John 13:14

The Pulpit Commentary - John 13:12-17

The explanation of the washing of the disciples feet. I. THE ARGUMENT BY WHICH OUR LORD ENFORCES THE LESSON OF HIS ACT . "Know ye what I have done unto you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am." The titles the disciples gave to him have a decisive force. 1. As he is a Teacher, they were bound to learn in his school with all docility and meekness of wisdom . 2. As a Master, they were bound to give him subjection in all matters... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 13:14

Humility and mutual service. There are certain virtues which are distinctively Christian. Amongst these must certainly be reckoned humility. Christianity has done not a little to elevate this grace of character to a higher position than it occupied in the esteem of the ancients. The Old Testament, in some passages, extols lowliness of heart as acceptable to the High and Lofty One. Yet this can hardly be deemed a characteristic of even pious Hebrews. But by his example and by his precepts... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 13:14-15

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet; ye ought also to wash one another's feet: for I have given £ you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you . καθώς , "as," "like as," was used by our Lord rather than ὅ , "that which." The ὑπόδειγμα £ shows that he had set before his disciples a parallel, an example, a symbolic type of the service they were to render to one another, and was not establishing a custom or exact ordinance. The washing of the... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 13:14-15

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... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - John 13:12-15

John 13:12-15. So after he had washed their feet, &c. After he had given them such a striking proof of his humility, condescension, and love, by performing to them the office of the meanest slave; he said, Know ye what I have done to you? Know ye the meaning of what I have done? for the action was emblematical. Ye call me Master, and Lord Ο διδασκαλος και ο κυριος , the master, or teacher, and the Lord. “The article prefixed to each appellation, and the nominative case... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - John 13:1-20

140. Washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:1-20)When they gathered for the meal that night, Jesus took the place of a servant and washed the disciples’ feet. By this action he symbolized firstly, the need for humility, and secondly, that he, the perfect servant, would cleanse people from sin through his death (John 13:1-5). Peter, not understanding this symbolic action, objected. Jesus responded that if he refused to let Jesus cleanse him, he could not be Jesus’ disciple. By this cleansing,... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - John 13:14

If then = Therefore if ( App-118 . a) L your = the. ought , &c. By Figure of speech Synecdoche ( App-6 ) the act of feet-washing is put for the whole circle of offices of self-denying love. Literal feet-washing was not known before the fourth cent. A.D. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - John 13:14

If I then, the Lord, and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.Jesus' reversal of the two titles, placing "Lord" first, is significant, because it is as "Lord" that he must be confessed (Romans 10:9). This dramatically emphasized his humility in washing their feet. Menial service for one's fellow Christians is taught by this example. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - John 13:14

John 13:14. If I then—have washed your feet, &c.— This was, even to a proverb, one of the lowest offices of menial attendants. See 1 Samuel 25:41. Dr. Evans well observes, (Christian Temper, vol. i, p. 81.) that our Lord chose this kind office, though not necessary in itself, more strongly to impress the minds of his disciples, and to shew that they ought to regard, not only the necessary preservation, but the mutual comfort of each other. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - John 13:14

14. 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. read more

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