Feet Washing and the Authority of Scripture

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 29, 1906

Feet Washing and the Authority of Scripture

Can those who stand in defense of the seventh-day Sabbath consistently set aside the ordinance of feet washing on the ground that it has not been “a common custom in the history of the church”? Can not the advocates of Sunday observance rightly claim that it has been “a common custom in the history of the church”? If we rest our authority for Christian observances upon “common custom,” we shall find the same authority for feet washing as for the supper. Concerning the latter Jesus said, “This do in remembrance of me,” and of the former, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you. . . . If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.” If we could find such explicit instruction as this in the New Testament for keeping Sunday, would we not be compelled to yield the argument on the Sabbath question? How then can Sabbath-keepers who call others to obedience to the teaching of the Word regardless of custom bring forward the statement that feet washing has not been “a common custom in the history of the church” as a reason for not observing this ordinance? Is not this appealing to the same argument which is employed against the seventh-day Sabbath? We can not concede any weight to the argument from custom either against feet washing or the Sabbath of the Lord. Both rest upon the plain teaching of the Scriptures.