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.
Ask a Follow-up Question
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.
Seals 3: The First Seal
63-0318 §118
Now let's find the symbols. We found what the thunder means. That is perfectly, we know that. The thunder was the voice of God when the Seal opens. Now, what does the white horse mean? Now, here is where the revelation comes. I am just as positive of this as I'm standing here and knowing this is the Word. I have read every book on it I could find. And with a... The last time that I was... tried to go through it, just teaching it, about thirty years ago, I took the book... Somebody had told me that the Adventists ha...
Seals 3: The First Seal
63-0318 §70
Now watch. He said it would be known in the last days, but it comes forth in a church symbol. Do you understand it, church? [Congregation says, "Amen."-Ed] It comes forth in a symbol of a church that... They know there is a Seal, but just what it is yet they don't know, because it's a white horse rider. And only is to be revealed at the last day when this actual Seal is broken. Broken to who? Not to Christ, but to the Church. Notice, now... Oh, my, that just makes me tremble. I hope that the Church truly understand...
Lamb and Dove
60-0805 §14
...e is a very unusual bird. A dove is the only bird that we know of that doesn't have a gall. A dove has no gall at all. All the other birds have gall. But he has no gall, so in the dove is no bitterness. And in God is no bitterness, or in the one that the dove lives in and leads---there's no bitterness. Now, the dove, the reason he's made like that, it's because of his diet. Now, he could not eat the things that a vulture eats, because it would kill him right away. And another thing I'd like to speak about the dove...
God's provided approach to divine fellowship
60-0630 §15
And then cedar wood... Cedar wood is red over white. Red through red makes white. You look through something red at something red, it makes it white. A symbol, that when God looks through the red Blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus, at our red scarlet sins, they become white as snow. "Wash me in the Blood, and I'll be as white as snow." No other thing could you ever have. I appreciate the old Salvation Army song: Oh, precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the Blood of Jes...
Investments
63-1116B §100
Now you might be a fine, loyal member of a church. And that, oh, how I appreciate that, certainly. You just continue right on in your church. That's right. Because, the sleeping virgins is coming up now, you see that. And remember, Jesus said, when the sleeping virgin ... the one that tried to live a good life within theirself, they was a virgin, but they didn't have any oil. Oil symbolizes the Spirit. That's why we anoint in oil. The oil symbolizes the Spirit. They were good people, fine people, members of fine Me...