Question
“Accordance with John
13:1-17, should christians practice feet washing when taking the Lord’s
supper?, and was it done later according to John 18:28.”
Answer
Thanks for the good question. John 18:28 isn’t about foot washing but the Jewish conviction they would be defiled if they entered the house of a Gentile.
The kingdom of heaven pertains to the spiritual rather than the carnal, i.e. fleshly (John 18:36; Romans 14:17; Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 2:20-23). Thus, it is the spiritual principle of a passage that is binding. Therefore, if the outward act is only a cultural or incidental expression of that principle, the outward act is a liberty, not a requirement. To find what is bound by the Lord upon us in any passage, we need to find what has spiritual significance.
The word “custom,” pertaining to a common practice, occurs nine times in the King James Version of the New Testament. Twice it is a translation of the Greek term “sunetheia” (Young, 216). This word means “a custom …, customary usage, … or force of habit” (Vine, 1:163). It is not used to mean a practice required by law (cf. John 18:39).
It is sinful to bind customs as essential to salvation that God has not so bound (Acts 15:1; Colossians 2:20-23). This raises human customs to the level of divine rite. Ritualism is a return to Judaism (cf. Galatians 5:1-4).
The Master commanded His disciples to wash each other’s feet (John 13:1-17). Some practice foot washing as a religious ceremony, which it never was. It was a customary act of hospitality and humble service at a time when people walked miles in sandals on dusty roads to visit one another (Luke 7:44). To turn foot washing into a ceremony is to rob it of its purpose. The spiritual principle Jesus taught was humble service (Matthew 20:25-28).
