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Footnote: In New Testament Revelation 35 ("The Virgin Birth; Fasting; Temptation by the "Devil"; the Washings of the Divine Love,") Jesus explains it properly, "I should like to also clarify a few statements found in the Gospel of John that have not been understood, and that is in John, Chapter 13, Verse 8. I said to Peter, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part of me." And this was just before the beginning of the last Passover meal and Peter's objection to this ablution. Now, my purpose in this was to use the word and ceremony of washing not as a natural cleansing of the body, nor even a symbol of the spiritual cleansing with baptism. But I meant to use the word "washing" as a washing from sin, and I had to do this in order to make my teachings concrete and something my disciples could see and understand. I meant, "If I show ye not how to be cleansed of sin so that ye be clean in heart through the washings of the Divine Love, thou hast no part of me." This washing was not symbolic of a purification of the soul leading to the perfect natural man, but transformation of the soul through the effects of the Divine Love and its cleansing action." |