Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 13:9
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head.
9. not my feet only ] The impetuosity which is so marked a characteristic of S. Peter in the first three Gospels (comp. especially Luk 5:8 and Mat 16:22), comes out very strongly in his three utterances here. It is incredible that this should be deliberate invention; and if not, the independent authority of this narrative is manifest.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Not my feet only … – Peter, with characteristic readiness and ardor, saw now that everything depended on this. His whole salvation, the entire question of his attachment to his Master, was involved. If to refuse to have his feet washed was to be regarded as evidence that he had no part with Jesus, he was not only willing, but desirous that it should be done; not only anxious that his feet should be cleansed, but his hands and his head – that is, that he should be cleansed entirely, thoroughly. Perhaps he saw the spiritual meaning of the Saviour, and expressed his ardent wish that his whole soul might be made pure by the work of Christ. A true Christian is desirous of being cleansed from all sin. He has no reserve. He wishes not merely that one evil propensity should be removed, but all; that every thought should be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2Co 10:5; and that his whole body, soul, and spirit should be sanctified wholly and be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1Th 5:23. His intellect, his will, his affections, his fancy, memory, judgment, he desires should be all brought under the influence of the gospel, and every power of the body and mind be consecrated unto God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Lord, not my feet only, &c.] It appears that Peter entered into our Lord’s meaning, and saw that this was emblematical of a spiritual cleansing: therefore he wishes to be completely washed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Peter now understandeth what washing it is which our Saviour last spake of, and wholly submits to the will of his Lord and Master; acknowledging himself to be wholly defiled, and to stand in need of a washing all over:
Lord, saith he, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head; that is, my whole man.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Lord, not my feet only, but alsomy hands and my headthat is, “To be severed from Thee,Lord, is death to me: If that be the meaning of my speech, I treadupon it; and if to be washed of Thee have such significance, then notmy feet only, but hands, head, and all, be washed!” This artlessexpression of clinging, life-and-death attachment to Jesus, and feltdependence upon Him for his whole spiritual well-being, compared withthe similar saying in Joh 6:68;Joh 6:69 (see on Joh6:68,69), furnishes such evidence of historic verity suchas no thoroughly honest mind can resist.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Simon Peter saith unto him,…. Being convinced of his mistake in not submitting to Christ, fearing he should he deprived of communion with him, than which nothing was more desirable to him, or more highly esteemed of by him, says,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head; which shows the sense he had of the general pollution of his nature, and the need he stood in particularly of having his feet, hands, and head washed both as a minister, and a believer. By his “feet” may be meant, either the grace of faith, which is the foot of the soul, by which it goes to Christ, and walks on in him, and was not without its imperfections; or the affections of the mind, which are that to the soul, as feet are to the body; and when they move right, move heavenward, Godward, and Christward; but sometimes they are inordinate, and cleave to the things of this world: or the outward life and conversation is meant, which is attended with daily infirmities; and each of these need washing in the blood of Christ. His “hands” may design all his actions, works, services, duties, and performances, the hand being the instrument of action; and not only the hands of wicked men, but even of saints, need washing, their best righteousnesses being as filthy rags. By his “head” may be meant doctrines and principles imbibed in the mind, and expressed by the lips, which were not free from mistake and pollution, and needed purging and cleansing; for the disciples were not as yet clear from the prejudices of the Jewish nation, especially relating to the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head ( ). Nouns in the accusative case object of understood. Peter’s characteristic impulsiveness that does not really understand the Master’s act. “A moment ago he told his Master He was doing too much: now he tells Him He is doing too little” (Dods).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord,” (legei auto Simon Petros kurie) “Simon Peter replied directly to him, Lord,” eagerly, with fervor, when the real meaning of washing dawned on him. It was an “whole-soul” outburst, as when he drew the sword in Gethsemane, then fled, cursed, denied the Lord later that same evening, though he had said, I will never deny thee, 1Jn 1:8-9.
2) “Not my feet only,” (me tous podas mou monon) “Not only my feet;- Don’t stop there, with your real cleansing or washing, with my feet only, for it is my whole being that needs cleansing from sin, Rom 3:9-19; Rom 3:23. Both his protest, and his yielding, came from love, Joh 21:15-17.
3) “But also my hands and my head.” (alla kai tas cheiras kai ten kephalen) “But also you may wash the hands and head of me,” admitting that he needed cleansing from sin, from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, after he had reasoned with the Lord, Isa 1:4-6; Isa 1:18. His whole soul, mind, body, and capacity of thinking needed cleansing, and he finally realized it.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. Lord, not my feet only. When Peter heard that he was ruined, if he did not accept the cleansing which was offered to him by Christ, this necessity proved, at length, to be a sufficient instructor to tame him. He therefore lays aside opposition and yields, but wishes to be entirely washed, and, indeed, acknowledges that, for his own part, he is altogether covered with pollution, and, therefore, that it is doing nothing, if he be only washed in one part. But here too he goes wrong through thoughtlessness, in treating, as a thing of no value, the benefit which he had already received; for he speaks as if he had not yet obtained any pardon of sins, or any sanctification by the Holy Spirit. On this account, Christ justly reproves him, for he recalls to his recollection what he had formerly bestowed on him; at the same time, reminding all his disciples in the person of one man, that, while they remembered the grace which they had received, they should consider what they still needed for the future.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.Peter still misunderstands the meaning; but he is true to his loving impulsive character. No part with his Master! He will give up anything, everything. He knows not what this washing means, and cannot conceive that it is fitting for Christ to wash his feet; but if it in any sense can mean having a part with Christ, then not the feet only, but the whole man.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Not my feet only Peter is now brought to his senses. He sees that his wilful humility is pride and disobedience. He perceives the spiritual import of our Saviour’s language and purpose. He had early in his apostleship bid his Lord depart from him, for he was a sinful man. He sees that this washing implies the cleansing of the soul from sin, and now he prays that that sanctification may be complete. His every member is impregnated with sin, and becomes the instrument of sin. If thou wilt cleanse me at all, Lord, let the work be complete.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 13:9. Simon Peter saith, &c. St. Peter, understanding Christ’s words literally, supposed thathis being washed was necessary to his partaking with him in the felicity of his reign: he desired therefore that not his feet only, but also his hands and his head, that is, his whole body might be washed. Jesus said, “He that is washed, or rather, he who has been bathed, , need not, after that, wash any part of his body, except his feet, which, in coming out of the bath may have been dirtied.” This he said in allusion to their custom of bathing themselves before the supper, and with a design to teach us, that converted persons have still need to watch over all their words and actions, and to wash by faith in the atoning Blood, even for everysin of infirmity: for that our Saviour spoke of a spiritual washing is evident from his adding, and ye are clean, but not all. “Ye are men of holy and virtuous dispositions; only ye are not all of you so.” This was so direct an application to the conscience of Judas, that he could not but be convinced that our Lord knew the inmost recesses of his mind; and if he had not been exceedingly obdurate, was sufficient to have prevented him from putting his infamous sordid project into practice. Some have observed, that Judas didnot decline the honour of having his feet washed, as Peter did,and have considered it as an instance of his pride: but, if the discourse between Christ and Peter happened before he came to Judas, it had been indecent for Judas to renew an objection which had just been over-ruled; and, if Christ came to Judas before Peter, he might be unwilling to be the first to dispute the point, lest Christ should confound him byinquiring, whether he declined it from a consciousness of any peculiar unworthiness. Guilt naturally suggests such suspicions and precautions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Ver. 9. Lord, not my feet only ] Here he seems to be as far out on the other side. How hard is it to hold a mean. Medio tutissimus ibis. (Ovid.) Virtue is placed between two extremes, as the planet Jupiter between cold Saturn and fiery Mars.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9. ] The warm-hearted Peter, on learning that exclusion would be the consequence of not being washed, can hardly have enough of a cleansing so precious. There surely is implied in this answer an incipient apprehension of the meaning of our Lord’s words. The has awakened in him, as the Lord’s presence did, Luk 5:8 , a feeling of his own want of cleansing, his entire pollution. This sense (Stier, Bengel, Baumgarten-Crusius) is denied by Lcke and Olsh.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 13:9 . . A moment ago he told his Master He was doing too much: now he tells Him He is doing too little. Self-will gives place slowly. Yet this was the unmistakable expression of devotion. If washing is any requirement for fellowship with Thee, wash me wholly. [“Non pedes solum, quos soli ministri vident; sed manus et caput, quod convivae adspiciunt.” Wetstein.] He is still in error.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
9.] The warm-hearted Peter, on learning that exclusion would be the consequence of not being washed, can hardly have enough of a cleansing so precious. There surely is implied in this answer an incipient apprehension of the meaning of our Lords words. The has awakened in him, as the Lords presence did, Luk 5:8, a feeling of his own want of cleansing, his entire pollution. This sense (Stier, Bengel, Baumgarten-Crusius) is denied by Lcke and Olsh.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 13:9. , not) Since washing keeps me as one having part with Thee, I give myself up to be washed all over by Thee.-, , hands, head) A gradation is here presented. A sense of his own uncleanness overwhelming Peter, by reason of the majesty of the Lord, which stooped so low in condescension, dictated these words. Comp. Luk 5:8, [Peter at the draught of fishes] Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 13:9
Joh 13:9
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head-Peter with the same quick and decisive spirit asks him to wash his face and his hands also. [Here is the same Peter who rushes upon the water and a moment afterwards cries, I perish! Who strikes with the sword and who takes to flight, who enters into the presence of the high priest and yet denies his Master. The loyalty of heart which was under all this insubordination speaks out here. If it is a question of union with thee, wash me completely. Consecrate my whole body. He still does not enter fully into the thought. He is imagining something efficacious in the physical act.] Peter, with his earnestness and impulsiveness, seeing his favor with Jesus depended on his being washed by him runs to the other extreme and asks him not only to wash his feet, but his hands and head also. Wash me all over, in other words.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
not: Psa 26:6, Psa 51:2, Psa 51:7, Jer 4:14, Mat 27:24, Heb 10:22, 1Pe 3:21
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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This suggested to Peter that he had missed the point of the whole performance, and that some great benefit was to be derived from his Lord that was not visible in the literal washing. With such a thought about it, he concluded he wanted even a fuller amount of the favor, and asked Jesus for a more general washing.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 13:9. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.Peter sees that in whatever way the result maybe produced, suffering Jesus to wash his feet will bring him nearer to his Master, will make him to be more with Him. The thought of the hands and the head as the uncovered parts of the body naturally occurs to him; and his reasoning is that, if the washing of one part will give him a deeper interest in the Master whom he loved, much more will this be effected by the washing of more parts than one. To everything he will submit, so that it bring him nearer to Jesus and His reward.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 9 presents to us, in the case of Peter, one of those sudden changes of impression which we frequently observe in him, in the Synoptic narrative. Here is the same Peter who rushes upon the water and a moment afterward cries I perish! who strikes with the sword and who takes to flight, who enters into the house of the high-priest and yet denies his Master. The perfect accordance between these scattered features, and the image full of life which results from them, admirably prove in this case as in all the others, as Luthardt has so well set forth, the complete reality of the Gospel history. The whole meaning of the act of Jesus was in the fact of washing the feet.
The nature of the act changed absolutely as soon as it concerned the head, for in that case it was no longer an act of humiliation. Jesus follows Peter on this new ground and this is what introduces the different meaning given to the act in His answer. At the foundation, what Peter asked for, without being conscious of it, was, instead of the removal of a stain, a complete renovation and, as it were, a second baptism; he implicitly denied the work already done in him (Joh 15:3). This is what gives the key to the answer of Jesus. This answer has of course a double meaning. Jesus rises immediately, as in the conversation with the Samaritan woman, from the material to the spiritual domain. As after having bathed in the morning a man regards himself as clean for the whole day and contents himself with washing his feet when he returns from without, that he may remove the accidental soiling which they have contracted in walking, 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 this stain by confession and recourse to Christ.
We must recall here what Jesus says to His disciples, Joh 15:3 : You are already clean through the word which I have declared to you. In receiving His word, they had received in principle the perfect holiness of which it is the standard in the life in Him. There is nothing more except to change the law into act by ever placing oneself anew on the foundation which has been laid. Weiss thinks that all notion of pardon in the symbol of washing is foreign to this context. But the fundamental rupture with sin which Jesus compares to the complete bath implies a general pardon and reconciliation with God, and each act of destroying a particular sin, represented by the washing of the feet, implies the particular pardon of that sin. Reuss objects that the answer of Jesus, thus explained, would turn aside the symbol from its primitive sense. We have seen that the sense of the symbol was altogether different from that of the disposition towards kindness to one’s neighbor; that Jesus desired to eradicate a bad propensity from the hearts of the disciples. This is what gives occasion to the new turn which the explanation of the symbol takes in consequence of the demand of Peter. I believe with Reuss, that, whatever Weiss may say, Jesus is here thinking of the baptism of water, the symbol of general purification, and means that it is no more necessary to renew this act (that which Peter asked) than that of faith itself whose symbol it is. The reading , if it is not, in a few Alexandrian documents, is a correction of the , in the T. R., which is slightly irregular; , than, for , nothing else than. The rejection of the words , in the Sinaitic MS., completely changes the meaning: He who is bathed has no need to wash himself; but he is all clean. This reading is a correction occasioned by the difficulty of distinguishing between the total bath and the partial washing. The last words: but he is clean altogether, are to be explained thus: But, far from having to bathe entirely a second time, as thou dost demand, his body is in general clean. It is enough to cleanse the local defilement which the feet have contracted.
But is this state of reconciliation and consecration indeed the state of all? No; there is a disciple who has broken the bond connecting him with Jesus or in whose heart this bond has never existed. He it is who would really have need of the inward act of which Peter had just asked for the symbol. Here is the first revelation of the treachery of Judas, in the course of the supper. By expressing in this way the grief which the thought of this crime causes Him to feel, Jesus makes a last effort to bring Judas to repentance. And if He does not succeed, He will, at least, have shown to His disciples that He was not the dupe of his hypocrisy (Joh 13:19).