Compared:
foot washing and confession in John 13:10 and 1 John 1:9
The
passages
John
13:8-11 8
Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered
him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." 9 Simon Peter said to Him,
"Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." 10 Jesus said to him, "He who
has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are
clean, but not all of you." 11 For He knew the one who was
betraying Him; for this reason He said, "Not all
of you are clean."
1
John 1:5 - 2:2 5 And athis is the message we have heard from Him and
announce to you, that bGod is light, and
in Him there is no darkness at all. 6
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we blie
and cdo not practice the truth; 7
but if we awalk in the light as bHe Himself is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and cthe blood of Jesus
His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8
aIf we say that we have no sin, we are
deceiving ourselves, and the btruth is not
in us. 9 aIf
we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and bto cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. 10 aIf we say that we have not sinned, we bmake Him a liar, and cHis
word is not in us. 2:1 aMy
little children, I am bwriting these
things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, cwe
have an 1dAdvocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2
and He Himself is athe 1propitiation
for our sins; and not for ours only, but also bfor
those of the whole world.
Findings
1) “Needs
only to wash his feet” = crei,an eiv
mh. tou.j
po,daj ni,yasqai. Wash = ni,ptw (nipto)
and employs an infinitive aorist middle inflection and is translated “himself
to wash” or “to wash himself.” The middle voice here = personal
responsibility. “Feet himself to wash”
(po,daj ni,ptw / podas nipto) is not found elsewhere in Scripture. This action is for dealing with the personal
sin that renders one spiritually unclean. However, is this washing literal or
figurative?
2)
So, how were the disciples to employ this washing? Jesus’ comments addressed Peter’s
protestation to Jesus’ washing actions. Are these comments to Peter intended to
be a new spiritual requirement for all Believers? Or, are these comments to
Peter’s protestations an attempt to get things back on track in Jesus’ farewell
discourse—John 13-17. Is, “to wash
himself” figurative or a literal bucket of water application? Figurative is the best choice. Why? This was a personal interaction between
Jesus and Peter during the farewell discourse. We have no historical or
Biblical evidence of this foot washing for personal sin cleansing being adopted
by the first century Church.
3) Plus,
the coming arrest, trials, cross, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
Christ was about to profoundly change things spiritually. So profound the change, “mystery” would be a
term employed in the Epistles to the Church. Include also the procession of the
Holy Spirit after Jesus’ departure. Figurative or literal, the period of
employing this washing was apparently limited?
4) Fortunately,
Apostle John would have more to say about personal sin and cleansing in 1 John
1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “Confess” is homologeo
/ o`mologe,w = “say the same,” agree,
that what you said, thought, or did was a personal sin. No buckets of water or animal blood needed. Agree
you sinned to God the Father in prayer = cleansed.
5) “Bathed” and “completely clean” are figurative for being the recipients of eternal salvation. Note John 15:3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” A figurative interpretation for this personal sin washing matches the rest of the passage.
6) “To
wash himself” is something different.
The believer can be dirtied up through personal sin. The believer
is responsible to washup. The
Jews were noted for their religious washing rituals. Did cleansing
from personal sins now required
personal foot washing and not animal sacrifice? Or, at this point before the Cross of Christ, was
it added to animal sacrifice for sin cleansing? Or, is this washing
figurative?
7) Literal personal foot washing to cleanse from
sin? Note the figurative cleaning in Isaiah
1:16, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your
deeds from My sight. cease to do evil.”
8. Final
observations: This figurative foot washing was for Peter’s personal
spiritual benefit. A personal self foot washing is not found
elsewhere in Scripture. The early Church did not add personal self foot
washing to their spiritual activities—to my knowledge. Figurative foot
washing overcomes “you have no part with Me.” I am skeptical that Peter added literal
personal foot washing based on this interaction with Jesus. Figurative foot washing may have
inspired Apostle John to later write: “If we say that we have fellowship with
Him and yet walk in the darkness, we
lie and do not practice the truth” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”