Albert Barnes Commentary John 13:8

"Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." — John 13:8 (ASV)

You shall never wash my feet. This was a decided and firm expression of his reverence for his Master, and yet it was improper. Jesus had just declared that it had a meaning, and that Peter ought to submit to it. We should yield to all the plain and positive requirements of God, even if we cannot now see how obedience would promote his glory.

If I do not wash you. This had immediate reference to the act of washing his feet. It denotes that if Peter lacked sufficient confidence in Jesus to believe that an act Jesus performed was proper, even though Peter himself could not see its propriety—and if Peter was unwilling to submit his own will to that of Christ and implicitly obey him—then Peter had no evidence of piety. However, as Christ was accustomed to transition from temporal and sensible objects to spiritual ones, and to draw instruction from whatever was before him, some have supposed that he here took the opportunity to state to Peter that if Peter's soul was not made pure by Christ, Peter could not be Christ's follower. Washing is often presented in this way as an emblem of moral purification (1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5–6).

This is also the meaning of baptism. If this was the sense in which Jesus used these words, it denotes that unless Christ purified Peter, Peter could have no evidence that he was Christ's disciple. "Unless by my doctrine and spirit I shall purify you, and remove your pride (Matthew 26:33), your lack of constant watchfulness (Matthew 26:40), your anger (Matthew 26:51), your timidity and fear (Matthew 26:70, 74), you can have no part in me" (Grotius).

You have no part with me. Nothing in common with me. No evidence of possessing my spirit, of being interested in my work, and no participation in my glory: