Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 13:10
Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
10. He that is washed ] Rather, He that is bathed (comp. Heb 10:22 and 2Pe 2:22). In the Greek we have quite a different word from the one rendered ‘wash’ elsewhere in these verses: the latter means to wash part of the body, this to bathe the whole person. A man who has bathed does not need to bathe again when he reaches home, but only to wash the dust off his feet: then he is wholly clean. So also in the spiritual life, a man whose moral nature has once been thoroughly purified need not think that this has been all undone if in the walk through life he contracts some stains: these must be washed away, and then he is once more wholly clean. Peter, conscious of his own imperfections, in Luk 5:8, and possibly here, rushes to the conclusion that he is utterly unclean. But his meaning here perhaps rather is; ‘If having part in Thee depends on being washed by Thee, wash all Thou canst.’ S. Peter excellently illustrates Christ’s saying. His love for his Master proves that he had bathed; his boastfulness ( Joh 13:37), his attack on Malchus (Joh 18:10), his denials (25, 27) his dissimulation at Antioch (Galatians 2), all shew how often he had need to wash his feet.
but not all ] This is the second indication of the presence of a traitor among them (comp. Joh 6:70). Apparently it did not attract much attention: each, conscious of his own faults, thought the remark only too true. The disclosure is made gradually but rapidly now ( Joh 13:18 ; Joh 13:21 ; Joh 13:26).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He that is washed – This is a difficult passage, and interpreters have been divided about its meaning. Some have supposed that it was customary to bathe before eating the paschal supper, and that the apostles did it; Jesus having said, he that hath bathed his body is clean except in regard to his feet – to the dirt contracted in returning from the bath, and that there was need only that the feet should be washed in order to prepare them properly to receive the supper. They suppose, also, that the lesson which Jesus meant to teach was that they were really pure Joh 15:3; that they were qualified to partake of the ordinances of religion, and needed only to be purified from occasional blemishes and impurities (Grotius). Others say that there is not evidence that the Jews bathed before partaking of the Paschal Supper, but that reference is made to the custom of washing their hands and their face. It is known that this was practiced. See the Mat 15:2 note; Mar 7:3-4 notes. Peter had requested him to wash his hands and his head. Jesus told him that as that had been done, it was unnecessary to repeat it; but to wash the feet was an act of hospitality, the office of a servant, and that all that was needed now was for him to show this condescension and humility. Probably reference is had here to internal purity, as Jesus was fond of drawing illustrations from every quarter to teach them spiritual doctrine; as if he had said, You are clean by my word and ministry Joh 15:3; you are my followers, and are prepared for the scene before you. But one thing remains. And as, when we come to this rite, having washed, there remains no need of washing except to wash the feet, so there is now nothing remaining but for me to show you an example that you will always remember, and that shall complete my public instructions to you.
Is clean – This word may apply to the body or the soul.
Every whit – Altogether, wholly.
Ye are clean – Here the word has doubtless reference to the mind and heart.
But not all – You are not all my true followers, and fitted for the ordinance before us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. He that is washed] That is, he who has been in the bath, as probably all the apostles had lately been, in order to prepare themselves the better for the paschal solemnity; for on that occasion, it was the custom of the Jews to bathe twice.
Needeth not save to wash his feet] To cleanse them from any dirt or dust that might have adhered to them, in consequence of walking from the bath to the place of supper. The washing, therefore, of the feet of such persons was all that was necessary, previously to their sitting down to table; The Hindoos walk home from bathing barefoot, and, on entering the house wash their feet again. To this custom our Lord evidently alludes.
If these last words of our Lord had any spiritual reference, it is not easy to say what it was. A common opinion is the following: He who is washed-who is justified through the blood of the Lamb, needeth only to wash his feet-to regulate all his affections and desires; and to get, by faith, his conscience cleansed from any fresh guilt, which he may have contracted since his justification.
Ye are clean, but not all] Eleven of you are upright and sincere; the twelfth is a traitor. So it appears he had washed the feet of all the twelve; but as no external ablutions can purify a hypocrite or a traitor, therefore Judas still remained unclean.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Look as it is with persons that have been washing themselves in a bath, when they are washed, yet walking abroad barefoot, or with thin sandals or coverings for their feet, will be again subject to pollute and dirty their feet, so as they will have frequent need to wash them again; but they need not soon again wash their whole bodies: so it is as to souls that are washed with my blood; washed, and sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God, (as the apostle speaketh, 1Co 6:11), their state is not to be renewed; they need not be justified a second time; but they will have need to have their feet washed, in regard of their remainder of sin and lust that is in them, and will be so while they are in the world, and the temptations which every where he in the world, as snares for their feet; they will have need of a daily washing by repentance, and fresh applications of their souls to my blood, by the repeated exercises of faith, according to their renewed and repeated acts of sin.
Ye are clean; you, who are my apostles, are clean; you are washed, you are justified, I have forgiven your sins, accepted your persons.
But not all; the most of you are so, but not all.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. He that is washedin thisthorough sense, to express which the word is carefully changedto one meaning to wash as in a bath.
needeth notto be sowashed any more.
save to wash his feetneedethto do no more than wash his feet (and here the former word isresumed, meaning to wash the hands or feet).
but is clean every whitasa whole. This sentence is singularly instructive. Of the twocleansings, the one points to that which takes place at thecommencement of the Christian life, embracing completeabsolution from sin as a guilty state, and entire deliverancefrom it as a polluted life (Rev 1:5;1Co 6:11) or, in the languageof theology, Justification and Regeneration. Thiscleansing is effected once for all, and is never repeated. Theother cleansing, described as that of “the feet,” is suchas one walking from a bath quite cleansed still needs, in consequenceof his contact with the earth. (Compare Exo 30:18;Exo 30:19). It is the dailycleansing which we are taught to seek, when in the spirit of adoptionwe say, “Our Father which art in heaven . . . forgive us ourdebts” (Mat 6:9;Mat 6:12); and, when burdenedwith the sense of manifold shortcomingsas what tender spirit of aChristian is not?is it not a relief to be permitted thus to washour feet after a day’s contact with the earth? This is not to call inquestion the completeness of our past justification. Our Lord, whilegraciously insisting on washing Peter’s feet, refuses to extend thecleansing farther, that the symbolical instruction intended to beconveyed might not be marred.
and ye are cleanin thefirst and whole sense.
but not allimportant,as showing that Judas, instead of being as true-hearted a disciple asthe rest at first, and merely falling away afterwardsasmany represent itnever experienced that cleansing at all whichmade the others what they were.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jesus saith to him, he that is washed,…. Not he that is baptized; for every such person is not wholly clean, but he who is regenerated by the Spirit of God, or rather, who is washed in the blood of Christ: such an one “is clean every whit”; is all over clean; not that he has no sin in him, nor commits any; but as he is washed in the blood of Christ, and justified by his righteousness, he is wholly and entirely clean in the sight of God; for he is justified from all things he could not be justified from by the law of Moses; all his sins are pardoned, and he is perfectly righteous before God; and so is perfectly clean through the word or sentence of justification and absolution pronounced on him, which must be understood in a forensic or law sense. And such an one
needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; the feet of his life and conversation, which are continually gathering dirt, and need daily washing in the blood of Christ; and therefore recourse must be constantly had to that fountain to wash in, for sin and for uncleanness. The allusion is either to persons washed all over in a bath, who have no need to wash again, unless their feet, which may contract some soil in coming out of it; or to travellers, who have often need to wash their feet, though no other part, and such is the case of the children of God in this life; or rather to the priests, who having bathed themselves in the morning, needed not to wash again all the day, except their hands and feet, on certain occasions x.
And ye are clean, but not all; which shows, that justifying and regenerating grace are common to all the true disciples of Christ; they are equally born again, alike justified, and are as clean one as an other in the sight of God; not only Peter, but all the apostles, were clean, excepting one; there was one of them, Judas, who was not clean; and therefore he says, but not all: whence it may be observed, that among the purest societies, there are some unclean persons; there was a Judas, an unclean person among the pure disciples of Christ; there are chaff and tares among his wheat, goats among his sheep, and foolish virgins along with the wise ones.
x Misn. Yoma, c. 3. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He that is bathed ( ). Perfect passive articular participle of , to bathe the whole body (Ac 9:37).
Save to wash his feet ( ). Aleph and some old Latin MSS. have only , but the other words are genuine and are really involved by the use of (first aorist middle infinitive of , to wash parts of the body) instead of , to bathe the whole body (just used before). The guest was supposed to bathe () before coming to a feast and so only the feet had to be washed () on removing the sandals.
Clean (). Because of the bath. For meaning external cleanliness see Matt 23:26; Matt 27:59 but in Joh 15:3 it is used for spiritual purity as here in “ye are clean” ().
Every whit (). All of the body because of the bath. For this same predicate use of see 9:34.
But not all (‘ ). Strongly put exception (). Plain hint of the treachery of Judas who is reclining at the table after having made the bargain with the Sanhedrin (Mr 14:11). A year ago Jesus knew that Judas was a devil and said to the apostles: “One of you is a devil” (John 6:64; John 6:70). But it did not hurt them then nor did they suspect each other then or now. It is far-fetched to make Jesus here refer to the cleansing power of his blood or to baptism as some do.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
He that is washed – wash his feet [ – ] . The A. V. obliterates the distinction between louw, to bathe, to apply water to the whole body, and niptw, to wash a part of the body. Thus, when Dorcas died (Act 9:37) they bathed her body [] . The proverb in 2Pe 2:22, is about the sow that has been bathed all over [] . On the other hand, he who fasts must wash [] his face (Mt 6:17). Both verbs are always used of living beings in the New Testament. The word for washing things, as nets, garments, etc., is plunw. See Luk 5:2. All three verbs occur in Lev 14:11 (Sept.).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1 ) “Jesus saith to him,” (legei auto lesous) “Jesus responded to him,” to his earnest outburst for a complete cleansing, when the meaning of our Lord’s washing their feet was clear to him.
2) “He that is washed,” (ho leloumenos) “The one who is (exists) washed,” already, that is already clean, that is bathed all over, redeemed by faith in His blood, Rom 3:25; Tit 3:5.
3) “Needeth not save to wash his feet,” (ouk echei chreian ei me tous poclas nipsasthai) “Has not a need (really) to wash his feet,” or to object that another wash his feet, without embarrassment. As the priest was physically clean before, and while making the sacrifice, yet before he entered the tabernacle, from the brazen altar of sacrifice, he washed his hands and feet at the laver, indicating that those redeemed need cleansing from daily defilement, and is a symbol of it.
4) “But is clean every whit:” (all’ estin katharos holos) “But he exists as wholly cleansed,” Eph 5:20, already clean, 1Co 1:30; 1Co 6:11; 1Jn 3:9; Yet they needed daily cleansing, as a traveler needed to wash his feet upon entrance to a home, because of dust on his feet from the sandals he wore, 2Co 7:1; Jas 1:21; Act 15:8-9.
5) “And ye are clean,” (kai humeis katharoi este) “And you all are clean,” you disciples, as a whole, as a church fellowship. Yet they needed humility, and daily confession, and cleansing from defilements, contracted or motivated from the world, Mat 6:11-12; Jas 5:16-17; 1Jn 1:9.
6) “But not all.” (all’ ouch pantes) “But not all,” are really cleansed, Joh 6:64. Not all of the disciples, especially that one who was also an apostle, Judas Iscariot, who was then plotting to betray and sell Him, like a man would sell a dog, Joh 12:4; Mar 14:10-11.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
10. He who is washed needeth not to wash more than his feet, but is altogether clean. First, he says that believers are altogether clean; not that they are in every respect pure, so that there no longer remains in them any stain, but because they are cleansed in their chief part; that is, when sin is deprived of its kingly power, so that the righteousness of God holds the superiority; just as if we were to say, that a body was altogether healthy, Because it was not infected with any universal disease. It is by newness of life, therefore, that we must testify ourselves to be the disciples of Christ, for he declares that he is the Author of purity in all his followers.
Again, the other comparison was also applied to the case in hand, that Peter might not set aside the washing of the feet as foolish; for, as Christ washes from the head to the feet, those whom he receives as his disciples, so, in those whom he has cleansed, the lower part remains to be daily cleansed. The children of God are not altogether regenerated on the first day, so as to aim at nothing but the heavenly life; but, on the contrary, the remains of the flesh continue to dwell in them, with which they maintain a continued struggle throughout their whole life. The term feet, therefore, is metaphorically applied to all the passions and cares by which we are brought into contact with the world; for, if the Holy Spirit occupied every part of us, we would no longer have anything to do with the pollutions of the world; but now, by that part in which we are carnal, we creep on the ground, or at least fix our feet ill the clay, and, therefor are to some extent unclean. Thus Christ always finds in us something to cleanse. What is here spoken of is not the forgiveness of sins, but the renewal, by which Christ, by gradual and uninterrupted succession, delivers his followers entirely from the sinful desires of the flesh.
And you are clean. This proposition may be said to be the minor in the syllogism, and hence it follows that the washing of the feet applies to them with strict propriety.
But not all. This exception is added, that every one may examine himself, if Judas may perhaps be moved by a feeling of repentance; though he intended by it to take an early opportunity of fortifying the rest of the disciples, that they might not be perplexed by the atrocity of the crime, which was soon afterwards to be made known. Yet he purposely abstains from naming him, that he may not shut against him the gate of repentance. As that hardened hypocrite (44) was utterly desperate, the warning served only to aggravate his guilt; but it was of great advantage to the other disciples, for by means of it the Divinity of Christ was more fully made known to them, and they likewise perceived that purity is no ordinary gift of the Holy Spirit.
(44) “ Cest hypocrite effronte.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet.Better, He who has bathed . . . St. Peters words have implied that he was wholly unclean, and needed for feet, and head, and hands, for the whole man, a moral cleansing. Christ answers that this was not so. The man who has been bathed is clean, but his feet coming in contact with the dust of the road need to be washed. It was so morally. They had been cleansed; their whole moral life had been changed, but they were liable to the corruption of every-day life through which they walked, and needed to be cleansed from the pollution of it. That day had furnished an example; their pride and self-seeking was of the spirit of the world, and not of the spirit of Christ; His act was a cleansing from that, but it did not imply that they were not clean. The lesson is that all, from Apostles downwards, need the daily renewing of the grace of God; and that none should find in failure, or even in the evil which clings to his daily path, reason for questioning the reality of the moral change which has made him the child of God.
And ye are clean, but not all.This is the moral application, accompanied by the mournful thought that it was not true of all. One there was among those who had been bathed who had allowed evil to enter into his heart and pollute it. For him cleansing had been neglected, and the daily corruption of the world had remained; evil thoughts had been harboured, until at length they had made corrupt the whole man. (Comp. Note on Joh. 15:4.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Needeth not save his feet For in this act of washing the feet, which, being the lowest part of the body, are the emblem of our entire impure nature, the cleansing away of our entire impurity is symbolized.
Clean, but not all Clean, not merely by this act of washing, but clean by the forgiving power of my blood; clean even in spite of their just previous contention for the precedency. For, in spite of that imperfection, there was in their heart a predominant faith in and love to him their justifying Saviour. Yet not all clean; for there was one in whom that faith and love were overborne, neutralized, and destroyed by a supreme purpose of treason.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 13:10-11 . Jesus sets the disciple right, and that by proceeding to speak of the washing in question according to the spiritual sense of which it is to be taken as the symbol, in order thereby to lead the disciple, who had misunderstood Him, to the true comprehension of the matter. According to the mere verbal sense, He says: “ He who has bathed needs nothing further than to wash his feet (which have been soiled again by the road); rather is he (except as to this necessary cleansing of the feet) clean in his entire body .” But this statement, derived from experience of the sensuous province of life, serves as a symbolical wrapping of the ethical thought which Jesus desires to set forth: “ He who has already experienced moral purification in general and on the whole in fellowship with me, like him who has cleansed his whole body in the bath, requires only to be freed from the sinful defilement in individual things which has been again contracted in the intercourse of life; as one who has bathed only requires again the washing of his feet, but in other respects he is clean as to his whole moral personality .” This necessity of individual purification demanding daily penitence , which Jesus here sets forth in the by , how manifest it became in the very case of Peter! E.g ., after he denied his Lord, and after the hypocrisy exhibited at Antioch, Gal 2 . To illustrate the entire spiritual purification [127] by , however, suggested itself so very naturally through the very feet-washing, which was just about to be undertaken as its correlate, that an allusion to baptism (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine, Ruperti, Erasmus, Jansen, Zeger, Cornelius a Lapide, Schoettgen, Wetstein, and many others, including Olshausen, B. Crusius, Ewald, Hengstenberg, Godet), perhaps after 1Co 6:11 , cannot be made good, while it is not even requisite to assume a reference to the by no means universal custom of bathing before meals. The word is to be thought of as the purifying element represented in ; as also in the simile of the vine, which is analogous in regard to the matter of fact depicted, the , Joh 15:3 , is referred back only to the word of Christ as the ground thereof. But the notion of ethical purification must, in the connection of the entire symbolism of the passage, be also strictly and firmly maintained in ; so that the latter is not, as Linder, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1867, p. 512 ff., thinks, intended to suggest that the clean man even may undergo the feet-washing, not, however, for the object of purification, but as a token of love or humble subjection .
] Hereby Jesus now makes the application to Peter and his fellow-disciples of what was previously said in the form of a general proposition: “ Ye also are clean ,” as I, namely, have just expressed it of the ; you also have attained in your living fellowship with me through my word to this moral purity of your entire personality; but so He subjoins with deep grief, having Judas Iscariot in view but not all! One there is amongst you who has frustrated in his own case the purifying influence of this union with me! Had Peter hitherto not yet seized the symbolical significance of the discourse of Jesus, yet now, on this application , . . ., and on this tragical addition , its meaning must have dawned upon his understanding.
] gives a comparative reference to the absolute expression .: has no need ( further ) than . Comp. Xen. Mem . iv. 3. 9; Herod. vi. 52: ( better than even formerly); Soph. Trach . 1016; Winer, p. 473 [E. T. p. 638].
. ] His betrayer , Mat 26:48 ; Joh 18:2 .
Further, what has been said of an anti-Petrine aim in this passage, in spite of Joh 1:43 , Joh 6:68-69 (Strauss, Schwegler, Baur, Hilgenfeld), by which the desire for an Ebionitic lavation of the whole body has actually been ascribed to Peter (Hilgenfeld), is altogether imaginary.
[127] Calvin well remarks: “Non quod omni ex parte puri sint, ut nulla in illis macula amplius haereat, sed quoniam praecipua sui parte mundati sunt, dum scilicet ablatum est regnum peccato ut justitia Dei superior sit.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
Ver. 10. Needeth not, save to wash his feet ] For though bathed in that blessed fountain, Zec 13:1 , and fully justified, yea, and freed from the stain and reign of sin, yet not from the relics, to keep us humble; that when we look upon our feathers, we may withal look upon the feet still defiled, and so be still cleansing ourselves “from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,”2Co 7:12Co 7:1 . The inwards and the feet in a sacrifice were to be washed above the rest; because the entrails contain the excrements; and the legs, because they tread in the dirt. Answerable whereunto, we are called upon to wash our hearts,Jer 4:14Jer 4:14 , and our feet, here. The comparison seems to be taken from those that are washed in baths; for though their whole bodies besides are washed; yet going forth, they touch the earth with their feet, and so are fain to wash again.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
10. ] Reference appears to be made to the fact that one who has bathed , after he has reached his home, needs not entire washing, but only to have his feet washed from the dust of the way. This bathing, the bath of the new birth, but only yet in its foreshadowing, in the purifying effect of faith working by love, the Apostles, with one exception, had; and this foot-washing represented to them, besides its lesson of humility and brotherly love, their daily need of cleansing from daily pollution, even after spiritual regeneration , at the hands of their Divine Master. See 2Co 7:1 ; Jas 1:21 ; Act 15:8-9 ; 2Pe 2:22 .
On . , see note, ch. Joh 15:3 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 13:10 . . “He that has been in the bath has no need to wash save his feet, but is all clean.” His feet may be soiled by walking from the public bath to the supper chamber, and it is enough that they be washed. “Ad convivium vocati solebant prius in balneo lavari; in domo vero convivatoris nonnisi pedes, quibus in via pulvis aut sordes adhaeserant, a servis abluebantur, ne lecti, super quibus accumbebant, macularentur.” Wetstein. He supports the statement by many references. The added clause discloses that a spiritual sense underlies the symbol: , , “ye are clean, but not all”. All had been washed: the feet of Judas were as clean as those of Peter. But Judas was not clean.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
washed = bathed. Greek. louo. App-186. Note the distinction between washing the whole body, and washing only a part of it. Compare 1Co 6:11.
clean. Greek. katharos. Occurs twenty-seven times, translated ten times “clean”, sixteen “pure”, and once “clear “(Rev 21:18) = free from impurity or dross. Used here of the eleven (Compare Joh 15:8), but not of Judas into whose heart Satan had “cast “the impure thought of Joh 13:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
10.] Reference appears to be made to the fact that one who has bathed, after he has reached his home, needs not entire washing, but only to have his feet washed from the dust of the way. This bathing, the bath of the new birth, but only yet in its foreshadowing, in the purifying effect of faith working by love, the Apostles, with one exception, had; and this foot-washing represented to them, besides its lesson of humility and brotherly love, their daily need of cleansing from daily pollution, even after spiritual regeneration, at the hands of their Divine Master. See 2Co 7:1; Jam 1:21; Act 15:8-9; 2Pe 2:22.
On . , see note, ch. Joh 15:3.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 13:10. ) (whence comes ) is said of the whole body; of a part of it.-, not) Jesus brings back the feeling of Peter to due bounds.-, feet) which are the last in being washed, and the first in being soiled.-, all over) when the feet have been washed.-, clean) ch. Joh 15:3, Now ye are clean through the word, which I have spoken unto you.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 13:10
Joh 13:10
Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed-[He who has washed his whole body once for the day.]
needeth not save to wash his feet,-[Which may have become soiled from the defilements of the road.] But since they had been purified and only the feet had been exposed to contamination, only the feet needed to be washed and the whole person was cleansed.
but is clean every whit:-[In all other particulars. So he who, by earnestly attaching himself to Christ, has broken with sin once for all has no need at each particular defilement to begin anew this general consecration; he has only to cleanse himself from the stain by confession and recourse to Christ.]
and ye are clean, but not all.-Here he gives a spiritual significance to his language and says that not only the body was clean, but they were all spiritually clean, save one, whom he knew would betray him. [There was one of the little crowd who had not spiritually bathed himself, to whom mere foot washing would do no good.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
needeth
The underlying imagery is of an oriental returning from the public baths to his house. His feet would contract defilement and require cleansing, but not his body. So the believer is cleansed as before the law from all sin “once for all” Heb 10:1-12 but needs ever to bring his daily sins to the Father in confession, that he may abide in unbroken fellowship with the Father and with the Son 1Jn 1:1-10. The blood of Christ answers forever to all the law could say as to the believer’s guilt, but he needs constant cleansing from the defilement of sin,; Eph 5:25-27; 1Jn 5:6. Typically, the order of approach to the presence of God was, first, the brazen altar of sacrifice, and then the laver of cleansing Exo 40:6; Exo 40:7. See, also, the order in Exo 30:17-21. Christ cannot have communion with a defiled saint, but He can and will cleanse him.
washed Lit. bathed. The Greek word signifies a complete ablution. “Wash” is another word.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Regeneration and Renewal
Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.Joh 13:10.
1. This answer of our Lord to Peter has naturally a double meaning. It is both literal and figurative. Just as one who, having bathed in the morning, considers himself clean and does not repeat this total ablution at meal-time, but is contented with washing his feet on entering, to remove such accidental defilement as he may have contracted by the way; so he who, by sincerely attaching himself to Christ, has found pardon for his sins, needs nothing else than a daily and continual purification from the moral defilement of which he becomes conscious during the course of his life. Peter was clean because he sincerely believed in Christ. The purpose, then, of what Jesus was now doing for him was not to reconcile him to God, but to remove from him, by such an example of humility, that particular defilement, the desire for earthly power and greatness, which Jesus at that very moment observed in His own.
I never understood the full meaning of our Lords words in St. Joh 13:10, until I beheld the better sort of East Indian natives return home after performing their customary ablutions. As they return to their habitations barefoot, they necessarily contract in their progress some portion of dirt on their feet; and this is universally the case, however nigh their dwellings may be to the riverside. When, therefore, they return, the first thing they do is to mount a low stool, and pour water into a small vessel to cleanse them from the soil which they may have contracted on their journey homewards; if they are of the higher class of society, a servant performs it for them, and then they are clean every whit.1 [Note: D. L. Moody.]
If you speak of sanctification as the original act of God in separating us to Himself, then it is a completed thing, for we are described as having been sanctified in Christ Jesus. If, again, you speak of it as a legal cleansing from all past guilt, it is complete; for, being washed in the precious blood, we are already clean. But if you regard it as the personal holiness of daily life, the purifying of the heart through faith by the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, then I am prepared to maintain from the whole testimony of the whole Word of God from one end to the other, that so long as we are in this world of conflict the sacred work is not complete, but progressive.1 [Note: E. Hoare, Sanctification, 66.]
2. It is doubtful whether in this new rite which preceded the Paschal supper, and in the reference to a past bathing, there is any specific allusion to baptism. Of course the sacramental process of initiation into the Christian society, and the action-parable of the Upper Room, express a common truth, that flesh and spirit must alike be cleansed before a frail, erring man is fit to stand in the presence of the Divine King and fulfil His behests. We have no direct statement that the twelve Apostles ever were baptized, although it is more than probable that those who were followers of John had received the rite at his hands, and these may have administered it to their comrades. Jesus Himself did not baptize. Yet without any express mention of the baptism of the twelve, Jesus affirms that they had been bathed, and that, with one sad exception, the virtue of the act remained. It was by the Word they had been cleansed. There is no suggestion that the spiritual change was coincident in time with the use of an outward rite which typified it. By response to the personal influence of Jesus Christ, they knew in the first fresh moments of their surrender to His will that the prophetic promise had been fulfilled, and that from the guilty errors and disabilities of the past they had been purified.
A modern writer, who lived for years in distressing poverty, and had no facilities in his sordid lodgings for washing, used to perform the greater part of his morning toilet at the British Museum, where he was a constant reader. He describes the shame he felt when he found a notice affixed, These basins are to be used for casual ablutions only. He had the sensations of a detected criminal. There is a wide distinction between the bathing of the body and casual ablutions, and the distinction runs through the teaching of the incident before us. The daily-repeated grace is a complement to the washing of regeneration which comes through the all-encircling, soul-pervading influences of Jesus Christ. It is not to supersede or obscure that primary need, as Simon Peter was in danger of supposing.1 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 210.]
One evening, before Thomas De Quincey died, he said to his daughter, I cannot bear the weight of clothes on my feet. She pulled off the heavy blankets. Yes, my love, he said, that is much better; I am better in every way. You know these are the feet that Jesus washed. Ah, I scarcely can tell which I should admire most: His passion for me or His patience with me; His suffering or His longsuffering.2 [Note: A. Smellie, In the Hour of Silence, 289.]
I
Regeneration
1. In this text Jesus teaches that the efficacy of a disciples first act of faith abides, and must not be thought of as invalidated by after-infirmities. If there were Divine forces present in that memorable change, it surely had qualities of permanence in it, for that which God effects cannot pass away as the morning cloud. We do not commit ourselves to the doctrines of indefectible grace and unconditional perseverance when we so interpret the Masters saying. The reference here made to Judas proves that to the rule of patient, tireless, long-continued, all-subduing grace there may be a tragic break. By false dealing, by calculated delinquency, by obstinate transgression, the bathed man may hopelessly defile himself again. But in eleven cases out of twelve the sanctifying grace asserts its permanence, for it is stamped with some of the qualities of its unchanging Minister.
When the great warrior knew that the end was sure, he met it with the confident resignation of his faith. He had seen death too often and too near to dread the parting hour of mortal anguish. Chaplains, preachers, godly persons, attended in an adjoining room and came in and out as the heavy hours went on, to read the Bible to him or to pray with him. To one of them he put the moving question, so deep with penitential meaning, so pathetic in its humility and misgiving, in its wistful recall of the bright bygone dawn of life in the soul: Tell me, is it possible to fall from grace? No, it is not possible, said the minister. Then, said the dying Cromwell, I am safe, for I know that I was once in grace.1 [Note: John Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 506.]
The efforts of an unregenerate man to resist evil may be compared to the waves that break away from the receding tide; they are vain and constantly declining struggles against the backward movement of the heart. The falls of a regenerate man, on the other hand, are the recessions of the wave in an advancing tide; the great progression will still be Godward. What we want is the flow of the new nature to overbear all the obstacles of wind and sand, and this must be given by attraction from above.2 [Note: John Ker, Thoughts for Heart and Life, 21.]
2. Why should the grace which wipes out past sin, and renews the thoughts and affections of the heart, fill this commanding place in the religious history? The Master forbids the idea that those successive effusions of spiritual influence, which keep the disciple in constant fitness for His uses, can compare in vital importance with this initial transformation. As He judges things, regeneration is a fact standing apart, and nothing must come into competition with it. The answer is many-sided. Initiation into the cleansing fellowship of Jesus is coincident with a deeper and more exhaustive self-discovery than is possible at the later stages of the religious history, unless indeed there has been flagrant, stupefying apostasy. The new convert has put off his disguises, making a frank and a full confession of sin and attaining a memorable release from its power. The whole manhood is moved by the fresh and dramatic disclosures of saving grace which attend the first surrender to the gospel call. The past is put off with a thoroughness which leaves little or no room for repetition. A man convinced of sin, and impelled by the new-born hope of redemption from its power, is passive under the processes of Divine mercy to an extent never perhaps equalled again. As those blessed influences which purify from the taint of the past immerse the soul, a strangely quiescent and submissive temper arises. The disciple is more conscious of Gods act and less of his own than in those subsequent experiences in which the factors of self-discipline and self-direction tend to predominate. And because Divine power is so supremely conspicuous in this purifying change its results abide, as perhaps grace sought through channels of daily edification does not.
Many and great gifts of the Holy Spirit do come really into a man, which yet are not regeneration; but they go and come. Whereas that is regeneration when and where God hath planted His habitation, and God is become one with man. In God, neither the world, nor pleasure, nor joy is suffered; nature must want all these when the mind standeth in God.1 [Note: Matthew Weyer.]
II
Renewal
1. When the gift which changes the moral habits, and puts away the dishonour and condemnation of the past, has been received, accessory processes are needed so that the disciple may be kept without spot. Christs followers are moving in the midst of the unregenerate, and it is only through daily vigilance and faith that they can escape the mischances inseparable from their position in the world. Through this lowly ministry, commonly performed by the slave at the opening of a feast, Jesus wished to save His disciples from that loss of hope which their imminent backsliding might cause, to remind them of the gentle and compassionate view He took of their infirmities, and to prevent, where it might still be possible, infirmities from passing into flagrant sins. He is willing to treat their passing moods of envy and ambition as mere casualties of the way, like the dust and films of foulness cleaving to the feet of the pilgrim. Such things do not belong to the new manhood which has been called forth within them, but have in part happened through contact with the world.
Learn a lesson from the eye of the miner, who all day long is working amid the flying coal-dust. When he emerges in the light of day, his face may be grimy enough; but his eyes are clear and lustrous, because the fountain of tears, in the lachrymal gland, is ever pouring its gentle tides over the eye, cleansing away each speck of dust as soon as it alights. Is not this the miracle of cleansing which our spirits need in such a world as this? And this is what our blessed Lord is prepared to do for us, if only we will trust Him.2 [Note: F. B. Meyer, Present Tenses, 22.]
As these men had with shame to lay their feet in Christs hands, so must we. As His hands had to come in contact with the soiled feet of the disciples, so has His moral nature to come in contact with the sins from which He cleanses us. His heart is purer than were His hands, and He shrinks more from contact with moral than with physical pollution; and yet without ceasing we bring Him into contact with such pollution. When we consider what those stains actually are from which we must ask Christ to wash us, we feel tempted to exclaim with Peter, Thou shalt never wash my feet! As these men must have shivered with shame through all their nature, so do we when we see Christ stoop before us to wash away once again the defilement we have contracted; when we lay our feet soiled with the miry and dusty ways of life in His sacred hands; when we see the uncomplaining, unreproachful grace with which He performs for us this lowly and painful office. But only thus are we prepared for communion with Him and with one another. Only by admitting that we need cleansing, and by humbly allowing Him to cleanse us, are we brought into true fellowship with Him. With the humble and contrite spirit which has thrown down all barriers of pride and freely admits His love and rejoices in His holiness does He abide.1 [Note: Marcus Dods.]
2. We must seek daily release from the incipient defilements which fasten upon the regenerate personality without at first bringing upon it specific marks of guilt and wrong-doing. The neglected stain, however extenuating the circumstances in which it affixed itself, may end in a disfigurement that will be more than skin-deep in its results. Forgetfulness of the solemn lesson taught by the feet-washing may make the apostate. A lapse of temper, an unwatched desire provoked by our converse with the world, often incubates into a flagrant sin. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; and may we not add, upon any thoughtless mood or unchastened temper which has settled upon us whilst moving through secular scenes? The feet that have trod the hot, foul highways, or that perhaps have not even crossed the threshold of the home, must be washed. Do not slight the little shortcomings which befall you, and allow them to accrete into blemishes which may vitiate the life.
To become indifferent or insensitive to the stains of daily sin is one of the saddest things that can befall us. Little by little it puts a space between us and the Saviour, as begrimed windows seem to put the light further and further off. We must keep the glass clean if we would have the cheerful light; and we must keep close touch with the pardoning blood if we would maintain the joy of salvation.1 [Note: J. R. Howatt, Jesus the Poet, 273.]
In describing the different habits of the people of two adjacent provinces the Chinese say, A Hupeh man does not sleep unless he has first cleansed his feet; but a Honan man only washes his feet on the day when he fords a river.
Up the long slope of this low sandy shore
Are rolled the tidal waters day by day;
Traces of wandering feet are washed away,
Relics of busy hands are seen no more.
The soiled and trampled surface is smoothd oer
By punctual waves that high behests obey;
Once and again the tides assert their sway,
And oer the sands their cleansing waters pour.
Even so, Lord, daily, hourly, oer my soul
Sin-stained and care-worn, let Thy heavenly Grace
A blest, atoning flooddivinely roll,
And all the footsteps of the world efface,
That like the wave-washed sand this soul of mine,
Spotless and fair, smooth and serene, may shine!2 [Note: Richard Wilton.]
Regeneration and Renewal
Literature
Arnold (T.), Sermons, ii. 127.
Barrett (G. S.), Musings for Quiet Hours, 74.
Bonar (H.), Family Sermons, 87.
Farrar (F. W.), In the Days of thy Youth, 243.
Howatt (J. R.), Jesus the Poet, 272.
Jerdan (C.), Gospel Milk and Honey, 285.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, iii. 239.
Selby (T. G.), The Divine Craftsman, 207.
Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 289.
Temple (F.), Sermons in Rugby School Chapel, ii. 116.
Waterston (R.), Thoughts on the Lords Supper, 91.
Webster (F. S.), My Lord and I, 154.
Wordsworth (C.), Christian Boyhood at a Public School, i. 438.
Expositor, 2nd Ser., iv. 146 (Cox).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
He: Lev 16:26, Lev 16:28, Lev 17:15, Lev 17:16, Num 19:7, Num 19:8, Num 19:12, Num 19:13, Num 19:19-21, Heb 9:10,*Gr.
needeth: Ecc 7:20, Mat 6:12, Rom 7:20-23, 2Co 7:1, Eph 4:22-24, Eph 5:26, Eph 5:27, 1Th 5:23, Jam 3:2, 1Jo 1:7-10
but: Son 4:7, Jer 50:20, 2Co 5:17, 2Co 5:21
ye: Joh 15:3
Reciprocal: Gen 35:2 – clean Exo 38:8 – the laver Exo 40:31 – washed Pro 29:1 – General Joh 6:64 – there Joh 13:5 – feet Joh 13:7 – What 1Co 6:11 – but ye are washed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0
Jesus understood that Peter still had literal or material washing in his mind, although he seemed to expect some mysterious effects from it. He therefore made his first remarks from that standpoint, meaning that since they were normally clean in the main except their feet, those parts would need washing since they had just come in from a journey on foot. After saying that much on the material side of the subject, admitting them all to be clean in that respect, Jesus immediately added the exception that must be understood from the moral or spiritual standpoint, when he used the short phrase, but not all.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 13:10. Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. The ground of the figurative language hardly needs explanation: he who has just been cleansed in the bath has only further to wash his feet as he proceeds from the bath to the banquet in order that he may sit down there wholly clean. Peters words had shown that he did not fully understand he application of the figure, and that he did not see that the washing of more than the feet, which had alone been in a position to contract defilement, implied that the first cleansing had not been so thorough as it really was. It was necessary, therefore, in furtherance of his training at this time, to remind him that in faith and love he had already been made completely one with Jesus, and that all now required was not an entire renewal of that first cleansing, as if men were to be born a third as well as a second time, but a preserving of it in its completeness. This was to be effected by suffering Jesus now to cleanse away any stain that could be imparted by the work of the world, but no more. A right perception of the greatness of what Christ did for us when He first united us to Himself, is as necessary to a true following of His example of love and self-denial, as is a perception of the fact that, at every step of our progress, in every part of our continued work, we need to turn to Him for the spiritualising of our earthly thoughts, the elevation of our earthly aims, and the pardon of our shortcomings and sins. Peter and the apostles ought not to forget this. They had all been truly united to Jesus except one; and there is sadness in the way in which the words are added, but not all.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 10
Every whit; entirely. The meaning of the remark seems to be, simply, that, for his purpose at that time, the washing of the feet was all that was necessary.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Jesus distinguished the two types of spiritual cleansing that believers experience, forensic and family forgiveness. When a person believes in Jesus as Savior, God removes all the guilt of that person for sins committed in the past, present, and future (cf. Rom 5:1; Rom 8:1; et al.). Jesus spoke of this forensic or legal forgiveness as a total bath (Gr. louo). After a person believes in Jesus as Savior, he or she commits sins and those sins hinder the believer’s fellowship with God (cf. Mat 6:12; Mat 6:14-15; Luk 11:4; et al.). Jesus compared this family forgiveness to washing (Gr. nipto) the feet, which become dirty while walking through life. Therefore Jesus was illustrating the importance of believers obtaining spiritual cleansing from God periodically when He washed the disciples’ feet. We obtain this cleansing by confessing our sins to God (1Jn 1:9; cf. 1Jn 2:24; 1Jn 5:13). The basis for both types of forgiveness is Jesus’ work on the cross.
Another view is that Jesus was referring to the daily consecration of the disciple’s life to a service of love, following Christ’s example. [Note: Edersheim, 2:500.] A third view is that the foot-washing was symbolic of the complete cleansing that had already taken place or would take place. This last view less probable since Jesus said that Peter already had experienced a spiritual bath but still needed his feet washed.
The unclean disciple was Judas who had not believed that Jesus was God’s Son. Jesus’ washing Judas’ feet, therefore, was not a lesson in believers’ securing spiritual cleansing but an offer of initial cleansing for him. There is nothing in the text that would warrant the conclusion that Jesus omitted washing Judas’ feet.