FEET WASHING
[p. 217] FEET WASHING
JT The interim character of John is striking, especially here in the feet-washing, that unless we have our feet washed, we have no part with Christ. Romanists make a great deal of this kind of thing, making much of the most precious things on their own line, and the question is whether we can handle them on our own line, that is the Lord’s line, as being sent.
Ques Would you distinguish between ‘part with Christ’ and ‘part in Christ’?
JT The latter is more general as applying to the believer specifically, and involves what we are; the former enters into John’s gospel, the new birth, and all that flows from it.
Ques Is the Lord indicating in verse 10 “He that is washed all over” as a basic thing, and in verse 8 “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”, the general position that we are brought to through grace?
JT The Lord is speaking in a typical form to indicate that we are Christians, and being such, need only to wash our feet to maintain us in the fellowship.
Ques What about Judas having had his feet washed?
JT Another thing comes up here, and that is that Roman Catholics have a place in Christianity. Before the Reformation they represented the truth up to a certain point, and in a sense carried the truth to others, in such a way as no Protestant may have done, though there are some in the south of France that would be such. But in general the Roman Catholic system represented Christianity, that one converted and baptised into it would come into full [p. 218] Christianity, that is before the Reformation. The Lord says in verse 20, “He who receives whomsoever I shall send receives me”, and the authority goes with them, brought down through the ages, and the truth with that, so that the system has been used by God, and what is in mind here is the importance of being sent.
Rem Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory and the gospel and Christianity got deep rooted from that time.
JT The authority of that hymn of ours by Bernard of Clairvaux (279:1), shows that the real thing was being carried down.
Rem John’s special line begins with feet-washing, elevating us above the general level of evangelical work.
JT So Christians are viewed in this chapter; Peter, as linked on in a public way with Christianity, blunders, but he is genuine, and the chapter points to what belongs to us, our personalities, what God has graciously restored in the revival, and personality going with it, and that feet-washing goes with it, not the “washing all over”. It represents, in terms, real Christians; there is only the need to wash the feet; but if steeped in Romanism, they would need more than this, and probably Judas in verses 18 and 19 indicates the terribleness in view of the history, not only of Judas, but of Rome.
Rem The Lord says they were not all clean, so that Judas was unclean, and not washed all over.
JT His state could not be remedied by washing at all; he was beyond the pale of the truth; so he is alluded to in verse 21 again that the truth should be brought out, and John had the truth about it. There is so much here to suggest what persons are as brought out in the recovery.
Ques So does the personal service of the Lord enter into this special side? There is not only His [p. 219] work for us, but that which is being done now, and He would bring us into it, “for I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also”.
JT Yes, and that it is not a question of ‘mass’ or ‘bulk’ Christianity by persons involved. It is what we are in relation to Christ, and the personnel of the saints; we are brought into this now. So the question arises as to the value of persons, and of the people on this ship now. It seems that some, for instance, the bishop and his wife, are Christians; they referred to the angels; yet they are mixed up in things which we can have no part in. The Lord regulates the persons; we are not viewed here as having any ecclesiastical status, but it is a question of our persons. This is not the Lord’s supper here; it is a family affair, a supper, and Judaism shares in it. For instance, there is John’s attitude in verse 25, so he can ask, “Lord, who is it?”; but Luke records “the hand of him that delivers me up [is] with me on the table”, Luke 22:21. We have to distinguish between what John does in the family sense, and what the synoptic gospels have in the official sense.
Rem This supper is not called the feast of the passover.
JT The point is, it is “during supper” or as the note says, ‘(supper being finished)’; it is a family affair.
Rem It is to be known and understood amongst us more.
JT There is just the question of whether we read Scripture accurately enough, and that is why the Lord is insisting upon the brethren looking into things, and comparing things.
Rem The family setting where the truth can be opened out is very valuable.
JT John opens things up because he is a specialist;
[p. 220] he is not concerned with the official side, but with any part of the truth that may help at any time.
Rem The official side soon broke down but the family side goes on.
JT So we have in chapter 21 the Lord saying, “Come and dine” (verse 12).
Rem He says “Come and see” in chapter 1:39 in the beginning, so that the end is as great as the beginning.
JT John says, “not even the world itself would contain the books written” (John 21:25); there is so much in John’s side of things, it is infinitude; it is not so in Matthew. The night into which Judas went out is terrible to think of, whatever part he had in the Supper, it was night he went into; out from the divine realm.
Ques Does Judas represent what the official system has become, and what the official system leads to?
JT Yes, and there is all the matter as to washing of feet, and how important it is here in this passage; how in spite of the official side breaking down, we can be clean.
Rem I am not clear whether feet-washing is connected with the Lord’s own personal service, and holding Him as Head, and giving Him that place, or whether it is carried out by the saints.
JT The latter is the point here; how much we have in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australasia and so on, and whether it may not become too large, if this personal matter is not insisted on. We have these special meetings in mind, but they are not this feet-washing, which is a personal matter; and so those who are not right are discovered and exposed, and that has happened in Australia; the whole system has been exposed. The Lord has brought it to light, and we must retain our identification with the exposure, as we had it on the last night in Brisbane.
Rem Peter was exposed [p. 221] and adjusted.
JT Yes, and Judas was irremediable; gone into the darkness. In Matthew it is very searching as to where we are, and if the testimony is to be maintained to the end according to Matthew 28, feet-washing must be there. God comes in at times and exposes persons or things, as He has done and may yet do. The thing is to wash one another’s feet. The Reformation was a great movement; Wesley’s was the same; and at Plymouth, too. It is being maintained; Open-Brethrenism is brought into it now, but the right position is being maintained on the principle of feet-washing, that is by personal touches.
Rem At the beginning of the movement of the recovery the brethren were much more together.
JT In Lady Powerscourt’s time how many personal touches there were.
Rem The movement grew, and the ‘open’ principle grew up beside it, like the wheat and the darnel in Matthew 13, and hence the rupture.
JT The germ of the thing is maintained in freshness by personal touches; so “leaning on the breast of Jesus” is John’s place; it is these personal touches.
Ques Would the bosom represent the affections and the breast the strength?
JT The bosom would be receptiveness and the breast would be solidity and dependability. We may have some impressions of these things.
Ques Would “faith in the Lord Jesus”, Christ dwelling in the heart through faith enter into this (Ephesians 1:15; chapter 3:17)?
JT So verse 19 is “when it happens, ye may believe that I am he”, and in chapter 14:1,faith runs like a vein through to the end; and in Ephesians and Colossians it is their faith in the Lord Jesus. The order of faith that was in the apostles at beginning runs through, and John’s and Peter’s ministry fosters that.