Do Jehovah's Witnesses teach that there are two classes of Christians?

Answer 1

There is a heavenly class & an earthly class.
But there are NO "class distinctions", as most people view them. We all have the same assignment, to preach to the whole earth. We are all ministers. There are no

Only a little flock of 144,000 go to heaven and rule with Christ Luke 12:32; Rev. 14:1, 3; 1 Cor. 15:40-53; Rev. 5:9, 10
The 144,000 are born again as spiritual sons of God 1 Pet. 1:23; John 3:3; Rev. 7:3, 4
New covenant is made with spiritual Israel Jer. 31:31; Heb. 8:10-13


Kingdom will bring ideal living conditions to earth Ps. 72:1-4; Rev. 7:9, 10, 13-17; 21:3, 4
Earth will never be destroyed or depopulated Eccl. 1:4; Isa. 45:18; Ps. 78:69

Answer 2

I think the question is misleading, because the word "class" has different meanings.

If it is taken to mean that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that those Christians with the heavenly hope are "better" than those with the earthly hope, the answer would be, No.

What we believe and teach is that all who follow the Lord Jesus Christ are Christians, and that the Lord himself indicated that only a limited number would go to heaven for the specific purpose of being kings and priests for those who would gain everlasting life on earth.

And that is found in the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation, in the New Testament, not the Old.

Jesus said that his followers would be one flock, under one Shepherd. One Lord, two destinies.

Answer 3

Were Adam and Eve going to die and go to Heaven? No, God intended for them to live forever in a Garden of Eden like perfect world which they were to populate with perfect children... then Satan popped up and threw a monkey wrench into the works.
But does God lie? No. Does he change? No.
It just had to be postponed awhile so it could be proved that Satan IS a liar, people canNOT govern themselves successfully and that it could be seen once and for all time that people WILL serve out of love and NOT for ulterior reasons.
Two classes of Christians? There are the anointed and the great crowd. But they are one flock with one shepherd. Jehovah is our God, Christ Jesus is our King, and no matter if a JW's hope is earthly or heavenly we do everything in our power to follow the Bible, bring honor and glory to our God and to teach others about the truths in the Bible. There isn't a "class distinction" or anything.
The MAJORITY of Witnesses alive today know themselves to be among the Great Crowd (those who live on Paradise Earth). We don't teach JW's are the only ones going to heaven.

And Witnesses do NOT believe in a fiery hell of torment (just to clear up any confusion from other responses).

Answer 4

Yes, Jehovah's Witnesses understand the bible to teach that there are two classes of Christians.

No human tells any individual Jehovah's Witness whether he is a member of Christ's heavenly "little flock" or earthly "other sheep" (see Luke 12:32 and John 10:16). This feeling is in the heart, communicated by holy spirit.

Of course, Christians with a heavenly hope do not have more holy spirit than those with an earthly hope, and they are not necessarily more godly or more spiritual. They simply recognize within themselves that they have an assignment from God in heaven.

Among the nearly SEVEN MILLION active Witnesses, literally 99.99% choose to identify THEMSELVES with the earthly hope, and consider their hope of eternal salvation to be a divine gift from God. Since each Christian "feels" his hope in his heart, there is nothing human to prevent any Witness from deciding that he is "anointed" (of the 144,000) with a heavenly hope, yet in the last few years about ONE in 10,000 choose to identify himself in this heavenly class.

The work that specifically enjoys the holy spirit is the ongoing global preaching work, which can only be accomplished with God's continued blessing. It seems interesting that no other self-described Christian group comes close to comparing with this work by Jehovah's Witnesses. The central message of Kingdom "good news" remains plain and clear and central to Witness doctrine; many other matters are merely interesting and relatively minor.

(Matthew 24:14) And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20001001/
http://watchtower.org/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_06.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_05.htm

Answer 5

Something like that, if I remember right. Someone who is a Jehovah's Witness...feel free to correct me.

There are a certain number of Believers who are going to heaven. No more, and no less. This was stated somewhere in the Old Testament, and Jehovah's Witnesses believe it.

The 'second' class of Believers get to live on the 'perfect earth' after Armageddon. (Also stated somewhere in the Old Testament.

Answer 6

I read all the answers and the ones you recieved from my brothers and sisters from the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, are wonderful, and of course correct. I can't think of anything to add that was not thoroughly covered, I just wanted to say how much I love them all!

Answer 7

Yes, the 144,000 that go to Heaven, then the little flock, that will live on a Paradise Earth. And then we have the 3rd class, which are the:

Apostates, of course their reward is, "everlasting destruction" along with all non-believers.

Answer 8

When Jesus said that his other sheep "are not of this fold," we may take that to mean that there is another fold of sheep.

A fold is a particular sub-grouping of a flock of sheep. True enough, Jesus was speaking to his Jewish disciples. So we might assume that he was referring to the Jews as composing one fold of sheep and non-Jewish believers as the other fold.

But, the problem with that view is that Jesus said that the Jews themselves were "skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd." But, even if we insist that the Jews were the one fold, why would Jesus refer to Gentiles as being in another fold?

In Ephesians, Paul said that the world was alienated from God and the state of Israel. So it does not seem appropriate to refer to non-Christians as being in any sort of fold-like grouping of God's people. Once they became believers, then, they came into the fold of sheep that listen to the shepherd's voice.

But, even taking into account the divisive issue of circumcision, Jewish and non-Jewish Christians still comprised one congregation of believers.

Actually, Jesus' teaching on that topic was not unique. Jesus was no doubt thoroughly familiar with the prophecy in the 34th chapter of Ezekiel, which uses similar language and imagery.

For instance, verses 22-24 read: "And I will save my sheep, and they will no longer become something for plunder; and I will judge between a sheep and a sheep. And I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he must feed them, even my servant David. He himself will feed them, and he himself will become their shepherd. And I myself, Jehovah, will become their God, and my servant David a chieftain in the midst of them. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken."

In what sense, though, does Jehovah "judge between a sheep and a sheep"? We should not suppose that one sheep receives an adverse judgment and the other a favorable judgment. The reason is because Jehovah says in that very verse that he will save his sheep. Both sheep represent those who receive salvation. So, again, why does it say that Jehovah judges between his sheep?

According to Paul, those in the new covenant are declared righteous by God. That means that, ultimately, Jehovah considers them to be absolutely perfect. That is pretty amazing when we consider that the anointed are actually sinful.

But, based upon the power of Christ's sin-atoning sacrifice and his mediation work as their high priest, Jehovah attributes to them Christ's own righteousness. It is not quite the same with those who survive the tribulation. They are not declared righteous in the same sense. The reason being that Christians of the great crowd are not granted immortal life, as are the anointed. Those who survive the end of the world will gradually be uplifted to a state of perfection, and thereafter be declared righteous at the end of the thousand years.

So, in that sense anointed and non-anointed Christians are judged differently. True, they both follow the same guiding principles, but Jehovah simply uses a different standard of judgment to reconcile to himself anointed sheep and non-anointed sheep.

In view of the fact that Ezekiel's prophecy identifies two types of sheep under one shepherd, and that is speaking to a period far-beyond the 1st Century, it stands to reason that Jesus was likewise referring to the two folds of anointed and non-anointed sheep.

Answer 9

Define the term class please.

Ok, I think you are refering to the 144,000 who are in/will be in heaven and the great crowd who will be on the Earth. You do appearantly have an understanding of our beliefs, so why ask about them here??

The only difference is that one ends up having a job as Kings and Priests, the other has the job of tending Earth.

Going one way or the other doesn't mean one person is a "better Christian" than another, it simply means they have another path.

Answer 10

Yes it has it's origin in the failed Watchtower society expectation of Armageddon coming in 1914.
Now,there are more Jehovah's Witnesses than the original quota that they made up of a limited 144,000.

Good Watchtower info site http://www.freeminds.org