A Theology of Shoes

"I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot." - Deut. 29:5

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth… And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” - Genesis 1:1,31

Have you ever wondered how certain animals came to be classified in scripture as “unclean” when God declared everything “good” in the beginning? And what the implications of those classifications are for us in the new covenant?

Clean & Unclean

When God created the world, there was no distinction between clean and unclean animals. We don’t know whether people ate animals in the early chapters of Genesis, but animals were not technically declared edible until after Noah and his family left the ark in Genesis 9. There was some delineation between clean and unclean animals prior to the flood, but it seems to have been for sacrificial purposes only. In Genesis 9:3, God declares all living things edible as opposed to just the plants as he had in Genesis 1:29. It actually wasn’t until the establishment of the Mosaic covenant that the eating of unclean animals was strictly prohibited and detailed (Lev. 11).

Despite their classification, some unclean animals are spoken of favorably in scripture. We know from God’s declaration that everything created was “good” and it appears that for the period between the flood and the mosaic covenant these animals were edible. Unclean animals are not inherently sinful creatures, just as no other created element is in itself a sinful.

The lion and the eagle are both considered unclean animals. Yet, followers of Yahweh are said to mount up on wings like eagles (Isa. 40:31). Two of the four faces of the cherub depicted in the temple are the eagle and the lion (Eze. 10:14). And the Son of God himself is famously called the Lion of Judah.¹

Unclean is unclean. The lion and the eagle, as regal and mighty as they are, are just as unclean under the Mosaic law as the pig and the dog. So how can this comparison be made to the Son of God and to creatures in his presence?²

By now you may be wondering what any of this has to do with shoes as the title of this article suggests. As it turns out, shoes are exactly the place we need to look to discover the purpose of the clean and unclean dynamic.

Shoeing & Chewing

What primary trait made the clean animals clean under the Mosaic covenant?—Their feet! The secondary trait was that the animals were ruminants, or, chewed the cud. (There are parallel characteristics with fish and birds, but, for the sake of brevity, those will not be discussed in this article.)

Combined with ruminating, a split hoof specifically set the clean animals apart from the unclean. This protected their foot while allowing them to properly judge where stepped. In other words, these hooves were like shoes. This enabled them to climb on high places, i.e. the sides of mountains. For the purposes of Old Testament saints, this would have been ideal as they always offered clean animal sacrifices on the tops of mountains or other high places (prior to the tabernacle and temple).³

We might be tempted to think the clean animals generally just acted more sanitary, but it was actually not the overall habits of the animals that made them clean or unclean. After all, goats (a clean animal) are just as filthy as pigs (an unclean animal) in may ways. We can only deduce that the distinction between animals was symbolic.

The Symbolism of Man & Beast

Animals are symbols of mankind. Throughout scripture clean animals represent God’s people (Israel) while the unclean animals are associated with outsiders (the Gentile world). You could also call these categories “domestic animals” and “wild animals,” and add a third category called “creeping things.” These are the three categories of land animals named in the creation account (Gen. 1) and represent the three categories of people: God’s chosen people, the Gentile world—specifically those with reverence for the God of Israel—and wicked men associated with Satan, the serpent. (A few examples of animals symbolizing men: Matt. 7:6; 15:26, John 10:27, Psa 44:19,
1 Tim. 5:18, Jer. 5:6.)

Because animals are symbols of men, the distinction of clean and unclean is also symbolic of the things that separate the people of God from the people of the world. It all depends on whether a person does two things: wears shoes and chews the cud.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you aren’t right with God if you walk barefoot outside or don’t regurgitate your meals to chew them twice. So what is the spiritual significance?

Shoes & covenants

Remember that after the fall, the ground was cursed. This remained a very present reality throughout the old covenant. God’s people wore shoes and practiced the important ritual of removing their shoes and ceremonially washing their feet when entering a house. Shoes were removed on “Holy ground” (Acts 7:3, Exodus 3:5, Joshua 5:15, Exodus 30:17-21, Exodus 40:30-32). Shoes did not keep them from entirely free from the dirt of every day living, hence the ceremonial foot washings, but they served as a barrier that symbolically set God’s people apart from the cursed earth.

The chewing of the cud, the second characteristic that defined clean animals, was symbolic of the people of God receiving his law and ruminating on it (Psa. 1:1-2; 19:14; 119:15). This set them apart from the people outside of Israel who did not heed, let alone meditate on, God’s law.

The most important thing that set God’s people apart was the covenant he made with them. Although God’s people (Israel) were still in the world, they were called to not be of it. They were commanded to be different. They still lived on the cursed earth, but the covenant acted as a “shoe” or barrier between the people and the effects of the curse (sin and death), just as their literal shoes acted as a barrier between their bodies and the ground.

If a person did not “wear the shoes of the covenant,” so to speak, they were not one of God’s people. If they entered the covenant, but did not meditate on and live by his law, being careful where they set their foot, then they were not one of his people and remained in their sin despite identifying with the covenant.

When God cursed the ground in Genesis 3, he was establishing a picture of the curse of sin. What does the dust of the ground contain? The creeping things—things that swarm, eat and live in the dust. Most significantly it was the domain of the Serpent, who was cursed to crawl on his belly in the dust forever. Notice that the Serpent has no feet and, therefore, no capacity for literal shoes, nor for entering the spiritual covenant. That’s because, again, the entire set up was a picture to teach us about spiritual realities in Christ.

Washing away the curse of sin

In a recent Super bowl commercial (which coincidentally aired during the writing of this article), the organization He Gets Us depicted people with opposing world views and political perspectives washing each others’ feet.

Most Christians responded appropriately by saying that Jesus washing feet did not equate to him unconditionally accepting unrepentant people. Instead, they argued, Jesus washing feet was meant to be an example to us of humility and serving one another. While this is a good conclusion, there is actually more to this picture than just an act of humility.

Forgiven & Forgiving

In John 13, Jesus gives us a little more insight into the spiritual significance of shoes and the washing of the feet:

“He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, do you wash my feet?’ Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.’” - John 13:4b-15

Notice that Jesus says the one who has bathed does not need to wash again, except for his feet. Why? Because faith in Christ—entering into the new covenant of grace—washes one completely clean. Just as the clean animals were declared set apart by God, so the people of God are declared clean when they have been ceremonially washed by the blood of Christ and baptized with the Holy Spirit. However, we still walk through the world and our feet become dirty as we come in contact with sin.

Sending out his disciples to preach the gospel, Jesus said, “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town” (Matt. 10:14). This was an illustration of the unrepentant sin that rejectors of Christ remain in. In another illustration, Paul tells us that we have been given shoes that make us ready to bring the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15). And in Romans 10:15, Paul quotes the prophets, saying, “And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” The covenant of peace we have with God puts shoes on our feet and makes us ready to go and publish that peace to the world (Isa. 52:7)!

Christ forgave sinners by the authority of his Father and symbolized his forgiveness in the washing of his disciples feet; likewise, we are to wash one another’s feet. That is to say, we are to forgive and absolve each other of our sins, so that we may have unsoiled fellowship with not only each other, but ultimately with Christ. For he said, “If I do not wash your feet, you have no part of me.” It is something we must continually do. And Christ says if you do not forgive, you won’t be forgiven.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.” - Matthew 6:14-15

“bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” - Colossians 3:13

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

- 1 John 1:7-9

An obsolete distinction

Shoes, domestic animals, wild animals, water, washings—these were all physical pictures of the spiritual work that Christ was coming to do. When his work was accomplished, Ephesians 2:15 tells us he broke down the dividing wall “expressed in ordinances.” All the ceremonial practices of the old covenant were done away with under the new priesthood of Christ. The Gentiles—the wild beasts—became part of the people of God; all who have faith in Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are now sheep—a domestic, ruminant, shoe-wearing animal—in his fold.

Since the physical laws of clean and unclean are obsolete under the new covenant, we are no longer bound by this system. Instead, all created things have been made clean for Christians. Physically, we don’t have to practice ritual washings anymore to enter the presence of God. As Paul indicated, we have all been washed if we are in Christ (1 Cor. 6:11); he has become the spiritual “shoes” which guard us from becoming contaminated by the sin of the world. All that remains is to wash one another’s feet as we go. Our feet become dirty as we sin against God and one another, but we ask God’s forgiveness and we forgive one another, spiritually washing each others’ feet. Jesus spoke of this when he said “leave your gift” at the altar and be reconciled to your brother first (Matt. 5:23-24, see also Matt. 18:15-20). We should forgive and ask forgiveness before offering our sacrifice of prayer or taking communion before God. This is the washing of our feet before entering “the holy place.”

However, those who do not have the Holy Spirit remain unclean. They have no “shoes,” as it were, and are like those creatures who live in the dust. Their whole bodies are contaminated by sin. There is no use washing the feet of unbelievers because they have not been ceremonially washed from their sin by the forgiveness of the Father. Of course, we forgive them when they sin against us (Matt. 5:44), but no amount of our forgiveness and humble acts of service toward the unrepentant sinner will cleanse them in the sight of God. Which is why the He Gets Us commercial, as well-intentioned as it might have been, ultimately (and ironically) served no one. Its message didn’t benefit God’s people or the world.

Go tell it on the mountain

We no longer live in a world divided along lines of physical cleanliness. There is nothing wrong with eating pork or owning a dog; we don’t have to bathe just because a cut becomes infected or throw away mixed fabrics. As James B. Jordan puts it, “Christ has cleansed the world, once and for all. We can go barefoot in the dirt, and wear shoes to church.”⁴ The Old testament system was merely a type and shadow of the spiritual reality we live in today. If we are aiming to save and sanctify the world, we can’t wash their feet and put shoes on them, that won’t do any good. Because no ritual cleansing can wash away sin as no lack of ritual cleansing makes a man unclean in the first place (Matt. 15:11). We can only put on our shoes of peace and go! We must urge sinners with the sword of the law and the balm of the gospel to be forgiven and cleansed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

“Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!” - Nahum 1:15

A covenant that won’t wear out

As his sheep, we take part every day in a meal that we ruminate on; we chew and meditate on God’s law and apply it in our lives—we ruminate on Christ. We’ve been given shoes like the clean animals so that our steps may be guarded and we may judge the things we come in contact with—we’ve been given Christ. In him we have been set free so that we may choose where we will set our foot. We’ve been given a covenant that sets us apart from the curse of living in the dust and wallowing in sin—we’ve been given Christ.

To the Israelites wandering in the desert, God said:

"I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot." - Deut. 29:5

As we walk through this world our feet will become dusty. We will sin against God and each other. We will have to wash our feet regularly. We will have to wash each other’s feet regularly. But we can rest knowing that through all the years we will spend in the wilderness of this world, this sandal on our foot, this covenant in Christ that guards our steps, won’t wear out (Heb. 13:20). It won’t ever wear out.

1. “Through New Eyes” by James B. Jordan, pg. 101

2. “Through New Eyes” by James B. Jordan, pg. 101

3. “Through New Eyes” by James B. Jordan, pg. 102

4. “Through New Eyes” by James B. Jordan, pg. 102