Colossians 3:7 tells believers that the sinful patterns they now want to leave behind were once the normal way they lived. Paul is reminding them that their former life was shaped by those habits, which is the starting point for the change he is about to describe. The verse is written by the apostle Paul, who was writing to the church at Colossae, a congregation of Gentile believers in what is now western Turkey.
You also once walked in those, when you lived in them…
Colossians 3:7 (WEB)
What Colossians 3:7 Means
The verse begins with “You also,” which links the readers to a wider group. Paul has just described how Christians should put to death earthly behavior such as sexual immorality, impurity, evil desire, and greed. Now he says the Colossians were once part of that same pattern. The word “also” places them alongside everyone else who has lived this way, so no one is singled out as uniquely far from God.
The phrase “once walked in those” uses the image of walking, which in Scripture often means a whole way of life or daily conduct. Paul is not describing a single lapse. He is describing the direction their life used to go. “When you lived in them” makes the point even clearer: those behaviors were the environment they moved through, the place where they made their home.
The verse does not promise that Christians will never struggle, and it does not say that past sin defines the believer forever. It simply looks back honestly at what was true before Christ, which then sets up the contrast in the next verse. Its purpose is to remind readers where they came from so they can see the change God has made.
The Context of Colossians 3:7
Colossians was written by Paul, probably during his imprisonment, to a church he had not personally founded but that had been taught by Epaphras. The letter’s main concern is the supremacy of Christ over all things, and Paul wants believers to live in a way that matches their new identity in him. The chapter moves from what Christians have received in Christ to how that reality should shape daily conduct.
Verses 4 through 10 form a clear unit. Paul first speaks of Christ as the believer’s life, then calls for putting to death the old behaviors, then reminds the readers that they once walked in those things. Verse 7 sits in the middle of that argument, and it explains why the command to put sin aside carries weight: it is a change from a former way of living, not a rule imposed on people who were already at home in righteousness.
Key Phrases in Colossians 3:7
Ephesians 4:22-24
22 That you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit; 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
(WEB)
This passage uses similar language of putting off the old self and putting on the new. Read alongside Colossians 3:7, it shows that the change Paul describes is a whole transformation of character, not just a change in outward behavior.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
(WEB)
This verse declares that anyone in Christ is a new creation and that old things have passed away. It connects well with Colossians 3:7 by affirming that the believer’s past does not control their present standing before God.
A Short Prayer From Colossians 3:7
Lord, thank you that the way I once lived does not have to be the way I live now. You know the habits and attitudes I have carried for years, and you know the places where I still feel pulled back toward them. Help me to be honest about where I have come from, and help me to trust that you are making me new. Give me the courage to put aside what does not belong to the life you have given me, and let your grace shape my daily choices. Amen.
