Colossians 3:7

Colossians 3:7, in plain English

You used to live that way—it was your natural pattern before you knew Christ—but that's not who you are anymore.

Why it's here

Paul gently reminds them of their past not to shame them but to help them see the contrast. Some of the Colossians may have come from deeply pagan backgrounds with behaviors that felt normal to them. Others may have drifted back toward old patterns. He's saying: you remember how that felt, how it controlled you. Don't go back to that now that you've been freed.

Who's speaking

Paul

Where it sits in the story

This connects to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:11: 'And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.' The point is transformation, not perfection.

The scholarly reading

You yourselves formerly participated in these vices and cultural patterns, walking in the same destructive ways before your conversion and baptism into Christ.

Language and setting

Paul employs the rhetorical technique of apostrophe, directly reminding the Colossians of their pre-conversion identity to establish continuity (transformation rather than obliteration of personality) while marking the decisive break enacted through their faith. The Greek construction (περιπατέω, peripateo—a Hebrew idiom, halacha, meaning 'way of living') emphasizes not momentary transgressions but habitual life patterns.

Voice

Paul, using pastoral rhetoric to establish common ground and accountability.

Significance

This echoes Paul's own testimony in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Ephesians 2:1-3, establishing the pattern of conversion as radical reorientation. It prevents the Colossian believers from moral superiority, grounding ethics in grace rather than judgment.

5Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

7When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways.

8But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

9Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,

Read all of Colossians 3 — You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Strip off the old self like worn-out clothing and put on compassion, kindness, and love.