Acts 15:15
Acts 15:1515The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:
The Watchtower cites Acts 15 as the template for a first-century governing body, but rarely pauses on verse 15 — "And the words of the Prophets agree with this, as it is written." JWs focus on the outcome ("it seemed good to the holy spirit and to us") and the existence of a decision-making body rather than on how the decision was actually reached.
Verse 15 is the decisive procedural note. James does not settle the Gentile question by appealing to apostolic office or to a standing committee's judgment. He settles it by opening Scripture — "as it is written" — and quoting . The council's conclusion flows from the prophetic word, not from a top-down decree. That is the biblical pattern: leaders submit to Scripture and the congregation discerns the Spirit's guidance through the text. Raymond Franz, who served on the modern Governing Body for nine years, recorded that in their Brooklyn sessions the Bible played remarkably little part and decisions came from policy precedent. If Acts 15 is the model, the modern practice has inverted the model.