Thoughts You May Not Have Thought About Foot Washing (Part 1)

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." (John 13:5-11 ESV)

Should a Christian pray to God for forgiveness?

Some say no. The Christian by virtue of having his or her sins washed away has been forgiven by God for sins past, present, and future. To ask God for forgiveness would be to ask him to do what he's already done.

Some say yes. When Jesus gave us the model prayer, the example of which we should follow when we pray, he said, "and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Not praying for forgiveness when we sin means we're not following the example Jesus clearly set for us.

Which is right?

I believe the answer appears above, in the words Jesus said to Peter before washing his feet. In the middle of teaching one lesson about humility and servanthood, he slips in another lesson, that's easy to miss, about our standing with God.

"The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." Apparently Jesus wasn't just talking about hygiene here. "Not every one of you" is clean, he said, making an obvious spiritual application.

When a person with faith is baptized, and his sins are washed away, he is indeed forgiven of his sins. Past, present, future, all forgiven. They will not be held against him in the Day of Judgment. He is clean with regard to where he will spend eternity. But...this Christian is still walking on this sinful earth, and in the process he regularly gets his feet dirty with sin. The dirt doesn't cover him from head to toe, and he isn't defined by it, but it is there, and it is a problem.

The solution is not to return to the baptistry for the full washing of salvation. His salvation hasn't been cancelled by the sin, but the sin is still there and needs to be treated. His steady relationship and communion with God is interrupted, and he needs a good foot washing so he can start walking again with clean feet. If he is wise he will confess before God and pray for forgiveness. Not the legal forgiveness of salvation, but the forgiveness that restores the relationship he's trying to maintain with his Father, and which cleans his feet to walk again.