Pentecostal Understanding of foot washing as part of the Lord’s Supper

What are your feelings about feet washing.? Should we still practice it? Theologically, would you use it as a refutation of joseph prince who says not to ask forgiveness for your sins after initial conversion? I say yes.

Roger David [01/28/2016 9:49 AM]
I’m not a foot washing kind of guy. I just preach repentance using scripture despite what Joseph Prince teaches.

Douglas Bowers Sr. [01/28/2016 10:05 AM]
Jesus said do it and I do. Such a blessing every time !

Rickey Matthews [01/28/2016 10:25 AM]
If you study it jesus did it and if he did it yes we should do it.

Roger David [01/28/2016 10:31 AM]
“There is no indication in the New Testament, or in the Christian literature of the first three centuries, that our Lord was understood to have instituted an ordinance [feet-washing] by the acts and words under consideration [in John 13].Feet-washing was a common and needed act of hospitality in Palestine at the time, and the teaching that Christ intended to convey was the manifestation of the spirit of brotherly love in acts of humble service. . . The earliest reference to the ceremonial use of feet-washing is in the canon of the synod of Elvira (A.D. 306) where it is condemned”
(A.H. Newman, A Manual of Church History)

Rickey Matthews [01/28/2016 10:47 AM]
I think you are missing the whole point (feet washing) there are so many things that come from the washing of feet if you study it there are example’s that come from it god bless.

Roger David [01/28/2016 10:48 AM]
That’s kind of my point. It’s the examples that are important….not the foot washing itself.

Ricky Grimsley [01/28/2016 11:02 AM]
So you do feel that jesus was eluding to keeping yourself clean by confession and sanctification or anything like that?

Rickey Matthews [01/28/2016 11:06 AM]
Yes there many things that we can say that we do today that they did back than like today we wipe oir feet off befor intering someone house back then they didnt have shose to cover there feet and so many other things the thing was the kindness fellow man we dont bring dirt and all kinds of stuff in one’s house this feet washing was simbolical and the humility of one self and he did it as and example for us and nothing more.

Terry Wiles [01/28/2016 11:42 AM]
Sermon on the mount includes the narrow gate of confession.

John Kissinger [01/28/2016 11:45 AM]
If you’ve never done it in your life, you should do it…

Jim Price [01/28/2016 12:14 PM]
It is an act of humility and each time I have participated it, I have felt a special blessing, although it does feel a bit awkward. It think that the pastor and the deacons should give extra thought to creating just the right atmosphere and tone for this unique service.

John Ruffle [01/28/2016 12:43 PM]
Joseph Prince needs to repent. But then that would go against his theology. Joseph Prince has put himself in a pickle!

Terry Wiles [01/28/2016 12:46 PM]
To say he needs to repent would be a bad confession for him. That’s where his word of faith foundation takes one.

John Kissinger [01/28/2016 1:18 PM]
Apart form personal humbleness and servanthood, the true theological question on foot washing is if it should be an essential part of the Holy Communion as Christ did and Paul confirmed?

James Locklair Locklair [01/28/2016 6:51 PM]
What does the scriptures say as often as you do it

Ricky Grimsley [01/28/2016 7:38 PM]
It was a requirement to get taken in as a widow. So it was something that godly people were to do l.

John Conger [01/29/2016 12:16 AM]
Even if it was a practical need back in the day, it was still a humbling gesture add it would be today even if it’s not practically needed. But look what James said about dealing with”the dirt that builds up”
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James:5:16

David George [01/29/2016 7:09 AM]
the point that Jesus was doing this by washing the disciples feet is that as ministers, they were servants in the service of God. Not Lords, Kings to be adored by man. such as today we got TV preachers are big attractions, sighning autographs and driving cars that a honest man couldn’t even dream of ever owning one. If you asked them to come to your 50 member church would they come? I don’t think so.

David George [01/29/2016 7:10 AM]
And yes I would wash your feet.

John Kissinger [01/29/2016 7:15 AM]
and yes, what feelings got to do with it? Foot washing should namely go against how or what you feel and Just Do It. If Nike does it for your feet, so should Christians 🙂 Jesus said so… No discussion. Just do it!

David George [01/29/2016 7:55 AM]
I said Jesus was our example, who’s talking about feelings. You so called Christians are a big turn off. I don’t need your reply I’m leaving this sight.

John Kissinger [01/29/2016 8:03 AM]
David the OP said: “What are your feelings about feet washing?”

Ben Otto [01/29/2016 8:52 AM]
We practice foot washing…along with sin confession….several times a year in our Pentecostal church. It is a symbolic act of humility, repentance and unity. Foot washing and sin confession (James 5:16-19) brings about healing and destroys strongholds of PRIDE and DISUNITY.

Derrick Harmon [01/29/2016 9:42 AM]
I did my graduate work with Dr. John Christopher Thomas whose Sheffield PhD thesis was on this very topic. It was written in 1991, and to my knowlege it is still the foremost work on this topic. It’s an interesting read if you are up to academic discourse.

https://www.logos.com/product/6526/footwashing-in-john-13-and-the-johannine-community

Christopher Hart [01/29/2016 4:15 PM]
I believe it’s a beautiful service that is often neglected, to our detriment. However, I do not ascribe to it the same supremacy of ordinance as those of Baptism & the Lord’s Supper.

PentecostalTheology .com

5 Comments

Reply June 7, 2016
Jon Ray

Does anyone even know what this is anymore so they can practice it?
Reply June 7, 2016
Mary Ellen Nissley

I grew up with it in the conservative Mennonite church, and was gratified to find the old-fashioned Church of God I switched to, still practices this. Only it’s different.
In the Mennonite church, they have only a couple of basins of water, and the people line up to take their turns. It’s a hurried thing, to let the next pair have a go at it.
But here, I find a room filled with basins–enough for every pair of ladies to have their own. And we get down to business when we pray over those dear feet… 10 minutes each on the knees, praying over those feet. Wow. Talk about a blessed service! It really does bind the body together in love.
Reply June 7, 2016
Timothy Ross

Many do not practice feet washing anymore but it was highly pushed in the Church of God Pentecostal Camps more then non Wesleyan Pentecostals.
Reply June 7, 2016
Varnel Watson

I have found historic sabatharians (not adventists) who practice it as well. Washing of feet as a religious rite is practiced by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church on Maundy Thursday of Holy Week (preceding Easter). “Ordinance of Foot-Washing” is in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual and the Brethren too. Foot washing rites are also observed in the Oriental Orthodox churches on Maundy Thursday. In the Coptic Orthodox Church the service is performed by the parish priest. He blesses the water for the foot washing with the cross, just as he would for blessing holy water and he washes the feet of the entire congregation. In the Syrian Orthodox Church, this service is performed by a bishop or priest. There will be some 12 selected men, both priests and the lay people, and the bishop or priest will wash and kiss the feet of those 12 men. It is not merely a dramatization of the past event. I am yet to find an Eastern Orthodox icon that portraits foot washing Henry Volk
Reply March 25, 2017
Joseph Kidwell

Jesus instituted the Washing of the Saint’s Feet in Jn. 13.