Is Footwashing in the New Testament a Command or Just Symbolic?
1) Direct Answer
It is a command to be practiced by believers. It is not merely symbolic, though it carries a spiritual meaning. Footwashing is a New Testament ordinance tied to the Lord’s Supper.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Jesus said, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet… I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you… If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:14–15, 17).
- He explained the spiritual meaning—cleansing in our daily walk—yet still told them to do it (John 13:8–10).
- The early church continued it: a faithful widow is described as one who “washed the saints’ feet” (1 Timothy 5:10).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Jesus didn’t say, “Think about what I did,” but, “Do as I have done to you.” That’s a command.
- If it were only cultural, the Holy Spirit would not have stamped it in the church record as a mark of faithful service (1 Timothy 5:10).
- Like water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, it is both meaningful and to be literally observed. The act expresses humility, fellowship, and the reminder that the Lord keeps us clean in our daily walk—but He still told us to do it.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice, the Bible ties blessing to obedience: “Happy are ye if ye do them.” So we keep it because the Lord said so. It’s not three ideas or traditions—it’s one simple command: wash one another’s feet.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The Feast of the Trumpets
64-0719M §47
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Seals 8: The Sixth Seal
63-0323 §87
Now, notice again. Now, also when these Jews... I'll give you another little symbol so you can realize that it's Jews over here now, on this side of the rapture. Watch what takes place. It's also symbolized (we won't take time to do it because we'll run out here), also symbolized in what was called Jacob's trouble. Now look, these Jews here has... Notice! Oh, I'm going to take just a little bit of time here. It makes me nervous when you start skipping around like that. Notice. I want you to see it. Now, I... Well,...
Seals 10: The Seventh Seal
63-0324E §44
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Fellowship
60-0611B §27
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O Lord, just once more
63-0628M §24
We may have all of our framework. We may have our denominational rituals. We may have our names in the papers and on the ledgers. But I wonder, today, if the Pentecostal church isn't standing about the same place, with its eyes poked out from the Word of God, and for the purpose that Jesus died, that we together could fellowship around the Word and the things of God. Humiliated, he was, in the midst of the time that he lived. As I see Samson standing there, it's a symbol. A symbol of a fallen, morally corrupted nat...