Jehovah’s Witnesses Two Classes of Christian Debunked

When I was a child, I was told Jehovah’s Witnesses believed only 144,000 people went to heaven. I thought to myself, “What if there’s more than 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses, do they take someone else’s spot? Are they all fighting for a position in heaven? Can you get kicked out if there’s a better witness?” It wasn’t until decades later, I learned they believe in two classes of Christians. There’s the anointed class, those who have a heavenly calling which limited to 144,000. Then the earthly class, those who will live on a Paradise earth which is open to everyone. This paradise, is where majority of witnesses think they’re going. This two classes of Christian belief is foundational, interwoven throughout Jehovah Witness doctrine. But is it true, and where are they getting this?

Time for a little history lesson. Jehovah’s Witnesses started in the late 1800’s by Charles Taze Russel. He preached only 144,000 were going to heaven, the only ones to be saved at Armageddon which was coming in October 1914. If you studied his magazines, and remained a faithful Bible students, you’d be whisked away to heaven. Now it’s the mid 1930’s, Armageddon didn’t arrive on schedule, Russel was dead, and the numbers of witnesses had surpassed 144,000. Questions were raised, who among us is going to Heaven? However a new leader ironed all this out in 1935. He announced to all his followers, there was a new class, the earthly class. Have your hope set on heaven and being with God? Well now God’s only channel has something even better. Earth, without God.

You might say, “Hey wait a minute, he just made that up. The numbers grew, they couldn’t explain it, so you created a new class to covered their rears.” That assumption is perfectly reasonable. However, a witness would respond, “No, it was all in Jehovah’s timing, the doctrine is Biblical.” This isn’t a secret, but explained on their own website, but bragged about as if it’s an incredible achievement. So is this really Biblical, or an invention by a false teacher?

Let me first explain, In this article, I will only be covering the Bible’s approach on two classes of Christians. Debunking each class will require it’s own breakdown since the topic is so large. I will post links when they become available.

Examining The JW “Proof Texts”

Before I jump in, Witnesses call the anointed class by several titles, Christ’s brothers, little children, the little flock, priests, saints, holy ones, the list goes on. Rewards exclusive to the anointed class are, being born again, a child of God, adopted as heirs, anointed with “holy spirit”, partaking of the the bread and wine, part of the new covenant, going to heaven and ruling over a paradise earth. None of these are available to the earthly class. 

There is a big problem that I’ll refer to as “JW goggles,”. This is how they are taught to see verses. To a Witness, there may seem to be a plethora of evidence for the concept of two classes. Every time the Psalms says the righteous man will dwell on the earth, the average Witness has the JW goggles on and sees “The Psalmist is speaking about the earthly class.” When Jesus says believers will be heirs with him, that’s the anointed, or when he says the meek inherit the earth, that’s referring to the earthly class, or great crowd. Biblical interpretation can be difficult, so you need to apply proper hermeneutics. Meaning, remove the goggles, and rid yourself of preconceived ideas. But those systems are usually ignored by the Watch Tower, to instead push a meaning, that can reasonably have another understanding. So it’s not scripture speaking, only their bias beliefs. If the leaders say there’s two group of Christians, you’ll start reading that doctrine everywhere into the text, instead of taking scripture as intended. What you’ll find, the Watch Tower will present verses as “proof texts” but what they are really presenting is their own interpretation, while the more logical and biblical understanding is ignored.

Let me start by establishing what the Bible actually teaches on the subject. There is one group of Christian. Only one. Followers of Christ, all under the same Sheppard, Jesus. Ephesians 4:4 says there is one hope. That hope for Christians, is eternity with God, in heaven. Eventually heaven and earth are joined ( Revelation 21:1-4 ) A new heaven and new earth. All Christians receive The Holy Spirit, all are called to be saints, brothers of Christ, Children of God, born again, heirs to the kingdom where they will rule over creation with God and enjoy him forever. Witnesses disagree, and there are structural reasons why. Still, I will list the verses witnesses will use to defend their position.

John 10:16 “Other Sheep”

 Probably their most quoted, John 10:16. Jesus speaking “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.” A witnesses has their JW goggles on and sees, “Jesus says there is another fold, therefore there are two classes.” That’s a big leap. No one unfamiliar with JW doctrine post 1935 would ever read that interpretation. Now notice, as what usually happens, JW leaders teach their followers to focus only on a few words, and not consider the whole verse which reads. “I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” What is Jesus speaking about? Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is setting up the full revelation of the good news message. He came for Israel first(Matthew 15:24, John 1:11), then sends the message to the gentiles. Paul explains this well in Ephesians 3:6 “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.” Take off the JW glasses off, there’s nothing here about two groups of Christians. A direct debunk to the JW usage of John 10:16, is knowing Jesus is quoting a prophecy in Ezekiel 37:24-27.

( Note: “David” here is referring to Jesus, as he is a fulfillment of the Davidic covenant” )

In the prophecy in Ezekiel, the one Shepard makes a new covenant with the whole flock. However, according to JW’s, the earthly class aren’t apart of the new covenant. Just another reason why this verse doesn’t work. There is some witness material that will try and answer why this isn’t speaking of Jews and Gentiles, however, the reasoning is circular, and boils down to this…”There are two classes of Christian, therefore John 10:16 is speaking of the two classes. And we know there are two classes of Christians, because John 10:16 says so.”

Luke 12:32 “Little Flock given a Kingdom”

This verse reads, “Little flock, it is the father’s desire to give you the kingdom.” The Witness sees “Little flock refers to the anointed, because the Watchtower said so, therefore it’s confirmed, two classes.” Nope, and take those JW glasses off and read the whole chapter. This section in Luke 12 is about encouragement, standing through trails, trusting in God no matter what you face. This is a term of endearment. In other words, take heart you little sheep, the Good Shepard has you. Looking further into this, the verse again debunks their position. JW’s teach the anointed class are given the kingdom. However, in Matthew 25:34 the righteous sheep which JW see as the earthly class, are also given the kingdom.

1 Peter 2:9 “They will be priests”

The assumption here, there will be those who are priests (aka the anointed class). What’s happening again, is leaders ripping a few words out of the context, and building a doctrine. There is a major problem if the entire verse is read. First you have Peter giving a comparison, that these “priests” have received mercy, brought out of darkness, a people for God. Wouldn’t that imply, all those who aren’t priests, haven’t received mercy? Are still in darkness? Are not God’s people. That argument should be effective enough, however there are two other verses that debunk this verse usage. First, verse 5 of the same chapters, calls these people living stones. That is the church! Are the earthly class not members of the congregation? A second verse is found in the Chapter 1. It reads in verse 18

Notice the many uses of “you” which according to JW’s is just speaking of the anointed. However, there “You” are purchased with the blood of the Lamb. Yet again, Acts 20:28 says that Christ’s blood paid for the whole church. What we find in 1 Peter, are blessings for Christians. Peter

Revelation 5:10 “they will reign upon the earth”

A common go to among witnesses for this two class system. “If everyone goes to heaven, who would they rule over? Therefore, there must be people on earth.” A simple response, “Who did Adam and Eve rule over?” Creation, the trees, the animals, everything God gave them. The refutation is one single verse, John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name,

Becoming children of God is for everyone. This verse allows anyone to become and adopted child of God, and heir to the Kingdom, for those who believe in his name. Also worth mentioning, speaking about being bought by Christ’s blood. It needs to be understood, JW’s would say this whole section is written to the anointed class, earthly not included.

Revelation 7 and 14 “144,000”

The 144,000. This is the source of the confusion, and horribly misused. Now there are a lot of opinions about these sections of Scripture and the identity of these people. Who are they? Well, mostly likely Jews. The text does say “Sons of Israel” and then lists the tribes. What is mostly likely happening, John is trying to explain that the Jews are not the only ones who are saved. They will be in heaven, God did purchase them, but they are a remnant, numbered, countable. However, if you keep reading the whole chapter. This the “Great Crowd” or earthly class, is in heaven, before the throne of God. This crowd isn’t some earthly class, but gentiles, who no one can number. This is the promise of Abraham fulfilled. Those blessed through his seed will be uncountable, so therefor the message is for both Jew and Gentile, all nations. Witnesses will try and claim “before the throne.” Just means they are on earth before it, however this is silly, especially if you read all of Revelation. The beasts and the elders, are also before the throne, and this mentioned in Revelation 4 and 5. This is an image of heaven, not earth, and the evidence is overwhelming. There’s also the issue of literal reading. Revelation is extremely metaphorical. I would encourage anyone who things 144,000 is literal, read the passage, and highlight anything else literal. You’ll be quite surprised by what you find. Still, this is a prime example of bias interpretation.

With all this talk, a Witness might starting explaining, there were different classes in old testament. There were priests in the Old Testament, therefor, the anointed will be like the priests, and the JW explanation is, “Temporary Residents”. This is taken from Isaiah 61:4, however, earlier in Isaiah 56, if we are to use this analogy, these “Foreigners,” receive the same benefits, the same God. Yes there were priests in the Old Testament, who had special duties. But they didn’t receive a different reward.

As you’ve seen there is no proof text, just bias interpretation. It’s starting from the belief, and trying to make the Bible agree, rather than letting the Bible speak for itself. The two classes didn’t come about through deep study, but an attempt to keep the JW machine running. The only two classes we find in the Bible, are the righteous and the unrighteous, the blessed and the condemned, the sheep and the goats, the believers, and the non-believer. Nowhere, is there ever presented a separation between Christians. I’ll will address the evidence they use for each class, but it’s important to remove the metaphorical JW glasses when trying to prove these multiclass stuff.

Debunking with the Bible

You might as, “but is there anything in the Bible that complete destroys this idea of two classes?” Actually, Yes. Very explictly and using logic. Before going into this, we must remind ourselves of what witnesses believe and hold as “truth.” These beliefs must be logically consistent.

Galatians 4, the entire chapter compares being a Child of God, and free in Christ, vs being in bondage and a slave. Again, witnesses doctrine states that ONLY the annoited are born again, have received the spirit of adoption and called sons of God. However, the Book of Galatians reaffirms, these people who have been born again, the Spirit is alive in them. Galatians 4:6, even witnesses would agree, these are the anointed. The issue comes with reading verses ** and ***, which explain, everyone who isn’t anointed, is cast out. So you are either a Son of the free woman, or the son of the slave woman.

1 John 3:9-10, Here John gives another distinction, children that are God, vs. Children of the devil. There is no other class. Child of God, or the Son of the Devil. Doesn’t make much room for an earthly class

Romans 9:25-27, Paul says the number of these “Children of God” are like the sands of the sea. 140,000 would be about a bucket, the kind children use for sandcastles.  Making this worse for the JW’s, if we go back to Hosea 1:10, the prophecy that Paul refers to, it says the sons Of God won’t be able to be be counted. So Bible says, the Sons of God can’t be counted, so why are witnesses….counting them? Which they do, and post it online.

Luke 23:43, Jesus says directly to him to the thief on the cross, “you will be with me in paradise”. If we are using JW doctrine, that would put him in the earthly class. One, from the words of Jesus explaining the thief’s final destination, and the teach no one who died before Pentecost is anointed or went to heaven. However, John 14: 3 Jesus says to the apostles, who JW’s say are all anointed.”, he’s bringing them to heaven, so where he is, they will be also. But he just promised this early class thief, that he’d be with him. So…where’s Jesus? Heaven or Earth? According to JW’s he’s in heaven, alongside the 144,000. So thief goes to paradise, where Jesus isn’t? The only way for this to harmonize, is Jesus refers to paradise as heaven, which fits with the overall theme of scripture. These aren’t two different places, they’re the same.

Coming off the back of nobody going to heaven before the anointed of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. Witnesses teach that Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel all the prophets, major and minor, and everyone who was in the graces of God before Christ, none of them will see heaven. Except there is a major issue. Enoch went to heaven, and Elijah appears went to heaven as well. Most notably, Jesus said Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would be dinning with the gentiles, in heaven.

The final nail in the coffin, is the parable from Matthew 20:1-18. Notice In this story, which is compared to the kingdom of heaven, the landowner, who’s clearly God, goes out and hires people for his vineyard. No matter how long or how much work they did, everyone receives the same pay. When questioned, the landowner says, you agreed, I’m being generous, stop complaining. This can’t work with JW doctrine. Why? Because the parable teaches that everyone is equal, there aren’t different groups, the more faithful ones don’t get another reward. This is about eternal life, no matter what age you turned to Christ, whether 18 or 80, whether a rough life or smooth one, whether the most committed Christians or one who struggled, eternal life is given equally to all. Yes, life isn’t fair, and praise God it isn’t, because none of us deserve eternal life.

Bottom line, the only two groups the Bible talks about, is those who are in the light, and those in the dark, the sheep from the goats. the saved, and unsaved, the righteous, and the unrighteous. There is one group of Christians, one hope, one Lord, one God, and one Good News.

Most witnesses I’ve spoken with respond, “I don’t want to go to heaven.” Why not? You realize God is in heaven, right?  God desires a relationship with you, and you claim to want the same, but you have no desire to meet him? What kind of relationship says, “I really love you, and thanks for everything, but I never want to visit you or see you, or talk to your son, but can live in your tropical paradise for just an eternity?” Perhaps most witnesses really don’t want God, they just want his stuff. If Jesus isn’t in heaven, I don’t want to go there, no matter how nice it is. 

As Christians, heaven and earth is our one hope, being with God. Christians are adopted as sons of God, filled with The Holy Spirit, and are given eternal life, which they will spend on Heaven, and on a new Paradise Earth. Everyone must stand before Christ, and since he’s made a way for us, we have peace with God and can enjoying him forever. God wants us all to be adopted into his family, his arms are big enough for everyone, and doesn’t limit his family to 144,000.