2 Peter 1:16
2 Peter 1:1616For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
The Watchtower uses ("we were eyewitnesses of his magnificence") in a general sense to support the reliability of the apostolic testimony — though the emphasis on apostolic eyewitness is typically underplayed in Watchtower publications, because acknowledging it raises the question of what distinctive apostolic marks cannot be transmitted. The verse is safely referenced in general doctrinal defence without being allowed to carry the full weight of the apostolic-foundation claim.
is the capstone of the apostolic-foundation argument, and it needs to be read alongside and . Paul in says the church is built "on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." A foundation is laid once. The apostles are foundational because they were eyewitnesses — personally commissioned by the risen Christ (; ), authorised to perform signs of an apostle (), and bearers of new revelation ().
Peter grounds his own authority in exactly that eyewitness category: "we did not follow cunningly contrived false stories... we were eyewitnesses of his magnificence." The progression names is: prophets → Son → apostles (the eyewitnesses of the Son, ) → Scripture (the apostles' written witness, ). There is no fifth stage of "and then a successor body in 1879 in Pittsburgh." Peter's eyewitness status is non-transmissible, which is why a Governing Body that has not seen the risen Christ, performs no signs, and receives no new revelation cannot claim what Peter claimed. Eldership transmits; apostleship does not.