John 13:14

14 If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye 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 When therefore he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, having sat down again, he said to them, Do ye know what I have done to you?
13 Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am [so].
14 If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet;
15 for I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also.
16 Verily, verily, I say to you, The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.