It\u2019s not unusual to be asked about baptism or the Lord\u2019s Supper but in conjunction with that the question of foot washing as an ordinance of the church often comes up.\u00a0 I usually reply that I certainly believe in foot washing, especially for boys under ten years old!\u00a0 But why is it that I do not believe in foot washing as an ordinance of the local church?<\/p>\n
The central passage in question is John 13:1-17 where Jesus washed the disciples\u2019 feet at the last supper.\u00a0 It is a well-known account of Jesus girding Himself with a towel after supper and washing their feet until Peter stops Him, almost indignant that the Master would take the place of a servant and wash his feet.\u00a0 Peter announces, \u201cThou shalt never wash my feet.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIf I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me,\u201d Jesus replies.\u00a0 \u201cLord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head\u201d was Peter\u2019s contrite answer.\u00a0 At the end of the account Jesus said to the disciples, \u201cFor I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
This custom of washing the feet before a meal was necessary because of the manner in which meals were eaten in a reclined position and due to the foot dress of the day.\u00a0 Homer Kent describes, \u201cWhat Jesus did had a background in the custom of Palestinian society.\u00a0 Because of dusty roads and the wearing of open sandals, it was normal to wash one\u2019s feet at the door.\u00a0 At a dinner the host provided water for his guests, and either the guest washed his own feet or the host delegated the task to servants.\u201d1<\/sup> Of course the striking thing about what Jesus did, and why Peter was so upset, is that Jesus assumed the position of such a servant.\u00a0 John the Baptist once said of Jesus, \u201cHe it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe\u2019s latchet I am not worthy to unloose\u201d (John 1:27).\u00a0 John would surely have been as shocked as Peter at Jesus\u2019 action.<\/p>\n Though the custom of washing feet before a meal was very common, the mention of it in Scripture is not.\u00a0 Abraham offered his angelic guests water to wash their feet before he served them (Gen. 18:4) and Lot did the same when they came to his house (Gen. 19:2).\u00a0 Before David took Abigail to wife she washed his feet (1 Sam. 25:41) and David commanded Uriah to go home and wash his feet when he was brought back from the battle (2 Sam. 11:8).\u00a0 Besides the story of our text, Luke records the meal in a Pharisee\u2019s house when a woman \u201cwhich was a sinner\u201d washed Jesus\u2019 feet with her hair and Jesus rebuked the host for not offering Him water to do the same (Luke 7:36-50).\u00a0 Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus\u2019 feet with costly ointment, but that may have been something separate from the meal.\u00a0 The only other, but significant, mention of washing feet is in 1 Timothy 5:10 when giving the requirements for supporting a widow Paul writes, \u201cif she have washed the saints\u2019 feet.\u201d<\/p>\n The significance of Jesus\u2019 command to His disciples to do as He had done, and the mention of it as a widow\u2019s practice, requires us to give an answer for why we do or do not practice this regularly, or even make it a third ordinance of the church.\u00a0 G. Campbell Morgan wrote, \u201cNow there are certain sections of the Christian Church even today who take that very literally, and observe this ritual as carefully as the Lord\u2019s Supper and baptism.\u00a0 While we may not share their practice, we must at least not lose the significance of it.\u201d2<\/sup>\u00a0 To this all would agree.<\/p>\n Because this is a common question, I often review my answer as to its validity especially each time I read the gospel of John.\u00a0 Here is a list of reasons why I conclude that this is not intended for regular practice, much less as an ordinance of the church.<\/p>\n A symbol is not an ordinance<\/span><\/p>\n There are many things in Scripture which we ought to be doing that do not rise to the level of a regular ordinance of the church.\u00a0 A.H. Strong is regularly referenced in his three-fold division of these things.<\/p>\n A symbol <\/i>is the sign, or visible representation, of an invisible truth or idea; as for example, the lion is the symbol of strength and courage, the lamb is the symbol of gentleness, the olive branch of peace, the scepter of dominion, the wedding ring of marriage, and the flag of country.\u00a0 Symbols may teach great lessons; as Jesus\u2019 cursing the barren fig tree taught the doom of unfruitful Judaism, and Jesus\u2019 washing of the disciples\u2019 feet taught his own coming down from heaven to purify and save, and the humble service required of his followers.\u00a0 2. A rite <\/i>is a symbol which is employed with regularity and sacred intent.\u00a0 Symbols become rites when thus used.\u00a0 Examples of authorized rites in the Christian Church are the laying on of hands in ordination, and the giving of the right hand of fellowship.\u00a0 An ordinance <\/i>is a symbolic rite which sets forth the central truths of the Christian faith, and which is of universal and perpetual obligation.\u00a0 Baptism and the Lord\u2019s Supper are rites which have become ordinances by the specific command of Christ and by their inner relation to the essential truth of his kingdom.3<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Even if a church elects to practice foot washing, it does not become an ordinance.\u00a0 There is no universal and perpetual obligation to individuals or to a church.<\/p>\n It is not supported by the New Testament record<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to foot washing not being an ordinance by definition, neither does it qualify by New Testament usage.\u00a0 Ordinances were given by Christ in the gospels, practiced by the disciples in the book of Acts, and taught by the apostles in their epistles.\u00a0 Rolland McCune puts this is a four-fold manner:\u00a0 \u201cSovereign authorization by the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Symbolic of saving faith . . . Specific command for perpetuation . . . Biblical evidence of historic fulfillment.\u201d4<\/sup>\u00a0 McCune also states, \u201cAccordingly, Baptists assert that only two ordinances fit the biblical criteria\u2014water baptism and communion.5<\/sup>\u00a0 Of baptism McCune says, \u201cThe divine authorization comes from the Great Commission, Christ\u2019s marching orders for the church which can only be carried out properly by a biblically organized New Testament local church.\u201d6<\/sup><\/p>\n There are some things denominations practice with regularity that still do not rise to the level of ordinance:\u00a0 love feasts, anointing with oil, laying on of hands, and even prayer meetings.\u00a0 These however do not become ordinances simply because they are practiced regularly.\u00a0 Foot washing does not even rise to this level.<\/p>\n It misses the larger point Jesus was making<\/span><\/p>\n Jesus was the very Son of God Who came to earth as a Servant to save sinners.\u00a0 In the previous quote, A.H. Strong said, \u201cJesus washing of the disciples\u2019 feet taught his own coming down from heaven to purify and save.\u201d7<\/sup>\u00a0 F.B. Meyer said it this way, \u201cHe rose from the Throne; laid aside the garments of light which He had worn as his vesture; took up the poor towel of humanity, and wrapped it about his glorious Person; poured his own blood into the basin of the cross; and set Himself to wash away the foul stains of human depravity and guilt.\u201d8<\/sup><\/p>\n Jesus WAS a servant to us in His substitutionary atonement for mankind.\u00a0 We are to be servants as well, not merely in an act of symbolism, but in actual practice throughout our lives as believers.\u00a0 Peter learned this lesson well for he wrote in his epistle, \u201cLikewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.\u00a0 Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble\u201d (1 Peter 5:5).\u00a0 To \u201cbe clothed\u201d (egkomboomai<\/i>) is from a Greek word that only appears here in the New Testament.\u00a0 It is from a root word (kombos<\/i>) meaning a string or band.\u00a0 It means to be girded, or to tie one\u2019s garment about you.\u00a0 It was specifically used of slaves doing menial tasks.\u00a0 Peter still had this image in his mind when he wrote of humility.<\/p>\n It destroys the unique symbolism of the ordinances<\/span><\/p>\n Foot washing, and other symbols like it, cannot rise to the level of ordinance because it does not carry a vicarious symbolism.\u00a0 Baptism and the Lord\u2019s Supper are indeed done with symbols and object lessons (water, bread, juice), but they uniquely symbolize something that was done for us in salvation.\u00a0 We cannot give our body or blood for sin.\u00a0 We cannot die, be buried, and rise again the third day.\u00a0 The symbolism of these ordinances is of something we cannot do, something that was done for us.<\/p>\n Foot washing, laying on of hands, fasting, etc., are symbols of things we are commanded to do.\u00a0 And as Peter wrote, we should be clothed with humility, hospitable, serving one another.\u00a0 Ryrie, in his chapter on church ordinances writes about foot washing,<\/p>\n Those who focus on cleansing find ground for continuing the observance of this as an ordinance today.\u00a0 Those who emphasize the example or forgiveness aspects do not feel it is necessary to perform the ritual but rather to practice the spiritual truths the ritual illustrated.\u00a0 It is true that the exhortation to follow Christ\u2019s example in verses 14 and 15 related to forgiving one another in humility, rather than to God\u2019s forgiving our missteps in life.\u00a0 This, then, would argue against considering foot-washing as an ordinance.9<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Baptism can be used as a prerequisite to membership because it pictures one\u2019s salvation, i.e., belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Wayne Grudem, in arguing for having only two ordinances, writes, \u201cThe position advocated in this chapter is \u2018Baptistic\u2019 \u2014namely, that baptism is appropriately administered only to those who give a believable profession of faith in Jesus Christ.\u201d10<\/sup>\u00a0 Baptism is used this way because it pictures salvation.\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s Supper also pictures the effects of the body and blood of Jesus Christ upon our souls.\u00a0 Foot washing is not in this category.<\/p>\n It gives an \u201cexample\u201d of a unique kind<\/span><\/p>\n In John 13:15 Jesus said, \u201cFor I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.\u201d\u00a0 This word \u201cexample\u201d is not the ordinary word tupos<\/i>, meaning figure to copy (Acts 7:43-44) or example to follow (Phil. 3:17).\u00a0 It is upodeigma<\/i>, an unusual word used only here in the gospels and five other times in the New Testament including by Peter describing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, \u201cmaking them an example unto those that after should live ungodly\u201d (2 Pet. 2:6).<\/p>\n Lenski, in discussing this word writes,<\/p>\n This shows that \u2018to be washing each others\u2019 feet\u2019 is figurative and means literally, \u2018that you keep doing, even as I did do to you,\u2019 kathos<\/i>, not ho<\/i>, \u2018in like manner,\u2019 not \u2018the same identical thing.\u2019\u00a0 The example of Jesus is to guide them in what they do for each other; it is not for mere mechanical repetition in washing of feet.\u00a0 This answers the question as to whether Jesus intends to institute a symbolical rite or an actual sacrament, which his disciples are to repeat formally by actually washing each others\u2019 feet.\u00a0 Such rites belong to the Old Testament only, they have disappeared from the New.\u00a0 The shadows are gone, the substance has come.11<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is simply a grammatical way of saying that actually washing one another\u2019s feet does not necessarily fulfill Christ\u2019s command as an \u201cexample\u201d to follow.\u00a0 We could be doing that every week, but if we are not serving one another in some helpful way, we are not keeping His example.<\/p>\n It contradicts the humility which it is supposed to demonstrate<\/span><\/p>\n I mean by this that the desire to do this action (of washing someone\u2019s feet) can easily be a show of piety in itself.\u00a0 Is this why we never find the apostles doing this in the New Testament?\u00a0 We find them serving one another and others, but not doing this physical act.\u00a0 The widows of 1 Timothy 5 were supposed to be \u201creported of for good works, if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints\u2019 feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work\u2019 (1 Tim. 5:10).\u00a0 A symbolic show of piety certainly does not belong in that list.<\/p>\n F.B. Meyer wrote, \u201cThere was no aiming at effect, no thought of the beauty or humility of the act, as there is when the Pope yearly washes the feet of twelve beggars, from a golden basin, wiping them with a towel of rarest fabric!\u00a0 Christ did not act thus for show or pretence.\u201d12<\/sup>\u00a0 It is for this reason that I think we should not do this practice in the churches.<\/p>\n We should rather do as Jesus commanded in the Sermon on the Mount, \u201cTake heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly\u201d (Matt. 6:1-4).\u00a0 He said the same thing about prayer and fasting in the same context.<\/p>\n And so . . . <\/b><\/p>\n A.W. Pink wrote a good four-fold summary to this discussion from the verses in our text, \u201cFirst, the vital need of placing our feet in the hands of Christ for cleansing (13:8).\u00a0 Second, the owning of Christ as \u2018Master and Lord\u2019 (13:13).\u00a0 Third, the need of washing one another\u2019s feet (13:14).\u00a0 Fourth, the performing of this ministry as Christ performed it\u2014in lowly love (13:15).\u201d13<\/sup>\u00a0 And yet, like many of us, he did not advocate the practice of foot washing as an ordinance.\u00a0 He also wrote,<\/p>\n It is well known that not a few regarded this as a command from Christ for His followers not to practice literal <\/i>foot-washing, yea, some have exalted it into a \u2018Church ordinance.\u2019\u00a0 While we cannot but respect and admire their desire to obey <\/i>Christ, especially in a day when laxity and self-pleasing is so rife, yet we are fully satisfied that they have mistaken our Lord\u2019s meaning here.\u00a0 Surely to insist upon literal foot-washing from this verse is to miss the meaning as well as the spirit of the whole passage.\u00a0 It is not <\/i>with literal water (any more than the \u2018water\u2019 is literal in john 3:5; 4:14; 7:38) that the Lord would have us wash one another.\u00a0 It is the Word (of which \u2018water\u2019 is the emblem) He would have us apply to our fellow-disciples\u2019 walk.14<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I would hope with confidence that as brethren disagree in this matter of foot-washing we would respect one another\u2019s desire to obey our Lord\u2019s commands in every respect.\u00a0 At the same time, when we disagree as to the application of our beliefs and desires, we would do so charitably yet firmly.\u00a0 I have never seen, nor do I now see, the need at all to wash one another\u2019s feet in a literal way.\u00a0 But I would join with brethren in the desperate need to serve one another in love.<\/p>\n Notes:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s not unusual to be asked about baptism or the Lord\u2019s Supper but in conjunction with that the question of foot washing as an ordinance of the church often comes up.\u00a0 I usually reply that I certainly believe in foot washing, especially for boys under ten years old!\u00a0 But why is it that I do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[157],"class_list":["post-7181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-modern-authors-theological-issues"],"yoast_head":"\n\n