John 13:14

14 If then I--[your] Lord and Teacher--wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

John 13:14 Meaning and Commentary

John 13:14

If I then your Lord and Master
Christ argues from these titles and characters, which his disciples rightly gave him, and from what he had done to them, though he stood in such a superior relation to them, to their duty one towards another; that since, says he, I

have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet:
by which he does not mean barely, that they should perform this single action; but as this was an instance of humility and condescension, and doing a good office to strangers and travellers, and was afterwards an expression of love to the saints, see ( 1 Timothy 5:10 ) , so he would teach them hereby, to behave in a spirit of humility and condescension to one another, to do every kind and good office, and by love to serve one another in all things.

John 13:14 In-Context

12 So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer clothing and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done for you?

13 You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you speak correctly, for I am.

14 If then I--[your] Lord and Teacher--wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that just as I have done for you, you also do.

16 Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun