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.
The great servant Moses
55-0122 §21
He said, "Moses, throw it down." And when he threw the stick down, it turned into a serpent, and Moses fled. And He said, "Pick it up." And he took it by the tail, and it turned back to a stick again. Moses, I guess could say, "I've seen strange sights today," so when he seen that stick turned to a snake. Now, what was that stick? That's what we're going to speak on. What was that stick? It wasn't an ordinary stick anymore. For it was the judgment rod of Almighty God. What did it symbolize? The cross. And then, how...
The great servant Moses
55-0122 §30
On they went. When they began to need water one day, God told Moses... Listen, closely. Oh, I want you to get this part of it. Here's the golden cord of it. The people were thirsting, and they were wondering, Where can we drink. Our little children are starving? When their little children was sick, God erected a brass serpent: another symbol, another stick, like the one Moses had in his hand, only in a symbol with a snake wrapped around it. What was it? The judgment. Drawing dividends on your insurance policy. Amen...
Why little Bethlehem?
58-1228 §72
O Lord God, this little broken-up message brought from the Scriptures, though, in all its symbols, that You put it there; maybe it's hid from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and be revealed to babes such as will learn. How that little Bethlehem, the least of all of them! How did the prophet say that? "Art thou not least among all the princes?" But it so pleased God to bring from that little insignificant place, the Ruler of Israel. Lord God, out of a little group of people that's washed by the scarlet line of blo...
From that time
60-0716 §86
Now, I knowed when He come back, my body would be resurrected. I know that I'd have a body; all the old age will be gone away. You'll never be old there. No, sir. Every symbol of sin will be taken away, and old age is a symbol of sin. So, everything that represented sin will be taken away, because from the curse... Not that you sinned, but you're one of Adam's race, and you turn back to the dust. And I thought, "If I could just live to see Jesus coming."
The infallible Word of God
56-0404 §13
Now, the Hebrew prophets, the two major themes... And practically from somewhere along in every chapter of the Bible, from Genesis to Malachi, you can find one of those subjects being dealt with, all the way through the Bible: the coming of the Messiah, and the anointing and sending forth of the church into all the world. Spoke of in symbols and by animals and so forth. And like great armies and so forth, that marches on, and runs over the walls and so forth, of different like locusts and everything was in symbols...