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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 13:14

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 13:14

If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

14. your Lord and Master, have washed ] Rather, the Lord and the Master, washed. For the construction comp. Joh 15:20 and Joh 18:23.

ye also ought to wash one another’s feet ] The custom of ‘the feet washing’ on Maundy Thursday in literal fulfilment of this typical commandment is not older than the fourth century. The Lord High Almoner washed the feet of the recipients of the royal ‘maundy’ as late as 1731. James 2 was the last English sovereign who went through the ceremony. In 1Ti 5:10 ‘washing the saints’ feet’ is perhaps given rather as a type of devoted charity than as a definite act to be required.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ye also ought to wash … – Some have understood this literally as instituting a religious rite which we ought to observe; but this was evidently not the design; because:

  1. There is no evidence that Jesus intended it as a religious observance, like the Lords Supper or the ordinance of baptism.
  2. It was not observed by the apostles or the primitive Christians as a religious rite.
  3. It was a rite of hospitality among the Jews, a common, well-known thing, and performed by servants.
  4. It is the manifest design of Jesus here to inculcate a lesson of humility; to teach them by his example that they ought to condescend to the most humble offices for the benefit of others. They ought not to be proud, and vain, and unwilling to occupy a low place, but to regard themselves as the servants of each other, and as willing to befriend each other in every way. And especially as they were to be founders of the church, and to be greatly honored, he took this occasion of warning them against the dangers of ambition, and of teaching them, by an example that they could not forget, the duty of humility.

    5. Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

    Verse 14. Ye also ought to wash one another feet.] That is, ye should be ready, after my example, to condescend to all the weakness of your brethren; to be willing to do the meanest offices for them, and to prefer the least of them in honour to yourselves.

    Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

    I have by this my action taught you to love, and to be ready also to serve, one another, and not to think much to serve them even in the lowest and meanest offices by which you can do them good; for we must not think that these words lay a literal obligation upon Christians to wash the feet of others; washing the feet is mentioned but as species pro genere, a single act of service, put for all other acts by which we can be serviceable unto others: so it is also used, 1Sa 25:41; 1Ti 5:10. Some of the ancients seem to have judged this washing of feet to have been instituted as a sacrament, (though in an improper sense), and from hence, though Bellarmine, Maldonate, and others deny it to be a sacrament as well as we, yet probably is the practice in use amongst the papists, to wash certain persons feet every Thursday before Easter; a theatrical ceremony, rather than any thing of solid and profitable use. Our Saviour certainly intends no more by

    ye ought to wash one anothers feet, than, ye ought to serve one another in all offices of love, and not to think yourselves too good, or too great, to do the meanest services to those who are my disciples: and this is that as to which he tells them he had set them an example that they should do as he had done, in other acts of the same kind, though not as to this specific act.

    Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

    14. If I thenthe Lord.

    have washed your feettheservants’.

    yebut fellow servants.

    ought to wash one another’sfeetnot in the narrow sense of a literal washing, profanelycaricatured by popes and emperors, but by the very humblest realservices one to another.

    Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    If I then your Lord and Master,…. Christ argues from these titles and characters, which his disciples rightly gave him, and from what he had done to them, though he stood in such a superior relation to them, to their duty one towards another; that since, says he, I

    have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet: by which he does not mean barely, that they should perform this single action; but as this was an instance of humility and condescension, and doing a good office to strangers and travellers, and was afterwards an expression of love to the saints, see 1Ti 5:10, so he would teach them hereby, to behave in a spirit of humility and condescension to one another, to do every kind and good office, and by love to serve one another in all things.

    Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

    If I then ( ). Argumentative sense of (therefore). Condition of first class, assumed to be true, with first aorist active indicative of , “If I, being what I am, washed your feet” (as I did).

    Ye also ought ( ). The obligation rests on you a fortiori. Present active indicative of the old verb , to owe a debt (Mt 18:30). The mutual obligation is to do this or any other needed service. The widows who washed the saints’ feet in 1Ti 5:10 did it “as an incident-of their hospitable ministrations” (Bernard). Up to 1731 the Lord High Almoner in England washed the feet of poor saints (pedilavium) on Thursday before Easter, a custom that arose in the fourth century, and one still practised by the Pope of Rome.

    Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

    Your. Inserted in A. V. Better, the Lord and the Master as Rev. Both have the article.

    Ought [] . The verb means to owe. It occurs several times in John’s Epistles (1Jo 2:6; 1Jo 3:16; 1Jo 4:11; 3Jo 1:8). In the Gospel only here and Joh 19:7. Compare Luk 17:10. In Matthew’s version of the Lord ‘s prayer occur the two kindred words ojfeilnma, debt, and ojfeilethv, debtor. Jesus here puts the obligation to ministry as a debt under which His disciples are laid by His ministry to them. The word ought is the past tense of owe. Dei, ought or must (see Joh 3:7, 14, 30, etc.) expresses an obligation in the nature of things; ojfeilein, a special, personal obligation.

    Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

    1) “If I then, your Lord and Master,” (ei oun ego) “If then I,- (didaskalos ho kurios kai ho) “As your Lord and teacher,” teacher or respectful Rabbi.

    2) “Have washed your feet; (enipsa humon tous poclas) “Have washed your feet,” with your permission, apparently with no serious protest from any, except Peter, Joh 13:6-9. This act was done always as a social act, never in connection with worship or as a religious rite or ordinance.

    3) “Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (kai humeis opheilete allelon niptein tous podas) “You all also ought to wash the feet of one another,” as an expression of humility, and by love to serve one another, as expressed Rom 12:10; Gal 6:1-2; 1Pe 5:5-6.

    As the washing of feet was then a custom of hospitality, good will, and friendship socially shown, even the parallel custom today, in the Western world, is to hang up coats and hats, and shake hands, to say, “God bless you.”

    Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

    14. If then I, who am your Lord and Master. This is an argument from the greater to the less. Pride hinders us from maintaining that equality which ought to exist amongst us. But Christ, who is far exalted above all others, stoops down, that he may make the proud men ashamed, who, forgetting their station and rank, look upon themselves as not bound to hold intercourse with the brethren. For what does a mortal man imagine himself to be, when he refuses to bear the burdens of brethren, to accommodate himself to their customs, and, in short, to perform those offices by which the unity of the Church is maintained? In short, he means that the man who does not think of associating with weak brethren, on the condition of submitting mildly and gently even to offices which appear to be mean, claims more than he has a right to claim, and has too high an opinion of himself. (47)

    (47) “ Cestuy-la s’attribue plus qu’il ne faut, et fait trop grand conte de soy.”

    Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

    (14) Ye ought also to wash one anothers feet.The argument is fortiori. If He had so humbled Himself as to do the work of a servant for them, much more ought they to humble themselves for each other. To make his words as striking as possible, they are prefaced by the emphatic I, and Master and Lord is repeated from the previous verse, but in the inverse order, to give special prominence to the word of greater dignity.

    Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

    14. Ought to wash one another’s feet The pious Moravians, even at the present day, practice the ceremony of washing each other’s feet. But there is little reason to suppose that this slight language of our Lord is used to institute a perpetual sacrament of this kind. The words bear no comparison with the full and solemn precision with which the Lord’s Supper is instituted as a modified continuation of the ancient Passover. Nor is there any indication in the New Testament writings, nor in the earliest primitive documents, that such a sacrament was either established by the apostles or practised by the primitive Christians. Our Lord here performed the humblest of menial services as a lesson that they, renouncing strife for superiority, should condescend to the lowest offices for each other’s good.

    In every act of humble love toward a fellow-Christian or a fellow-being, we perform the reality of which this feet washing is the symbol, and we really obey the command to wash one another’s feet.

    Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Joh 13:14. If I thenhave washed your feet, &c. This was, even to a proverb, one of the lowest offices of menial attendants. See 1Sa 25:41. Dr. Evans well observes, (Christian Temper, vol. i, p. 81.) that our Lord chose this kind office, though not necessary in itself, more strongly to impress the minds of his disciples, and to shew that they ought to regard, not only the necessary preservation, but the mutual comfort of each other.

    Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

    Joh 13:14-15 . It is not the act itself, but its moral essence, which, after His example, He enjoins upon them to exercise. This moral essence, however, consists not in lowly and ministering love generally , in which Jesus, by washing the feet of His disciples, desired to give them an example, but, as Joh 13:10 proves, in the ministering love which, in all self-denial and humility, is active for the moral purification and cleansing of others . As Jesus had just set forth this ministering love by His own example, when He, although their Lord and Master, performed on the persons of His disciples the servile duty of washing their feet, as an emblem, however, of the efficacy of His love to purify them spiritually, so ought they to wash one another’s feet; i.e. with the same self-denying love to be reciprocally serviceable to one another with a view to moral purification . The interpretation of the prescription , . . ., in the proper sense was not that of the apostolical age, but first arose at a later time, and was followed (first in the fourth century, comp. Ambrose, de sacram . Joh 3:1 ; Augustine, ad Januar. cp . 119) by the introduction of the washing of the feet of the baptized on Maundy Thursday, and other symbolical feet-washings (later also amongst the Mennonites and in the community of Brothers). 1Ti 5:10 contains the non-ritualistic reference to hospitality. The feet-washing by the Pope on Maundy Thursday is a result of the pretension to represent Christ, and as such, also, was strongly condemned by the Reformers. Justly, however, the church has not adopted the feet-washing into the number of the sacraments; for it is not the practice itself, but only the spiritual action, which it thoughtfully represents, that Jesus enjoined upon the disciples. And it is solely to this moral meaning that the promise in Joh 13:17 is attached; and hence the essential marks of the specific sacramental idea, corresponding to the essence of baptism and of the Supper sacramental institution, promise, and collative force are wanting to it. This in answer to Bhmer, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1850, p. 829 ff., who designates it an offence against Holy Scripture, that the Protestant church has not recognised the feet-washing as a sacrament, which, outside the Greek church, [128] it was explained to be by Bernard of Clairvaux (“Sacramentum remissionis peccatorum quotidianorwn ”), without any permanent result. Baeumlein also expresses himself in favour of the maintenance of the practice as a legacy of Christ. But its essence is preserved, where the love , from which the practice flowed, abides. Nonnus aptly designates the , . . . as . The practice itself, moreover, cannot in truth be carried out either everywhere, or at all times, or by all, or on all.

    ] Argumentum a majori ad minus . The majus implied in is further, by means of the subjoined . ., brought home with special force to the mind, and therefore, also, the principal moment, (comp. Joh 13:16 ), is here moved forward .

    ] Later expression, instead of the old . Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 12.

    , . . .] Design in setting the example: that, as I have done to you (“in genere actus,” Grotius), you also may do, namely, in ministering to one another in self-denying love for the removal of all sinful contamination, as I, for my part, have just figuratively fulfilled in your case, in the symbol of the feet-washing, this very ministering love directed to your moral purification.

    [128] In which it has been preserved as a custom in monasteries.

    Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

    14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

    Ver. 14. Ye ought also to wash one another’s feet ] What so great matter is it then to salute others, to seek reconciliation with them, &c. Angels think not themselves too good to serve the saints; kings and queens shall bow down to them with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of their feet,Isa 49:23Isa 49:23 .

    Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

    14. ] [The command here given must be understood in the full light of intelligent appreciation of the circumstances and the meaning of the act.] “Pedilavium, quod Dominus discipulis adhibuit, pertinebat et ad beneficium conferend puritatis totalis, et ad decend dilectionis humilis, Joh 13:34 , coll. Joh 13:1 . Inde pedilavium discipulorum inter se eo pertinet, ut alter alterum quoquo modo adjuvet ad consequendam puritatem anim; et ut alter alteri pedes lavet, vel proprie, 1Ti 5:10 , idque serio, si scil. accidat, ut opus sit: est enim prceptum affirmativum, obligans semper, sed non ad semper: quale etiam illud, 1Jn 3:16 vel synecdochice, per omne genus officiorum, qu alter alteri etiam servilia et sordida, modo opportuna, prstare potest. Dominus igitur per ipsum pedilavium purificavit discipulos: quare etiam Petrum amanter cogit: sed discipulis pedilavium mutuum non hoc nomine prcepit; neque adeo tanta est pedilavii literatenus imitandi necessitas, quantam nonnulli statuerunt: quum Johannes v. gr. Thom pedes nusquam laverit; et tamen major pedilavii Dominici et fraterni similitudo, quam plerique agnoscunt. Hodie pontifices et principes pedilavium ad literam imitantur; magis autem admirandus foret, v. gr. pontifex, unius regis, quam duodecim pauperum pedes, seria humilitate lavans.” Bengel. The custom of literally and ceremonially washing the feet in obedience to this command, is not found before the fourth century.

    Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

    Joh 13:14 . Hence the a fortiori argument: , “if I then, Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, ye also ought ( denoting moral obligation) to wash one another’s feet”. “It is not the act itself, but its moral essence, which after His example He enjoins upon them to exercise.” Meyer. This has sometimes been considered a command enjoining the literal washing of the feet of poor saints: and was practised in England until 1731 by the Lord High Almoner, and is still practised by the Pope on Maundy Thursday ( Dies Mandati ), the day before Good Friday. See also Church’s Anselm , p. 49. The ancient practice is discussed in Augustine’s Letters , 55, to Januarius, c. 33. It at once took its place as symbolic of all kindly care of fellow-Christians, see 1Ti 5:10 .

    Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

    If then = Therefore if (App-118. a) L

    your = the.

    ought, &c. By Figure of speech Synecdoche (App-6) the act of feet-washing is put for the whole circle of offices of self-denying love. Literal feet-washing was not known before the fourth cent. A.D.

    Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

    14.] [The command here given must be understood in the full light of intelligent appreciation of the circumstances and the meaning of the act.] Pedilavium, quod Dominus discipulis adhibuit, pertinebat et ad beneficium conferend puritatis totalis, et ad decend dilectionis humilis, Joh 13:34, coll. Joh 13:1. Inde pedilavium discipulorum inter se eo pertinet, ut alter alterum quoquo modo adjuvet ad consequendam puritatem anim; et ut alter alteri pedes lavet,-vel proprie, 1Ti 5:10, idque serio, si scil. accidat, ut opus sit: est enim prceptum affirmativum, obligans semper, sed non ad semper: quale etiam illud, 1Jn 3:16-vel synecdochice, per omne genus officiorum, qu alter alteri etiam servilia et sordida, modo opportuna, prstare potest. Dominus igitur per ipsum pedilavium purificavit discipulos: quare etiam Petrum amanter cogit: sed discipulis pedilavium mutuum non hoc nomine prcepit; neque adeo tanta est pedilavii literatenus imitandi necessitas, quantam nonnulli statuerunt: quum Johannes v. gr. Thom pedes nusquam laverit; et tamen major pedilavii Dominici et fraterni similitudo, quam plerique agnoscunt. Hodie pontifices et principes pedilavium ad literam imitantur; magis autem admirandus foret, v. gr. pontifex, unius regis, quam duodecim pauperum pedes, seria humilitate lavans. Bengel. The custom of literally and ceremonially washing the feet in obedience to this command, is not found before the fourth century.

    Fuente: The Greek Testament

    Joh 13:14. , ye also) The washing of their feet, which the Lord performed for His disciples, had as its object both the benefit of conferring on them complete purity, and the inculcation of the lesson of humble love, which they needed to be taught: Joh 13:34, with which comp. Joh 13:1, A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. Having loved His own-He loved them to the end. Thence it follows, that the disciples mutual washing of one anothers feet has this as its object, that one should assist the other in every possible way towards attaining purity of soul; and that one should wash the feet of the other, either literally, 1Ti 5:10, well reported for good works;-if she have washed the saints feet, and that in good earnest, if, namely, it should happen to be needed: for it is an affirmative [positive] precept, obligatory always [where needed], but not under all circumstances [i.e. not, where it is not needed], such as is also the character of that precept, 1Jn 3:16, We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; or the precept is to be obeyed synecdochically [i.e. the one particular of washing feet being put for the whole circle of offices of self-denying love], by means of all kinds of offices which one can render to another, even servile and mean offices, if only the occasion require them. Therefore the Lord, by the very act of washing their feet, purified the disciples; wherefore also He lovingly compelled Peter to submit to it: but it was not on this account [with a view to purification thereby] that He enjoined on the disciples mutual washing of one anothers feet; nor is there such great necessity of imitating up to the very letter the Lords act of feet washing, as some have decided there is: inasmuch as, for instance, John on no occasion washed the feet of Thomas: and yet there is a greater similarity between the cases of feet-washing by the Lord, and that by brethren mutually, than most persons recognise. In our day, popes and princes imitate the feet-washing to the letter; but a greater subject for admiration would be, for instance, a pope, in unaffected humility, washing the feet of one king [his own equal in rank, and so the exact analogue to the disciples mutual washing as brethren] than the feet of twelve paupers. Now that I have made these observations, let me recommend to the readers study the dissert. of Ittigius, de Pedilavio.-, ye ought) because of My example: with which comp. , for, Joh 13:15.

    Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

    Joh 13:14

    Joh 13:14

    If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one anothers feet.-I have performed the office of a servant for you and you ought to do such acts for one another.

    Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

    I then: Mat 20:26-28, Mar 10:43-45, Luk 22:26, Luk 22:27, 2Co 8:9, Phi 2:5-8, Heb 5:8, Heb 5:9, Heb 12:2

    ye also: Act 20:35, Rom 12:10, Rom 12:16, Rom 15:1-3, 1Co 8:13, 1Co 9:19-22, 2Co 10:1, Gal 5:13, Gal 6:1, Gal 6:2, Phi 2:2-5, 1Pe 4:1, 1Pe 5:5

    Reciprocal: Jdg 19:21 – they washed 2Sa 11:11 – my lord 2Ki 3:11 – poured water Psa 85:13 – shall set Psa 108:9 – Moab Mat 23:8 – one Mat 23:11 – General Mar 10:45 – came Mar 14:45 – Master Rom 1:1 – a servant 2Co 4:5 – and

    Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    4

    As the world would look at the matter, each of the aforesaid qualifications would entitle a man to the services of others. Instead of assuming such a superior attitude, Jesus acted the part of a servant in performing a necessary though humble favor. He specified the washing of each other’s feet as an example of the kind of spirit they should manifest in their dealings with each other.

    Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

    Joh 13:14. If I therefore, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one anothers feet. The order of the titles which Jesus assumes to Himself is changed in this as compared with the preceding verse. The object appears to be to give prominence to that title of Lord in the thought of which lay the strength of the obligation resting upon His disciples to do as He had done. They, then, were to wash one anothers feet when He would no longer be beside them to do so: they could not bathe one another, make one another clean; but this they could do in self-denying love and fellowship,they could restore one anothers failing faith and love by ever-renewed manifestations of that love to one another which, springing from the love of Jesus, leads back to Him.

    Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

    Verse 14

    Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. He meant, by this symbolical act, to teach them that they ought not to be ambitious and aspiring, each endeavoring to rise above the rest, but humble, lowly-minded, in honor preferring one another. There was a tendency, at this time, to the former spirit, in the minds of the disciples. (Luke 22:24.)

    Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

    Jesus had given the Twelve a lesson in humble service of one another. Specifically He took a lower role than theirs for their welfare. Similarly Jesus’ disciples should willingly and happily put meeting the needs of others before maintaining their own prestige (cf. Php 2:1-11).

    "The world asks, ’How many people work for you?’ but the Lord asks, ’For how many people do you work?’" [Note: Wiersbe, 1:347.]

    Some Christians believe that Jesus’ command here is binding on the church in a literal sense. They practice foot-washing as an ordinance of the church along with water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Grace Brethren and certain Mennonite churches, among others, view foot-washing as a third ordinance. Most Christians believe that Jesus meant that His disciples should follow His example of serving humbly rather than specifically washing each other’s feet. Nowhere else in the New Testament do its writers treat foot-washing as another ordinance. 1Ti 5:10 speaks of it as an example of humble service, not as an ordinance of the church. Moreover the attitude of humility that disciples should have toward one another was Jesus’ point, not simply the performance of a ritual (cf. Joh 15:20; Mat 10:24; Luk 6:40). Furthermore Jesus called foot-washing an example (Gr. hypodeigma, pattern) implying that there are other examples of the same attitude. This was an appropriate example of humble service in a culture where people wore sandals and soiled their feet easily. If Jesus were giving an example in modern North American culture, He probably would have selected another humble act.

    Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)