John 8. The washing of water by the word.
WE have had in Romans the cleansing by blood, now we have another cleansing, the " washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26)). This is constantly the subject in the gospel of John. So in the third chapter people are born of water, the first application of the word as in 1 Peter 1:23-2523Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:23‑25) and James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18). Cleansing by blood is never repeated, the washing of water is, not of course as in this chapter, the bathing of the whole person, or the " washing of regeneration " (Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)), but the cleansing from defilement by the way; the washing of the feet.
There is a regular order in the truth given in these chapters. Beginning with new birth in the third we are led on to see the various characters of the new life received, until in the eleventh chapter we find it to be resurrection life. The eleventh and twelfth chapters go together; the twelfth connecting us with the death of the corn of wheat (ver. 24) as resurrection fruit. In the thirteenth chapter we find ascension; the Lord's hour is come to depart out of this world unto the Father. His love to His own still makes Him a servant of the need of those whom He leaves in the world. This washing of the feet had a deeper meaning than they could yet understand (ver. 7). As coming from God and going to God He has everything in His hands, and it is in the sense of this He stoops to serve them. The question is, what is needed to have part with Him. Fellowship with Him must necessarily be in holiness. He cannot be associated with defilement. This feet washing is, therefore, the action of the word upon the soul, by which we are cleansed from defilement by the world, through which we pass.
Verse 9. Peter's wish to have not his feet only washed, but also his hands and his head, brings out the other truth that there is a bathing first of the whole person. That need not be repeated. But the least known evil is what the Lord cannot go on with; hence the necessity of this washing by the word. It is important to remember that here the Lord washes; it is not merely " if you are not washed," but " if I wash thee not." For this the first thing is to be with Him and to have our feet in His hands. A misunderstanding of 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9), leads often to forgetfulness of this just what is confessed is forgiven, then the thought is that one must have known all about one's sins and judged it all in order to be again in communion. But the passage in the epistle is only a principle, important enough in its place, but not intended as the remedy for defilement. No remedy for sin begins with "if we; " our first recourse must be to Christ, and that as having our feet dirty, and not clean. We are, entitled to come to Him with the whole need of our souls, whatever that need may be. Part of His work in cleansing is this very showing us the whole of our failure, and we must be with Him first in order to see it in any proper way. When in His presence it is not merely what I have done which will come out, but what led to the thing that I have done. We look at the fruit, the actual manifested sin, as the great thing-, and in one sense it is the fully matured fruit, but in order that the fruit may not be produced again the root must be searched for. When the Lord takes up Peter in John 21 (and Peter's case in this Gospel is the illustration of all this), He does not tax him with the denial of Him in the high priest's palace, but says. " Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Peter had said, " Although all should be offended yet will not I." It was that self-confidence that led to his denial of Him.
But there was another thing first to be cared for with Simon Peter, and the Lord points it out in Ilk prayer for him as " advocate with the Father " before his fall. "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not," which means, not that he should not cease to be a believer, but that his practical confidence in Him should not fail. The tendency of sin, all sin, is to put us at 'u distance from Him, and Satan would use it in this way to keep us at a distance by the sense of the holiness of God. He would use His holiness to deny His grace.
There are three ways in which the principle we have here is exemplified. In the case of the sinner, his first attempt is to make out righteousness for himself before he meets God; he finds this vain, and that he has to meet Him at last in his sins, and obtain righteousness as His gift. In the same way a saint tries to work out holiness as before when a sinner he did righteousness, only to find out that Christ is as much needed for sanctification as for justification, and that he has to turn away from himself in order to be- holy. Again, in this matter of restoration the same mistake is made. People try to restore themselves to God by confession and self-judgment, but this is as hopeless as in the former cases. We must meet Him as we are, and have His cleansing.
In Peter's case we have this illustrated. First of all the Lord's advocacy is before his fall, and according to His prayer for him. His first work with Him when fallen is to remove distance and bring back his soul to Himself. First, when in the high priest's palace He turns to look at him, and the look breaks Peter's heart. After the resurrection the words are, " Go tell His disciples and Peter," for Peter might scarcely think himself a disciple; nor only so, for He meets Peter "first of the eleven " (1 Cor. 20:5), for if He had met them all together Peter might have drawn back in shame. He then meets him with all the disciples. Lastly by the sea of Galilee. Peter manifests his restored confidence by leaping into the sea to come to Him (John 21).
On the shore he finds " a fire of coals," the only other mention of such a thing in the New Testament being in the high priest's palace. The Lord says. "Come and dine," " and there Peter sits face to face with the memorial of his, sin but in the presence of the Lord. After they have dined, the Lord puts the question, not as to the denial, but what had caused it. All outward sins suppose a condition of soul from which they come, for one walking with God in dependence would not be overpowered. The most serious question then is as to this condition. A careless soul taking up the verse in 1 John 1 (" If we confess our sins," etc.), would confess his sins and not care how often he had to confess them; he would get what to him would be a sort of Romish absolution. A legal soul, on the other hand, would remain at a distance from God, not venturing to count himself forgiven, as not knowing if all were confessed. The principle of 1 John 1 remains true, of course, none the less, but what leads to full confession is to be in the Lord's presence, not away from Him.
Peter had not discerned himself, he had not judged the root, and therefore the fruit, the denial of the Lord. The Lord now lets him into the secret of it. If we judged ourselves we should not have so many sins to judge. If we use the Lord's grace for our weakness, as in Heb. 4:1616Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16), we shall not have to use it for our failure.
In Hebrews the question is not, as here, one of failure, for the worshipper is looked at as " once purged, having no conscience of sins," and " perfected forever " by Christ's offering. The High Priest, therefore, that becomes us (chap. 7:26) is not one compassed with infirmity so as to have to offer for his own sins, but one " separate from sinners." We are thus never looked at as sinners, but still as needing grace and mercy on account of creature weakness.
1 John 2:11My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1) takes up the other side (our failure), but there it is not a question of guilt before God, but of wandering child with the Father. The High Priest it, before God for our weakness; the Advocate with the Father for our sins.
Peter going into the high priest's palace is an illustration of that " entering into temptation " which the Lord warned them against. "Lead us not into temptation " is the rightful prayer of one who knows what he is, and distrusts himself. If I am in that state of soul, and God exposes me to temptation apart from my will, that is another thing, and there comes in what James says, " My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." We must observe this, however, that as James further says, " God does not tempt with evil." Satan puts evil before a soul to seduce it. God tries by difficult circumstances, as He tempted Abraham (Gen. 22), and in order that we may have the blessedness of enduring.
The Lord bids us do as He has given us an example. We are to wash one another's feet, taking the word in lowliness and meekness to cleanse each other. We must be at one another's feet to wash them, and though trying work, happy are we if we do it.