Jesus knows who are His. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who deep down really believe in the message that the Christ died for us. We still need to learn. Truth is known over time. Once we know, then we have to adapt our thinking to truth. This too can take time. The foot washing before Jesus died for sins is a picture of this. He told Peter that Peter had already been given a ‘bath’ but needed only his feet to be washed. This means the overall teachings of Jesus had washed Peter but still Peter needed further washing. Jesus told the disciples to wash each other’s feet. That is what we are doing here. The people who already have the Holy Spirit and already know some teachings of Jesus have effectively, spiritually, had a bath, if they truly believe. We now need to go a bit further and help sort out thinking and words used in communication. This is effectively spiritual washing of each other’s feet.
