John 13:15

13:15 For I have given you an example ¹  – you should do just as I have done for you.

John 13:33-38

13:33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ²  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ³  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ⁴  now I tell you the same. ⁵ 

13:34 “I give you a new commandment – to love ⁶  one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ⁷  13:35 Everyone ⁸  will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.”

13:36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, ⁹  “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.” 13:37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” ¹⁰  13:38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? ¹¹  I tell you the solemn truth, ¹²  the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times!

John 13:1-12

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ¹³  had come to depart ¹⁴  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ¹⁵  13:2 The evening meal ¹⁶  was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart ¹⁷  of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray ¹⁸  Jesus. ¹⁹  13:3 Because Jesus ²⁰  knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, ²¹  and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ²²  his outer clothes, ²³  took a towel and tied it around himself. ²⁴  13:5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. ²⁵ 

13:6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter ²⁶  said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash ²⁷  my feet?” 13:7 Jesus replied, ²⁸  “You do not understand ²⁹  what I am doing now, but you will understand ³⁰  after these things.” 13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” ³¹  Jesus replied, ³²  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ³³  13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash ³⁴  not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 13:10 Jesus replied, ³⁵  “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, ³⁶  but is completely ³⁷  clean. ³⁸  And you disciples ³⁹  are clean, but not every one of you.” 13:11 (For Jesus ⁴⁰  knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is ⁴¹  clean.”) ⁴² 

13:12 So when Jesus ⁴³  had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table ⁴⁴  again and said to them, “Do you understand ⁴⁵  what I have done for you?

[13:15]  ¹ sn I have given you an example. Jesus tells his disciples after he has finished washing their feet that what he has done is to set an example for them. In the previous verse he told them they were to wash one another’s feet. What is the point of the example? If it is simply an act of humble service, as most interpret the significance, then Jesus is really telling his disciples to serve one another in humility rather than seeking preeminence over one another. If, however, the example is one of self-sacrifice up to the point of death, then Jesus is telling them to lay down their lives for one another (cf. 15:13).

[13:33]  ² tn Or “You will seek me.”

[13:33]  ³ tn Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem in general, or to the Jewish religious leaders in particular, who had sent servants to attempt to arrest Jesus on that occasion (John 7:33-35). The last option is the one adopted in the translation above.

[13:33]  ⁴ sn See John 7:33-34.

[13:33]  ⁵ tn The words “the same” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[13:34]  ³ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause gives the content of the commandment. This is indicated by a dash in the translation.

[13:34]  ⁴ sn The idea that love is a commandment is interesting. In the OT the ten commandments have a setting in the covenant between God and Israel at Sinai; they were the stipulations that Israel had to observe if the nation were to be God’s chosen people. In speaking of love as the new commandment for those whom Jesus had chosen as his own (John 13:1, 15:16) and as a mark by which they could be distinguished from others (13:35), John shows that he is thinking of this scene in covenant terminology. But note that the disciples are to love “Just as I have loved you” (13:34). The love Jesus has for his followers cannot be duplicated by them in one sense, because it effects their salvation, since he lays down his life for them: It is an act of love that gives life to people. But in another sense, they can follow his example (recall to the end, 13:1; also 1 John 3:16, 4:16 and the interpretation of Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet). In this way Jesus’ disciples are to love one another: They are to follow his example of sacrificial service to one another, to death if necessary.

[13:35]  ⁴ tn Grk “All people,” although many modern translations have rendered πάντες (pantes) as “all men” (ASV, RSV, NASB, NIV). While the gender of the pronoun is masculine, it is collective and includes people of both genders.

[13:36]  ⁵ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[13:37]  ⁶ tn Or “I will die willingly for you.”

[13:38]  ⁷ tn Or “Will you die willingly for me?”

[13:38]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “that he should depart.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause in Koine Greek frequently encroached on the simple infinitive (for the sake of greater clarity).

[13:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “he now loved them completely,” or “he now loved them to the uttermost” (see John 19:30). All of John 13:1 is a single sentence in Greek, although in English this would be unacceptably awkward. At the end of the verse the idiom εἰς τέλος (eis telos) was translated literally as “to the end” and the modern equivalents given in the note above, because there is an important lexical link between this passage and John 19:30, τετέλεσται (tetelestai, “It is ended”).

[13:2]  ⁹ tn Or “Supper.” To avoid possible confusion because of different regional English usage regarding the distinction between “dinner” and “supper” as an evening meal, the translation simply refers to “the evening meal.”

[13:2]  ¹⁰ sn At this point the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. C. K. Barrett (St. John, 365) thought this was a reference to the idea entering the devil’s own heart, but this does not seem likely. It is more probable that Judas’ heart is meant, since the use of the Greek article (rather than a possessive pronoun) is a typical idiom when a part of one’s own body is indicated. Judas’ name is withheld until the end of the sentence for dramatic effect (emphasis). This action must be read in light of 13:27, and appears to refer to a preliminary idea or plan.

[13:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “that he should hand over.”

[13:2]  ¹² tn Grk “betray him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Because he knew”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “had given all things into his hands.”

[13:4]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ¹² tn The plural τὰ ἱμάτια (ta Jimatia) is probably a reference to more than one garment (cf. John 19:23-24). If so, this would indicate that Jesus stripped to a loincloth, like a slave. The translation “outer clothes” is used to indicate that Jesus was not completely naked, since complete nudity would have been extremely offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context.

[13:4]  ¹³ tn Grk “taking a towel he girded himself.” Jesus would have wrapped the towel (λέντιον, lention) around his waist (διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν, diezwsen Jeauton) for use in wiping the disciples’ feet. The term λέντιον is a Latin loanword (linteum) which is also found in the rabbinic literature (see BDAG 592 s.v.). It would have been a long piece of linen cloth, long enough for Jesus to have wrapped it about his waist and still used the free end to wipe the disciples’ feet.

[13:5]  ¹² tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:6]  ¹³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Peter) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “do you wash” or “are you washing.”

[13:7]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[13:7]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “You do not know.”

[13:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “you will know.”

[13:8]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “You will never wash my feet forever.” The negation is emphatic in Greek but somewhat awkward in English. Emphasis is conveyed in the translation by the use of an exclamation point.

[13:8]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[13:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “you have no part in me.”

[13:9]  ¹⁶ tn The word “wash” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Here it is supplied to improve the English style by making Peter’s utterance a complete sentence.

[13:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[13:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “has no need except to wash his feet.”

[13:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “entirely.”

[13:10]  ²⁰ sn The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. A common understanding is that the “bath” Jesus referred to is the initial cleansing from sin, which necessitates only “lesser, partial” cleansings from sins after conversion. This makes a fine illustration from a homiletic standpoint, but is it the meaning of the passage? This seems highly doubtful. Jesus stated that the disciples were completely clean except for Judas (vv. 10b, 11). What they needed was to have their feet washed by Jesus. In the broader context of the Fourth Gospel, the significance of the foot-washing seems to point not just to an example of humble service (as most understand it), but something more – Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross. If this is correct, then the foot-washing which they needed to undergo represented their acceptance of this act of self-sacrifice on the part of their master. This makes Peter’s initial abhorrence of the act of humiliation by his master all the more significant in context; it also explains Jesus’ seemingly harsh reply to Peter (above, v. 8; compare Matt 16:21-23 where Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”).

[13:10]  ²¹ tn The word “disciples” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb. Peter is not the only one Jesus is addressing here.

[13:11]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:11]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Not all of you are.”

[13:11]  ²⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[13:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:12]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he reclined at the table.” The phrase reflects the normal 1st century Near Eastern practice of eating a meal in a semi-reclining position.

[13:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “Do you know.”