John 13:14

“If I then your Lord and Master, etc.] 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 <540510>1 Timothy 5:10), so he would teach them hereby, to behave in a spirit of humility and condescension to…”

“If I then--the Lord. have washed your feet--the servants'. ye--but fellow servants. ought to wash one another's feet--not in the narrow sense of a literal washing, profanely caricatured by popes and emperors, but by the very humblest real services one to another.”

“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: There is no evidence that Jesus intended it as a religious observance, like the Lord’s Supper or the ordinance of baptism. It was not observed by the apostles or the primitive Christians as a religious rite. It was a rite of hospitality among the Jews, a common, well-known thing, and performed by servants. 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…”

“Ye ought also to wash one another's feet - And why did they not? Why do we not read of any one apostle ever washing the feet of any other? Because they understood the Lord better. They knew he never designed that this should be literally taken. He designed to teach them the great lesson of humble love, as well as to confer inward purity upon them. And hereby he teaches us, In every possible way to assist each other in attaining that purity; To wash each other's feet, by performing all sorts of good offices to each other, even those of the lowest kind, when opportunity serves, and the necessity of any calls for them. John 13:16”

“13:14-15 Jesus’ acts of service, such as washing feet and dying on the cross, provided an example of personal sacrifice to follow. • wash each other’s feet: Foot washing was so commonplace that Jesus might have intended a literal repetition of his act, or he might have seen it as symbolic. Either way, Jesus wants similar servanthood and sacrifice to characterize his followers.”

“I then: Mat 20:26-28; Mar 10:43-45; Luk 22:26, Luk 22:27; Co2 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; Co1 8:13, Co1 9:19-22; Co2 10:1; Gal 5:13; Gal 6:1, Gal 6:2; Phi 2:2-5; Pe1 4:1, Pe1 5:5 John 13:15”