In the which - In all which evil passions.

Ye also walked sometime - You formerly lived. These were the common vices of the pagan; Ephesians 5:8, note; 1 Corinthians 6:10-11, notes; compare Romans 1:24-32, notes.

In the which ye also walked sometime - When ye were in your unconverted state, ye served divers lusts and pleasures. See on Romans 7:5 (note), and Ephesians 2:2 (note).

In the which ye also walked some time,.... Either in or among the children of disobedience, Colossians 3:6, or rather in the afore mentioned sins, Colossians 3:5. Sin is a road or path, in which sinners walk a way of their own, or of their own choosing and approving, though a dark and crooked one, and which leads to destruction: walking herein denotes a continued series of sinning, a persisting in it, a progress therein, a proceeding from evil to evil, taking pleasure, and going on securely in it; and which is the case and state of God's elect before conversion, which is a turning of them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and out of the ways of sin, into the paths of righteousness, when the course of their walk, of their lives and conversations, is altered; and which is suggested here, and made use of as another reason for the mortification of the deeds of the body of sin, taken from their former state, and their deliverance out of it; and therefore the time past of their lives, when they walked in these things, should suffice, and they should now cease from sin, from a series and course of sinning:

when ye lived in them; in sins, and were dead in them; for to be dead in sin, and to live in sin, is the same thing; living in sin is the death of sin. To live in sin is to live after the flesh, after the dictates of corrupt nature, to live a sinful course of life; it is for a man to give up himself to sin, be wholly bent upon it, take delight in it, and make it his work and business. This had been the case of these believers, but now they were dead to sin, and it became them to live no longer therein, but to mortify it by denying it, and abstaining from it, and living soberly, righteously, and godly.

In the which (ἐν οἷς)

The omission of upon the children, etc., necessitates the reference to which things (Colossians 3:6) Otherwise we might render among whom.

Walked - lived

Walked, referring to their practice, lived, to their condition. Their conduct and their condition agreed. Compare Galatians 5:25.

In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. They had been Gentile heathen, and among them licentiousness was at that time universal. See notes on 1Co 6:9-11. Even moralists sanctioned every kind of unchastity except that of a wife.

3:7 Living denotes the inward principle; walking, the outward acts.

7. sometime-"once."

walked . when ye lived in them-These sins were the very element in which ye "lived" (before ye became once for all dead with Christ to them); no wonder, then, that ye "walked" in them. Compare on the opposite side, "living in the Spirit," having as its legitimate consequence, "walking in the Spirit" (Ga 5:25). The "living" comes first in both cases, the walking follows.

3:5-11 It is our duty to mortify our members which incline to the things of the world. Mortify them, kill them, suppress them, as weeds or vermin which spread and destroy all about them. Continual opposition must be made to all corrupt workings, and no provision made for carnal indulgences. Occasions of sin must be avoided: the lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world; and covetousness, which is idolatry; love of present good, and of outward enjoyments. It is necessary to mortify sins, because if we do not kill them, they will kill us. The gospel changes the higher as well as the lower powers of the soul, and supports the rule of right reason and conscience, over appetite and passion. There is now no difference from country, or conditions and circumstances of life. It is the duty of every one to be holy, because Christ is a Christian's All, his only Lord and Saviour, and all his hope and happiness.