Why do some denominations not wash feet before taking communion?
score:8
While I am not familiar with any denomination that practices footwashing as part of communion celebrations, I can address an issue that is implicit in the questions.
Descriptive is not the same a prescriptive
In other words, just because the Bible describes some people as doing something that doesn't mean all Christians should always do that too. As an extreme example the Bible tells us of bad things done, even by people described as 'righteous, such as the adultery of King David, and Peter's denial of Jesus. We are not expected to follow their examples. We have to use judgement, and follow Biblical guidelines, as to what is an example to be followed and what is description.
The Lord's Supper itself is not just descriptive. As well as describing what happens, Jesus' command is recorded: "Do this as often as you eat/drink it". No such command is attached to washing the disciples feet. In fact Jesus makes it pretty clear that what he is doing is not actually about feet, but about leadership and humility. Jesus expects leaders to act with humility towards their followers and be their servants. Actual literal footwashing may or may not be involved. Most Christians would say that a leader who carried out literally the act of washing people's feet, but behaved arrogantly towards the people they lead was not carrying out Jesus wishes.
Upvote:1
John 13:14-15 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
Some have speculated that this action in the upper room was in response the the disciples argument (recorded in Luke) about who was to be the greatest in the Kingdom.
The task of washing feet was usually performed by the lowest ranking slave in a household. The task was necessary as anyone who has been in that part of the world prior to extensive use of motorized vehicles knows, donkeys leave manure wherever they go and they are used as the transport of choice in many small villages even today.
What Jesus did was less ceremonial than it was utilitarian. However, it could also have been done as a silent answer to the disciples dispute.
While several denominations have instituted foot washing as a ceremony (with or without communion), I do not think that the words of Jesus are meant to institute a specific ordinance or act symbolic of humility. I think that Jesus is saying that they should be willing to perform acts of service that are useful and necessary for each other without regard for how it would appear.
The "example" of Jesus is not one of ceremony, but of utility.
A parallel today might be if a bishop of a denomination was having a regular church member over to his house for dinner and the person had some dog manure stuck to his shoe. Instead of telling the person to take off his shoe and leave it outside, he asked the man to sit in a chair while he (the bishop) cleaned his shoe for him.
More post
- 📝 Can a practicing Catholic be an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church Monastery?
- 📝 What are the Spiritual Gifts?
- 📝 How do trinitarians explain Luke 4:8, if he's a God himself?
- 📝 When, in recent Church history, do we see results from 'ministering to the Lord'?
- 📝 What are the effects of the doctrine of Cessationism on the church for carrying out the "great commission" of Jesus?
- 📝 What do Lutherans mean when they talk about the Real Presence in the Eucharist?
- 📝 How many New Testament Manuscripts do we have from the period between the first century and the fourth century?
- 📝 Immortal soul concept: afterlife and the sentence spoken to Adam (Catholic perspective)
- 📝 What is the biblical support for the idea that people in the Old Testament went to heaven?
- 📝 What hymns about death were common in the early 1400s?
- 📝 In Korean Protestantism, what is the position of Kwonsa?
- 📝 Was 30 the canonical age for Catholic priesthood in the 1700s?
- 📝 Source for Biblical Moral Stories
- 📝 Do Jehovah's Witnesses recognize marriages performed by non-denominational ministers?
- 📝 Daniel's timeline - Yom Kippur dates 2024
- 📝 Does the Bible forbid a man from dressing like a woman?
- 📝 What is the Catholic practice to find God's will for lay Catholics?
- 📝 Being an endtime prophecy, how does Genesis 49:10 affect Christians since one side of it in ''Judah'' already has?
- 📝 Is Ecclesiastes 2:24 advice for Christians or non-Christians
- 📝 Should women give sermons?
- 📝 How does repentance fit into the doctrine of sola fide ("by faith alone")?
- 📝 What is the source of the 44 assertions made in the Creed of Athanasius?
- 📝 From a Reformed perspective, does retroactive prayer makes sense?
- 📝 Besides Paul, were there any other enemies of the early church who converted to Christianity?
- 📝 Ignatius of Antioch: Christophoros or Theophorus?
- 📝 What are some sources of March, 25th being the date of the creation of the world, or of the creation of Adam and Eve, or of their disobedience?
- 📝 According to the triune concept, at what point does this logically structured statement become NOT True?
- 📝 What is the origin of 'omnipotence' as an attribute of God in the ecumenical councils and other Christian authorities?
- 📝 How did the disciples' view of the messiah evolve?
- 📝 Why is it important for people who believe in Trinity that Jesus is God?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why do some denominations not wash feet before taking communion?
- 📝 Why do some Christians think it's not a sin to charge interest?
- 📝 According to Calvinism, why does God give mercy to some and not to others?
- 📝 Why did Luther not support iconoclasm like some other reformers?
- 📝 Why are some denominations so against the idea of personal revelation as a source of Truth?
- 📝 Was there a reason why God sent Jonah to Nineveh and not some other city?
- 📝 Why do some Christians interpret Daniel's 1260 day prophecy as days and not years?
- 📝 Why do some Catholics avoid communion at Novus Ordo masses?
- 📝 Given that sin is not a debt - it's a crime against God - why do some say God only had to forgive? What about justice? Is God not just?
- 📝 Why did not Jesus praise John the Baptist before the latter's disciples?
- 📝 Is there a reason why the story Bel and the Dragon is included in the Book of Daniel by some churches and not by others?
- 📝 How do some denominations explain why they interpret the incidents with Elijah and Philip so differently?
- 📝 Why do some Protestants not read the Old Testament?
- 📝 Why do some Christians believe it is moral to be a h*m*sexual?
- 📝 Jesus predicts that some will not die until he comes in his kingdom, but did this occur?
- 📝 Why did Jesus not want to be known as the Messiah?
- 📝 Why is the Book of Enoch not regarded as canonical?
- 📝 Why did Jesus protest before performing his first miracle?
- 📝 Why did people live so long before the Flood?
- 📝 According to those holding that Lazarus was literally raised from the dead, why did Matthew, Mark, and Luke not mention it?
- 📝 Why do most Christians eat pork when Deuteronomy says not to?
- 📝 Why was taking census a bad thing?
- 📝 Why is "elohim" translated as "God" and not "gods"?
- 📝 Why does communion frequency vary in different denominations?
- 📝 Why are only some predestined?
- 📝 According to Evangelicals, before the Reformation, who were Christians if “Catholics are not Christians”?
- 📝 According to those holding that Jesus was literally born of a virgin, why did Paul not mention it?
- 📝 Why does Jesus not want people to repent and be forgiven in Mark 4?
- 📝 Why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's?
- 📝 Why does the Salvation Army not administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper?
