt, German].” William Tyndale rendered it: “I will magnify myn office.”

17. Although it was a work in behalf of pagan Gentiles, did Paul as a Jew say he lowered it to the level of a mere average service?

¹⁷ From the above translations we note that Paul’s di·a·ko·niʹa is not lowered to the level of a mere “service.” Paul uses in connection with his “ministry” the Greek word dox·aʹzo, the root word of which is the Greek term doʹxa, meaning “glory.” Certainly there was nothing about Paul’s di·a·ko·niʹa of which to be ashamed. As Today’s English Version renders Romans 11:13: “I am speaking now to you Gentiles: As long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I will take pride in my work.” The Jerusalem Bible reads: “Let me tell you pagans this: I have been sent to the pagans as their apostle, and I am proud of being sent.”a

18. In the light of what the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ were naturally, why should Jehovah’s Witnesses not be belittled by the clergy with high-sounding titles who graduated from seminaries?

¹⁸ Of course, one’s Christian “ministry” is nothing over which to get a swelled head. Rather, we should feel most humble, because God has so favored his dedicated, baptized worshipers by taking them into such a ministry under the now reigning King, Jesus Christ.

19. Are the dedicated, baptized witnesses of Jehovah ministers of any government, and how enduring will their ministry be?

¹⁹ As for being ministers of government, well, those dedicated, baptized witnesses of Jehovah are ministers of the greatest government in all existence. No, they are nothing like Cabinet officers of some man-made government such as an empire, kingdom or democracy, but they are ministers of the Sovereign of the Universe, the Creator of heaven and earth. In fulfillment of Matthew 24:14, they are the appointed heralds of the Messianic kingdom of the presently reigning King, Jesus Christ. Their ministry will not end with the catastrophic end of the old system of things, during the “great tribulation” just ahead.

20. In his admonitions at Colossians 4:17 and 2 Timothy 4:5 was Paul referring to the common, ordinary service performed by men in general?

²⁰ The apostle Paul could hardly have had in mind the common, ordinary services performed by worldly men in general, when he wrote to his fellow Christian named Archippus: “Keep watching the ministry which you accepted in the Lord, that you fulfill it.” (Col. 4:17) During his final imprisonment Paul wrote to Timothy, his fellow missionary: “Do the work [erʹgon, Greek] of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.” (2 Tim. 4:5) These inspired instructions to faithful ministers of the primitive Christian congregation are excellent admonitions for all dedicated, baptized witnesses of Jehovah today to apply to themselves in this “time of the end” of the doomed old system of things, to God’s eternal glory.​—Dan. 12:4.

Even then, there is a vast difference between the secular ministry of such politicians called ‘God’s ministers’ and the religious “ministry” of the apostle Paul and that of his fellow Christians who are no part of this world. Their areas of operation are different from one another. The use of the term “minister” in a governmental sense by worldly politicians does not debar Paul and his fellow Christians from being called “ministers” in a religious sense according to the languages that are involved.

3. Are Jehovah’s Witnesses of today, who go preaching from house to house like Tychicus and Timothy, each “God’s minister in the good news about the Christ”?

³ When, in Ephesians 6:21, the apostle Paul calls Tychicus “a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord,” he was not classifying Tychicus with the clergymen of Christendom. (Also, Colossians 1:7; 4:7.) Paul also called Timothy “our brother and God’s minister in the good news about the Christ.” (1 Thess. 3:2) Certainly Jehovah’s dedicated, baptized witnesses of today who preach “this good news of the kingdom” from house to house are “God’s minister[s] in the good news about the Christ.”​—Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10.

4. What do the Scriptures indicate as to whether the Christian congregation as a whole, as well as individual members of it, has a ministry?

⁴ What, though, about the congregation of baptized Christians as a whole? To the congregation in Thyatira, Asia Minor, the glorified Son of God, Jesus Christ, said: “I know your deeds, and your love and faith and ministry.” (Rev. 2:18, 19) To the congregation in Corinth, Achaia, Greece, Paul wrote: “There are varieties of ministries, and yet there is the same Lord.” (1 Cor. 12:5) In harmony with that fact, from the Pentecost of 33 C.E. forward the glorified Jesus Christ bestowed upon his congregation on earth gifts in the form of men, such as apostles, prophets, evangelizers, shepherds, teachers. For what purpose? “With a view to the readjustment of the holy ones, for ministerial work [literally, work of ministry], for the building up of the body of the Christ.” (Eph. 4:7-12) Finally, to all the members of the Hebrew Christian congregation in Jerusalem, the apostle Paul wrote: “God is not unrighteous so as to forget your work and the love you showed for his name, in that you have ministered to the holy ones and continue ministering.” (Heb. 6:10) In this way all were performing a ministry approved by Jehovah God.

AS REGARDS SECULAR WORK

5. (a) Contrary to the style of professional ministers of Christendom, may ministers according to the Scriptural rule be part-time secular workers? (b) When did the term “minister” appear in Bible translations?

⁵ One’s being Scripturally a minister as a part of the dedicated, baptized congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses does not mean living a life in luxury and at ease. The living arrangements for the professional ministers of the religious systems of Christendom may lead many to think so. But according to the inspired Bible this should not be so. Yet, those who are “ministers” according to the Bible meaning of the word may be workers at secular employment for part of the time. Why, even Jesus Christ was a carpenter at Nazareth until 30 years of age! Then he devoted his full time to the ministry for which he had been anointed with God’s spirit. Whether he spoke the Latin language and used its term “minister,” we do not know. But when the Hebrew-Greek Scriptures were translated into the Latin of the Roman Empire, then the word minister appeared in that translation.

6. (a) According to the roots of the corresponding word in the Latin or the Greek, “minister” has what kind of sense? (b) How, then, could it be “glorified” by Paul?

⁶ Since the word minister is derived from the Latin adjective minus, meaning “less,” to be a minister means, basically, for one to “be or act like something less” (quod minus est, Latin). The corresponding Greek word di·aʹko·nos has a like lowly derivation. It is understood to be drawn from di·aʹ (meaning “through”) and konis (meaning “dust”). To a Greek the word would present the idea of someone going through the dust in order to make himself available or to render some service. However, despite the lowly roots of the Greek word the apostle Paul used it when saying: “I glorify my ministry.” (Rom. 11:13) He proved this by sticking to it to the finish.

7. (a) Is the ministry of the Kingdom message cheapened by ministers’ not charging for it? (b) How is any necessary secular work viewed by Kingdom ministers?

⁷ It was not for self-glory that Paul zealously carried on his ministry. It was without cost or without charge to the ones to whom he preached the “good news.” But by this he was not cheapening his ministry. Receivers of the “good news” still had to ‘count the cost’ for doing something beneficial to themselves without paying for the “good news.” Paul felt most highly honored at being entrusted with such glorious “good news,” a ministry without equal when compared with all the highpaying occupations of this world. Today Jehovah’s Witnesses imitate the example of the apostle Paul. How? By not engaging in the ministry of God’s Kingdom message for personal gain in a material or worldly way. They view it as wrong to handle the Kingdom message like something of a commercial kind, as merely a means of making a comfortable living. Any secular work that they may be obliged to do takes a secondary place with them as a sideline. The Kingdom ministry is something worth making sacrifices for!

8. In what way did Paul, after finally reaching Rome, continue to ‘glorify his ministry’ there?

⁸ When the apostle Paul finally arrived in Rome and made contact with the congregation, he continued to do what he had said in his letter written years earlier to them: he ‘glorified his ministry.’ How did he do this in spite of being a prisoner with a chain? Doctor Luke, his faithful companion, tells us: “When, finally, we entered into Rome, Paul was permitted to stay by himself with the soldier guarding him. However, three days later he called together those who were the principal men of the Jews. When they had assembled, [Paul talked to them]. . . . So he remained for an entire two years in his own hired house, and he would kindly receive all those who came in to him, preaching the kingdom of God to them and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with the greatest freeness of speech, without hindrance.”​—Acts 28:16-31; Eph. 6:20.

9. To what extent did Paul’s imprisonment and the reason for it become public knowledge in Rome, and how did the Christians in that city feel about it?

⁹ What was the result of this activity of Paul held unjustly as a prisoner? He tells us: “Now I desire you to know, brothers, that my affairs have turned out for the advancement of the good news rather than otherwise, so that my bonds have become public knowledge in association with Christ among all the Prætorian Guard and all the rest; and most of the brothers in the Lord, feeling confidence by reason of my prison bonds, are showing all the more courage to speak the word of God fearlessly.” “All the holy ones, but especially those of the household of Caesar, send you their greetings.”​—Phil. 1:12-14; 4:22.

NOW THE TIME TO DIGNIFY THE MINISTRY

10. When did the remnant of Jehovah’s faithful dedicated baptized people respond to the call to get out of the world empire of false religion?

¹⁰ Jehovah’s Witnesses have responded to the divine call to come out of Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. During World War I of 1914-1918, Babylon the Great collaborated with the warring political powers in putting restrictions upon the dedicated, baptized people of Jehovah God. This went as far as the imprisoning of leading members of the headquarters staff of their organization. But in the postwar year of 1919 there came relief and release. Then they saw the need for reorganizing themselves for the foretold work of preaching “this good news of the kingdom” worldwide.​—Matt. 24:14.

11. (a) When met in convention in 1919, members of the remnant exposed Babylon the Great in what way? (b) What awaited time period did they hail, and in line with that what magazine began to be published?

¹¹ A reorganization of the remnant followed for preaching “this good news of the kingdom” earth wide as never before. With that in view they held a general convention in September of the year 1919, at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A. There they publicly exposed Babylon the Great as the backer of the then proposed League of Nations, which the clergy of the Protestant Church called “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.” The conventioners hailed the “golden age” that is to be ushered in by God’s heavenly kingdom under Christ. As announced at the convention, in October of 1919 a new magazine began to be published as a complement to the Watch Tower magazine and it was entitled “The Golden Age.” Later, due to the increasing need of comfort on the part of the whole human family, the name of the magazine was changed to “Consolation.” After World War II the name was changed to “Awake!”

12. (a) Further improving their ministerial appearance, the remnant took on themselves what new identification? (b) What was all of this doing to their Kingdom ministry?

¹² All of this gave a new ministerial appearance to those preachers of God’s established kingdom. In 1931 they shook off all the reproachful names with which Babylon the Great continued to dub them, for then they adopted the name based on Bible prophecy, that is, Jehovah’s Witnesses. (Isa. 43:10-12) This gave them a new identification before Babylon the Great and her political patronizers. This stripping off of religious clothing that had been stained and soiled by contact with Babylon the Great was pleasing to their God, Jehovah. They took on a new image in his sight. Figuratively, it was as if the anointed remnant were putting on the “robes of state” that befitted their priestly ministry. (Zech. 3:4, 5) This dignified, honored, glorified their ministry toward God.

13. (a) What further proof was given from 1935 onward that the remnant had been restored to God’s favor? (b) Those of the “great multitude” joined the remnant in doing what about the ministry?

¹³ Was there visible evidence of the restoration of the anointed remnant to divine favor after World War I? Yes, for what proved to be “a great crowd” of sincere seekers of the one living and true God began associating with the comparatively small remnant of the “royal priesthood.” (1 Pet. 2:9) This has definitely been the case since the spring of the year 1935. Then a general convention was held in Washington, D.C. There, on May 31, the president of the Watch Tower Society gave the feature talk on the subject of “The Great Multitude.” This was based on Revelation 7:9-15, Authorized Version. Next day 840 symbolized their dedication to Jehovah God by water baptism. The majority of these baptismal candidates entertained the hope of the “great multitude” for an earthly paradise under Christ’s kingdom. This they well knew meant their joining the anointed remnant in their house-to-house activity as ministers of Jehovah God. They, too, began to ‘glorify their ministry.’

14. Though not in most cases able to devote their full time to the Kingdom preaching, those of the “great multitude” are under what obligation because of their dedication and symbolic baptism?

¹⁴ Till now hundreds of thousands of sheeplike persons have flocked to the side of the anointed remnant and have joined them in the Kingdom ministry. Not all of these have been able to devote their full time to that ministry in the capacity of full-time publishers, traveling representatives of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, or as staff members of branch offices of the Society. Earthly obligations require most of them to do secular work for most of their time or a good part of it. Yet their dedication to God, as symbolized by water baptism, calls for them to be ministers of him in serving the interests of his kingdom.

15. How do these find themselves in a situation like that of the apostle Paul at Corinth?

¹⁵ They find themselves in a situation like that of the apostle Paul. For a year and a half he worked in Corinth as a tentmaker with Aquila, a Jewish believer. (Acts 18:1-11) Some today might classify Paul as being then “a regular minister.”

16. When Paul stopped at Miletus on his way to Jerusalem, what did he say about secular work on his part?

¹⁶ We also recall what Paul said while on his way to Jerusalem when he stopped at the seaport of Miletus in Asia Minor. From there he sent and called for the elders or overseers of the congregation in Ephesus. Among other things, he said to them: “Therefore keep awake, and bear in mind that for three years, night and day, I did not quit admonishing each one with tears. . . . I have coveted no man’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands have attended to the needs of me and of those with me. I have exhibited to you in all things that by thus laboring you must assist those who are weak, and must bear in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, when he himself said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.’”​—Acts 20:31-35.

17. (a) Was Paul downgrading his ministry by working at times at secular employment, or what was the idea of it? (b) What is there to say about whether other dedicated Christians of the day were worker-ministers, as illustrated by what temple attendants?

¹⁷ By working temporarily in secular employment, at a paying job, Paul was not downgrading his Kingdom ministry. He arranged to make his preaching and teaching without cost to his hearers and pupils. In that way he was really keeping his educational work clear of the charge of being a money-making racket. (1 Cor. 9:13-18) In this case he was really doing what he said: “I glorify my ministry.” (Rom. 11:13) His being a worker-minister for self-support proved that he had a pure unselfish motive in his Kingdom ministry. Most of his dedicated Christian associates were worker-ministers, some of them even being slaves to non-Christian masters. (Acts 18:1-4; Rom. 16:3-5) Necessary secular work does not degrade the Kingdom ministry, for we must bear in mind that the Levites under the Mosaic Law covenant of Israel served at the temple in Jerusalem just one week each half year, besides at the annual festivals in Jerusalem. The rest of the time they lived in their Levite cities throughout the land and worked there for the upkeep of their families. Thus they too were worker-ministers.

18. (a) Are such worker-ministers among Jehovah’s Witnesses entitled to the consideration granted to ministers of Babylon the Great? (b) How do worker-ministers ‘glorify their ministry’ while engaged in secular employment?

¹⁸ Because many of Jehovah’s dedicated, baptized witnesses find it necessary or obligatory to do secular work most of their time, it does not mean or argue that they are not real ministers of God, entitled to all the considerations given by governments to religious ministers of Babylon the Great. Although being worker-ministers, they put the interests of God’s kingdom ahead of everything else. Because of preaching God’s kingdom even from house to house, they are indeed Kingdom ministers, not ranking lower than the political ministers in the governments of this world. By the praiseworthy quality of the work that they render to their secular employers these worker-ministers indirectly ‘glorify their ministry.’ This brings credit to God to whom we render sacred service.

19. (a) If circumstances change to make it possible for him, what will the worker-minister do to the extent of his ability? (b) Regardless of the amount of time spent directly in behalf of the Kingdom, what will each dedicated baptized witness of Jehovah do?

¹⁹ It goes without saying that, if circumstances change to allow worker-ministers to engage in the Kingdom ministry full time, they will appreciatively take up the ministry of God’s Word to the full extent of their ability. At all events, whether we are able to devote our full time or only part of it directly in the interests of God’s now established kingdom by Christ, let us incessantly ‘glorify our ministry.’