Simon (i.e. Shimon) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
Peter
Πέτρος·Petros
G4074
a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος)) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
saith
λέγειlegei
G3004
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
him
αὐτῷautō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Lord
κύριε,kurie
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
my
μοῦmoû
G3450
of me
feet
πόδαςpodas
G4228
a "foot" (figuratively or literally) · noun — accusative plural masculine
only
μόνονmónon
G3440
merely
but
ἀλλὰalla
G235
properly · conjunction
also
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
hands
χεῖραςcheiras
G5495
the hand (literally or figuratively (power) · noun — accusative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
head
κεφαλήν.¶kephalēn
G2776
the head (as the part most readily taken hold of) · noun — accusative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 51:2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psalms 26:6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good consc…
Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed wi…
Jeremiah 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 13:1-17
It has generally been taken for granted by commentators that Christ's washing his disciples' feet, and the discourse that followed it, were the same night in which he was betrayed, and at the same sitting wherein he ate the passover and instituted the Lord's supper; but whether before the solemnity began, or after it was all over, or between the eating of the passover and the institution of the Lord's supper, they are not agreed. This evangelist, making it his business to gather up those passages which the others had omitted, industriously omits those which the others had recorded, which occasions some difficulty in putting them together. If it was then, we suppose that Judas went out (Joh 1…
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head--that is, "To be severed from Thee, Lord, is death to me: If that be the meaning of my speech, I tread upon it; and if to be washed of Thee have such significance, then not my feet only, but hands, head, and all, be washed!" This artless expression of clinging, life-and-death attachment to Jesus, and felt dependence upon Him for his whole spiritual well-being, compared with the similar saying in Joh 6:68-69 (see on Joh 6:68-69), furnishes such evidence of historic verity such as no thoroughly honest mind can resist.
Adam Clarke on John 13:9
Lord, not my feet only, etc. - It appears that Peter entered into our Lord's meaning, and saw that this was emblematical of a spiritual cleansing: therefore he wishes to be completely washed.
John Gill on John 13:9
Simon Peter saith unto him,.... Being convinced of his mistake in not submitting to Christ, fearing he should he deprived of communion with him, than which nothing was more desirable to him, or more highly esteemed of by him, says,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head; which shows the sense he had of the general pollution of his nature, and the need he stood in particularly of having his feet, hands, and head washed both as a minister, and a believer. By his "feet" may be meant, either the grace of faith, which is the foot of the soul, by which it goes to Christ, and walks on in him, and was not without its imperfections; or the affections of the mind, which are that to the…
The Church Fathers
Now, whether they were baptized in any manner whatever, or whether they continued unbathed to the end-so that even that saying of the Lord touching the "one bath" does, under the person of Peter, merely regard us-still, to determine concerning the salvation of the apostles is audacious enough, because on them the prerogative even of first choice, and thereafter of undivided intimacy, might be able to confer the compendious grace of baptism, seeing they (I think) followed Him who was wont to promise salvation to every believer.
For if they had undergone the human baptism of John, and were longing for that of the Lord, then since the Lord Himself had defined baptism to be one; (saying to Peter, who was desirous of being thoroughly bathed, "He who hath once bathed hath no necessity to wash a second time; " which, of course, He would not have said at all to one not baptized; ) even here we have a conspicuous proof against those who, in order to destroy the sacrament of water, deprive the apostles even of John's baptism.
For when terrified at the thought of losing part in Christ, "Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." Since, then, Thou threatenest me with the loss of a part in Thee, unless I submit to the washing of my feet, deprive me not of such a blessing, and give me not only my feet to be washed, but my hands and my head. But "Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." Here the question naturally arises, how, if a man is washed and clean every whit, he has any necessity to have his feet washed.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Synagogue — (Gr. sunagoge, i.e., “an assembly”), found only once in the Authorized Version of Ps. 74:8, where the margin of Revised Version has “places of assembly,” which is probably correct; for while the…
Washing The Hands And Feet — As knives and forks were not used in the East, in Scripture times, in eating, it was necessary that the hand, which was thrust into the common dish, should be scrupulously clean; and again, as…
Feet · Washing of, as an example, by Jesus — Washing of, as an example, by Jesus
Feet, The · Washing for others, a menial office — Washing for others, a menial office
Peter · .In refusing to let Jesus wash Peter’s feet — .In refusing to let Jesus wash Peter’s feet
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John 13:8-11
8. Peter saith to him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me. 9. Simon Peter saith to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10. Jesus saith to, him, lie who is washed needeth not to wash more than his feet, but is altogether clean; and you are clean, but not all. 11. For he knew who it was that should betray him; [41] therefore he said, You are not all clean.
8. Thou shalt never wash my feet. Hitherto Peter's modesty was excusable, though it was not free from blame; but now he errs more grievously, when he has been corrected, and yet does not yield. [42] And, indeed, it is a common fault, th…
wash my hands and head as well: Peter misunderstood Jesus (cp. 2:19-20; 3:3-4). Peter thought that to have more water was to have more of Jesus. Only when Peter received the Spirit did everything become clear (e.g., see Acts 2:14-36).
