Colossians 3:7 — You Also Once Walked in These Things

7 among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these things.

Paul has spoken of prostitution, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and greed. He then writes: “Among whom you also once walked, when you lived in these things.” It is striking that Paul speaks not only of walking but also of living. The latter emphasizes that these things governed their existence. Their walk flowed from the life they had at that time. The life one lives ultimately determines how one walks.

But Paul speaks of the past. “Once,” he writes. That word marks a break. The Colossians are no longer characterized by the life they formerly had. A few verses earlier in this chapter, Paul had already written that their life is now “hid together with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). The Colossians had received new life – “roused together with Christ” – and as a result, their walk also changed.

This reminder of the past appears more often in Paul. To the Corinthians he writes: “And some of you were these” (1 Cor. 6:11). And in Titus 3:3: “For we also were once…” Paul points back to what once was, not to stir up guilt, but to underscore God’s grace. Anyone who realizes where he has come from learns to appreciate all the more what God has done. “The primitive passed by. Lo! there has come new!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

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