10243. 'They shall wash with water' means purification effected by means of the truths of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purification from evils and falsities, dealt with above in 10237; and from the meaning of 'water' as the truths of faith, also dealt with above, in 10238. Anyone who does not know what 'washing' means, nor what 'feet' and 'hands' mean, cannot possibly know what is implied by the following words in John,

Jesus poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the linen towel with which He was girded. And He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, Do you wash my feet? Jesus answered, What I am doing you do not know as yet; but you will know afterwards. Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and head. Jesus said to Him, He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, but the whole person is clean. Already you are clean. John 13:5-10.

Is there anyone who can know what the real meaning is when the Lord said, 'What I am doing you do not know as yet, but you will know afterwards', also 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me', as well as 'He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet', and 'the whole person is clean'?

[2] These words refer to purification from evils and falsities, but no one can know of this except from the internal sense. From this sense it is evident that 'washing' is used to mean purification from evils and falsities; 'water in a basin' to mean the truth of faith within the natural; 'the linen towel' which the Lord was girded with, and which He used for wiping, to mean Divine Truth emanating from Him; 'feet' to mean the natural level in a person; and 'washing the head, hands, and feet' to mean regeneration, as is 'he who has been washed', so that 'washing the feet' is used to mean purifying the natural level in a person. Unless this level with a person is purified and cleansed while he is living in the world he cannot ever be purified after that. For whatever a person's natural level is like when he dies it remains the same; no improvement takes place afterwards, for it is the level into which interior things, that is, spiritual ones flow, and it is their receptacle. Consequently when it has been perverted the interior things are similarly perverted on flowing in. The situation is like that with the eye or any other sensory organ or a member of the body when it has been damaged; inner abilities to perceive or to act by means of that organ or member are conditioned by the state of reception there.

[3] A person's inability therefore ever to be purified if his natural is not purified in the world is the meaning of the Lord's words, What I am doing you do not know as yet; but you will know afterwards. The fact that nothing except the natural needs to be purified in one who has been regenerated is the meaning of He who has washed has no need except to wash his feet, and of the whole person is clean. And the accomplishment of all purification by the Lord alone is the meaning of If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. The accomplishment of it by means of the Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is meant by His wiping with the linen towel with which He was girded.

'A linen towel' means truth from God, see 7601, so that 'the linen towel with which the Lord was girded' is Divine Truth from Himself.

'Water' means the truth of faith, 10238.

'A basin' or a laver with water in it means the natural, 10235.

'Washing the head, hands, and feet' - that is, the whole body - means regeneration, 10239, 'feet' being the natural within a person, 10241.

From all this it again becomes evident that the Lord spoke by means of correspondences, thus in accordance with the internal sense, since He spoke from heaven's point of view, where that sense exists. Consequently there is little understanding of the Lord's Word unless it is understood on that level of meaning.

10239. 'And Aaron and his sons shall wash in it' means a representative sign of the purification and regeneration of a person by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purification, dealt with above in 10237; from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Celestial Good, dealt with in 9806, 10068; and from the representation of 'Aaron's sons' as the Lord in respect of Divine Spiritual Good, dealt with in 9807, 10068. From these places it is evident that 'Aaron and his sons shall wash in it' means a representative sign of the purification of a person by the Lord. The reason why a representative sign of regeneration as well is meant is that regeneration as well was represented by washing, that is to say, washing the whole body, which was called baptizing. And baptizing or baptism is the sign of regeneration, see 4255, 9088.

[2] But regeneration is different from purification in that regeneration comes first and purification afterwards. None can be purified from evils and falsities except those who are undergoing regeneration and after they have been regenerated. One who has not been regenerated is, it is true, led away from evils so far as he allows, but he is not purified from them; he is all the time impure. The person who has been regenerated is different; day by day he is being made purer. This is how the Lord's words addressed to Peter should be understood,

He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, so that the whole person is clean. John 13:10.

'He who has been washed' means one who has been regenerated.

[3] The fact that the word 'baptizing' was used to denote the total washing of things is clear in Mark 7:4 ¹ , and to denote washing the whole body, in Matthew 3:13-16; Mark 1:9-10; and also 2 Kings 5:10, 14. The Jordan - in which washings, which were baptizings, took place, Matthew 3:6, 13; Mark 1:5; 2 Kings 5:10, 14 - meant the natural, 1585, 4255. Baptismal washing also means temptation, Matthew 20:22-23; it does so because all regeneration is accomplished by means of temptations, 5036, 5773, 8351, 8958, 8959ff.

[4] It must also be stated briefly here why it was that the Lord, when He was in the world, was Himself willing to be baptized, when yet baptism is the sign of a person's regeneration by Him. The reason was that the baptizing of the Lord Himself was a sign of the glorification of His Humanity. Anything in the Word that means a person's regeneration also means the glorification of the Human within the Lord; for a person's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688. This is why the Lord, when He allowed John to baptize Him, said,

Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all the righteousness of God ² . Matthew 3:15.

'Fulfilling all the righteousness of God' means subduing the hells, restoring them and the heavens to order, by His own power, and at the same time glorifying His Human. All this was accomplished by means of the temptations which the Lord allowed Himself to undergo, thus by means of the conflicts with the hells which He underwent repeatedly, even to the last on the Cross. These things constituted the righteousness which the Lord fulfilled, see 9486, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152. The like is also meant by references to the fulfillment of all things written in the Law and the Prophets concerning the Lord, Luke 18:31; 22:37; 24:44, and by the Lord's declaration that He had come to fulfill all of the law, Matthew 5:17-18.

[5] A person unacquainted with the arcana within the Word thinks that the Lord became righteousness through His fulfillment of everything in the law, and that by this fulfillment He freed the human race from the yoke of the law, and so from damnation. But that is not what these words mean. Rather their meaning is that He became righteousness through His subduing of the hells, restoration of the heavens to order, and glorification of His Human. For by this glorification He filled Himself with power, in order that by His Divine Human He could keep the hells in subjection forever, maintain the heavens in order, and so regenerate a person, that is, deliver him from the hells and save him.

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