Colossians 4:5

My Notes

What Does Colossians 4:5 Mean?

Colossians 4:5 packs two enormous commands into a single verse: "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time."

The Greek en sophia peripateite — "walk in wisdom" — describes your entire conduct, your lifestyle pattern. The word peripateō means to walk around, to go about your daily business. Paul isn't talking about occasional wise decisions. He's talking about the habitual quality of your public life. And the audience is specific: "them that are without" — tous exō, the outsiders, the people who aren't part of the faith community. Your conduct before unbelievers requires a particular quality of wisdom.

"Redeeming the time" — ton kairon exagorazomenoi — means buying up the opportune moment. Kairos isn't generic time (chronos). It's the right time, the strategic moment, the window of opportunity. Exagorazō means to buy from the marketplace — to acquire something while it's available. Paul is saying: the windows of influence with outsiders are limited and specific. When they open, buy them. Don't waste them. Don't let the moment pass because you weren't paying attention or weren't ready.

The two commands form a pair: walk wisely (your general conduct creates credibility), and redeem the time (your specific words and actions seize the strategic moment). Wisdom builds the platform. Opportunism — sanctified, Spirit-led opportunism — seizes the moment.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Who are the 'outsiders' you interact with most? What is your daily conduct communicating to them about God?
• 2.Have you missed a 'kairos' moment — a strategic window with an outsider that opened and closed while you hesitated?
• 3.Is your life building credibility with unbelievers, or are there areas where your conduct is undermining your witness?
• 4.What would it look like to be 'ready' — prepared in heart and in word — for the next kairos moment that opens?

Devotional

Walk wisely toward outsiders. Redeem the time. Two commands that work together: the first builds credibility, the second spends it.

Your daily conduct toward people who don't share your faith is either building a bridge or burning one. Every interaction — how you treat the server, how you handle conflict at work, how you respond when someone cuts you off in traffic — is being observed by people who are making judgments about the God you represent. Walk in wisdom means: be aware that you're always on stage with the people outside the faith. Not performing. Being aware.

Then: redeem the time. The Greek is commercial — buy up the opportunity. Kairos moments — the strategic openings when an outsider is genuinely curious, genuinely vulnerable, genuinely asking — don't come on your schedule. They come on theirs. And they're brief. The coworker who says something honest about their struggles at the coffee machine. The neighbor who asks a real question after a funeral. The friend who finally admits their life isn't working. Those moments are kairos. And Paul says: buy them. Don't let them pass. Don't say "we should talk about that sometime." This is the sometime.

The pairing is essential. Without wise walking, you have no credibility when the moment comes. Without seizing the moment, all the credibility you've built is wasted. You need both: the life that earns the audience and the readiness to speak when the audience opens its ears.

Who are the outsiders in your world? Are you walking wisely in front of them? And when the window cracks open — and it will — are you ready to step through it?

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture