Foot Washing - Required for salvation?
Upvote:3
Bible Churches, Methodist, and Baptist doctrines do not consider foot washing a sacrament (what one must do to be saved).
They would not interpret John 13 as having anything to do with Salvation.
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.”
12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.JN 13:10-15
These churches would observe the following:
- Jesus says that they are already clean before washing their feet, except for the "one"
- Jesus most likely washed Judas feet however this did not save Him.
- Jesus was using this as an example on how they should treat others.
- They would be blessed if they followed these examples, not saved.
- Jesus is the one having the conversation directly the disciples, and not claiming that if you wash the feet of others they will be saved.
These churches would also recognize foot washing is left out of every conversation about salvation from sins in the scriptures. The scriptures do not say, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him AND has their feet washed" will have eternal life.
Upvote:4
A large number of denominations do practice foot washing on a regular or occasional basis, including (to my certain knowledge) Catholic, Anglican and Mennonite, and I have heard of others. All of them have something in common.
In each case foot washing is treated as a symbol of how people should treat each other, not as a thing that has merit of itself.
This is because virtually all denominations (and virtually all Bible students) consider that Jesus is here treating foot washing symbolically. He is not laying down a pattern of literal action, but performing a lowly task - in which the other person is treated as higher status than yourself - to indicate that the disciples must be prepared to undertake lowly tasks and to treat others as higher status than yourself.
In this view, actual washing of feet has merit only in that it reminds the people involved of how they should be treating others. Anyone who physically washes another Christian's feet, but then goes on to treat them disrespectfully or as having lesser worth, has gained nothing from the exercise and is not fulfilling Jesus' intentions.
For those who hold this view (which is the vast majority of Christians) this approach is not treating Jesus' commands less seriously, but in fact treating them more seriously, as it gets to the heart of what Jesus requires from us.
Upvote:7
Our church practices foot washing as a sacrament (must do to be saved).
This sounds like a point to be cautious about. I know of no place in the scriptures where it says you must wash feet to be saved.
I presume your church practices foot washing because of Jesus' words in John 13:14-15 Specifically Jesus says in verse 14, "you should wash one another's feet". The key word here is "should" rather than "must". "Should" was translated from the Greek the word ὀφείλω, which could mean "morally obligated"; however, this falls short of a requirement for salvation.
I know that we are probably the only church that treats foot washing this seriously.
How do other churches approach the subject of foot washing and is it taken as seriously as our church?
One may be surprised that foot washing is practiced by several Christian denominations; however, it is rather unorthodox for a church to insist that you must wash feet to be saved.
I believe that there is a bigger principle at work in John 13:14-15; Jesus teaches us to be humble and serve one another. Washing guests' feet was considered household servant's work in Jesus' day; yet this (servant's work) is what we're called to as Christians (Matt 20:24-26). Jesus modeled this servant's attitude with his life - Quoting from Philippians 2:6-7 (italics mine): "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."
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