Colossians 2:6

My Notes

What Does Colossians 2:6 Mean?

Colossians 2:6 is one of the most elegantly simple instructions in all of Paul's letters: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." The way you began is the way you continue. The method doesn't change.

The word "received" — paralambanō — is a technical term for receiving a tradition or teaching that's been passed down. It implies that the Colossians received Christ not through their own discovery but through the apostolic proclamation — the gospel delivered to them. And they received Him as "Christ Jesus the Lord" — Messiah, the human Jesus, and sovereign Lord. All three titles matter. He's not just a teacher you learned from. He's the anointed King, the incarnate God, and the ruler of your life.

"So walk ye in him" — the word "walk" (peripateō) means your daily conduct, your habitual way of life. Paul is drawing a direct line from conversion to daily living. How did you receive Christ? By faith. By grace. By trusting in something you couldn't earn. Then walk the same way. Don't switch methods midstream. Don't receive Him by grace and then try to continue by performance. Don't start in faith and finish in effort. The walk is in Him — rooted, grounded, sustained by the same Christ you received on day one. The Christian life isn't receive-then-achieve. It's receive-and-continue-receiving.

Reflection Questions

• 1.How has your relationship with God changed since you first received Christ — has it become more performance-based or stayed rooted in grace?
• 2.Where have you shifted from receiving to striving without realizing it?
• 3.What would it look like to 'walk in Him' today the same way you first received Him — by faith, not by effort?
• 4.If someone asked you how to continue in the Christian life, would your answer match how you tell them to start it?

Devotional

How did you first come to Christ? You didn't earn it. You didn't qualify. You received. Someone told you, the Spirit moved, and you said yes — not because you had it all together, but because you were desperate enough, hungry enough, or honest enough to take what was offered. That's how it started.

Paul says: keep going exactly like that. Don't graduate from grace to performance. Don't move from trusting to striving. Don't let year five of your faith look fundamentally different from day one in terms of method. The content grows — you learn more, you understand deeper — but the operating system doesn't change. It's always faith. Always grace. Always receiving.

This is where so many people get lost. They start beautifully — overwhelmed by grace, grateful for rescue, resting in what Christ did. And then slowly, imperceptibly, the shift happens. They start trying to maintain what grace initiated. They start performing to keep what they received for free. And the joy drains out, replaced by exhaustion and the constant feeling that they're not doing enough. Paul's corrective is disarmingly simple: walk the way you started. In Him. Not in your effort. Not in your discipline. In Him. The same Christ who was sufficient on day one is sufficient on day ten thousand.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture