Jesus washes His disciple’s feet, John 13:3-5, and asks if they understood what He had done, (vs. 12). Then He tells them to do the same, (vs. 14-15). Does this text apply to us? If so, how? In that culture, people traveled mostly by foot and with shoes that were more like sandals. Their feet became very dirty when they traveled from place to place. Their cultural practice was for a household servant to wash the feet of visiting guests. Jesus would not be expected to wash their feet because He is "Teacher and Lord," (vs. 13). We have no such practice because we have no such need. But if we can discover the principle, we can make an application.

Jesus says He did this to give us an "example," (vs. 15). If He is "Lord…" yet takes the place of a servant to wash their feet, they should be willing to be servants to each other whatever the need may be. The principle is "serve one another with humility." So we do not literally "wash one another’s feet" because doing so has no meaning for us. But if we practice the principle of serving each other in humility, we follow Jesus’ example, and His teaching.

Does The Passage Truly Speak To Our Present Situation?

A given passage may be very clear and precise in its meaning and application to its original cultural context, yet its particulars may have no application at all to our modern culture. One of the best examples of this is found in the controversy in the first century church over whether Gentile converts must be circumcised in order to be fully accepted into Christian fellowship. Acts 15:19-29 contains the conclusion reached by the church council. It consists of:

• A statement of the requirements to be made of Gentile saints. They are to avoid things sacrificed to idols, and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication, (vs.20, 29).
• A specific reason stated for these requirements. "Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath," (vs. 21).

It is clear from this text that the specific reason for these requirements, is that Gentile saints were surrounded by Jewish saints whose dedication to Moses’ writings would not allow them to conscientiously eat things sacrificed to idols, or things strangled, or meat with blood in it. If these Gentile saints had not been thus surrounded by Jewish saints, no such prohibitions would have been made. Eating blood, things strangled, and meat offered to idols, are not modern ethical problems, because Moses’ law is not determinative for Christians, and both Jew and Gentile Christians understand that those OT prohibitions have been nullified. In our culture, we will not offend a Jewish saint by eating blood, or things strangled, or meat offered to idols. Therefore we are free to do so. The situation that required those original prohibitions no longer exists, therefore the prohibitions are no longer valid. Thus a specific "commandment" to Gentile Christians not to eat blood, is not a commandment we take seriously because its purely cultural setting is so far removed from our own.

However, the restriction against "fornication" remains valid in whatever specific form it may apply to our culture, simply because God’s condemnation of "fornication" is cross-cultural and not historically peculiar. In the Acts 15 passage the "fornication" involved was doubtless that of Gentiles using temple prostitutes. It is the same problem Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 6:15, 16. Neither passage addresses any specific sexual issue because the word "fornication" does not do so. The word itself is a generic word describing any forbidden sexual activity. It must be clarified by its context in order to have any specific meaning. While it is true that all forbidden sexual activity is included in this word, nevertheless in its Acts 15 context it has specific meaning and application to idol worship, as is obvious from its connection with eating meat sacrificed to idols and eating blood. Thus Acts 15 forbids Gentiles from deliberately harming the consciences of Jewish brethren by eating blood, and from having sexual intercourse with pagan temple prostitutes. In neither case do we take this passage as specifically applicable to us today.