Colossians 2:6–7
What does Colossians 2:6–7 mean?
As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,
The short answer
Colossians 2:6-7 is a small passage with a big job. In a single sentence, Paul gathers up everything he has said so far and turns it toward everyday life: "As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him." The first half looks backward. When the Colossians "received Christ Jesus," they received the Christ Paul has just described in soaring terms in chapter 1 — the image of the invisible God, the one through whom all things were made, the head of the church, the one who reconciles all things through the cross. That is the Christ they welcomed. Paul is reminding them of the sheer size of what they already have.
The second half looks forward, and it carries the letter's first command: "walk in him." Many translations soften the Greek verb here (peripateo) to "live," but the literal picture is walking — putting one foot in front of the other. That image matters. Faith in this towering Christ is not meant to stay a set of ideas you agree with; it is meant to become a way of moving through the world, one ordinary step at a time. Everything Paul goes on to say in chapters 2 through 4 — about false teaching, about old habits to put off and new ones to put on, about households and prayer and speech — flows out of this one instruction.
Verse 7 then piles up pictures of stability: rooted like a plant, built up like a house, established in the faith, and overflowing with thanksgiving. The logic of the whole passage is simple and freeing. You do not walk in Christ in order to earn him. You walk in him because you have already received him — the walking is what receiving him looks like over time.
What scholars say
Why do these two short verses carry so much weight? Scot McKnight explains how 2:6-7 summarizes the entire letter — reaching back to the Christology of chapter 1 while launching its first imperative — and why he renders the Greek verb peripateo literally as "walk" rather than "live."
“Colossians 2:6–7 summarizes the entire letter as it combines both the theo-christological and soteriological themes in the first clause ("as you received …"), drawing us into the vortex of 1:12–20 , with the formational implications of that theology in the second half of v. 6 and all of v. 7 , which draws us back to 1:21–23 and at the same time pushes into all of chapters 2–4 . ... For the Greek reader it may be observed that "continue to live" ( 2:6b ) is the first imperative in Colossians, sounding a note that a new phase in the letter is underway. ... The exhortation of v. 6 hinges on the term "live." ... By choosing "walk" instead of "live," I offer a more literal rendering of the Greek term ( peripateō ).”
What it means for you
The practical question this passage asks is not "What do you believe about Christ?" but "How are you walking today?" Walking is unglamorous. It is slow, repetitive, and made of small steps — which is exactly the point. Living in Christ happens in ordinary decisions: how you speak to your family, what you do with resentment, whether gratitude or anxiety sets the tone of your day.
If your faith feels stuck in your head, this verse offers a way forward. Start where you received Christ — with who he actually is — and then take the next small step in that direction. Rootedness and stability, Paul suggests, grow from repetition, not intensity.
Colossians 2 in context
Colossians 2 opens with Paul describing his deep concern for churches he has never met, praying they would be encouraged and grounded in Christ, in whom all wisdom is hidden (2:1-5). Verses 6-7 form the pivot: after a chapter and a half of rich teaching about who Christ is, Paul issues his first command — walk in him. What follows makes clear why it matters: warnings against hollow philosophy, human traditions, and religious regulations (2:8-23). The safeguard against every counterfeit, Paul argues, is staying rooted in the Christ they originally received.