On account of which things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Paul has just told the Colossians to put a list of sins to death, and now he gives the reason: these are the things that bring God's wrath. That raises two questions — who does this wrath fall on, and what does it mean for believers?
(Note: the ESV puts the phrase "upon the sons of disobedience" in a footnote here. The writers below quote older translations that keep it in the verse.)
The words "on account of these" tie verse 6 back to verse 5. Those sins are not just bad habits. They are the things God judges. One writer shows that being dead and risen with Christ does not soften God's view of sin.
Because you are dead, because you have this new life, even Christ, and so are dead and risen with Him, put to death what is earthly in you. And what is that? Sexual sin, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. That is what they — and what we — really are. It is a wonderfully strong and pointed way of presenting the truth. God is not mocked. Grace does not hold back His judgment — not in the verdict of His Word now, and not later, when He carries it out.
Why "sons"? One writer explains that the word points to likeness, not to birth.
Sons are those who show the typical or distinctive traits of their fathers. The Bible often uses this idea of representing a parent in moral matters. So the "sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2) are people whose conduct shows disobedience as clearly as a son resembles his father.
Disobedience here has a particular sense. One writer ties it to truth that has been heard and refused.
"The sons of disobedience" are those who have heard the truth, but have rejected it. The Jews in Paul's day were, as a class, the sons of disobedience in a special way, but the same is fast becoming true of the Christian world. Yet God will judge people for their wicked deeds, though the crowning sin will be disobedience to the Gospel.
That last line raises a question. Are people judged only for refusing the gospel? One writer answers no.
We think it very unsound and dangerous to teach that people will only be judged for rejecting the gospel… Scripture says the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience because of these things — and not merely because of their rejection of the gospel. (Col. 3:5-6)
This warning also answers a popular half-truth about God's love.
Scripture plainly declares God's wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people. It will surely fall on the children of disobedience. Rom. 1:18; Col. 3:6… How pointless, then, for false teachers to speak only of the love of God, and to say that because "God is love" there will be mercy for all in the end. There is grace for all now, but there is just as surely a day of wrath coming, for God is righteous.
So where does this leave a Christian? One writer points to what salvation changed.
It is because of these things that God's wrath comes on the ungodly, who are characterized as children of disobedience (v.6). These things therefore certainly have no place in a believer's life. Before being saved, we walked and lived in them, but under the wrath of God! Christ's salvation totally changes this.
Another writer puts the same truth as a matter of shame.
You walked in those things, he says, when you lived in them. But the walk must follow the character of the life. What a disgrace to walk in things in which we do not live!
- Cause. The sins listed in verse 5 are the stated reason God's wrath comes.
- Character. "Sons of disobedience" means likeness, not birth. Their conduct shows disobedience the way a son shows his father.
- Deeds. God judges people for these deeds, not only for refusing the gospel. Yet rejecting the truth once heard is the crowning sin.
- Certainty. God offers grace to all now. His Word already declares His verdict on sin, and the day of wrath is still coming, because God is righteous.
- Contrast. Believers once lived there, under that wrath. Christ has given them a new life, so the walk must now match it.
In which *ye* also once walked when ye lived in these things.
Paul has just listed sins the Colossians must put to death. Now he tells them these things were once their own way of life. Why does a believer need reminding of a past that is over?
The verse says two things: they walked in these sins, and they lived in them. Those are not the same thing.
These are very simple, but very telling words. As the hymn writer puts it: "By nature and by practice far, So very far from God". We have these two elements in these two verses, practice — "you too once walked" — and nature — "when you were living in them". We do what we do because we are what we are.
Every verb here is in the past. So where does that leave them now?
"In these you too once walked, when you were living in them." They are not supposed to be in them now that they are in Christ. They had walked in them, like other Gentiles.
A person's walk always matches the life behind it.
In the past these believers had walked in these things, and in them they had found their life. In those days their evil walk matched their unconverted life exactly. Now, as Christians, the apostle urges us to walk in a way that matches the new life.
Verse 6 names the wrath of God on the disobedient. Verse 7 says the readers were once among them.
It is because of these things that God's wrath comes on the ungodly, whom verse 6 calls children of disobedience. So these things have no place in a believer's life. Before we were saved, we walked and lived in them — and we were under the wrath of God! Christ's salvation changes all of that.
What did the change look like to the people around them?
This is a striking verse. It shows the clear change that had come into the lives of the Colossian believers since conversion. The things listed in verse 5 were once their way of life, but they were finished with them now. Those around them, no doubt, still lived that way. For these believers there was a separation: they lived differently.
God's call to put these things to death rests on something already finished.
God is acting on that blessed basis. The sacrificial death of your Saviour and mine has settled the righteous claims of God once and for all. Because of that, He makes this appeal to us: "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you" — the very things you walked in when you lived in them. God never calls us to any practice without giving us the power to obey.
This backward look also changes how we treat other people.
We need to remember that we too were once in the condition we now dislike in others. This should humble us and make us patient with them. Such evils mark everyone: some things may stand out more in some people than in others, but all have the same nature that produces them. In us, nothing could change this but the grace of God in Christ. Others need that same grace if their condition is to be any different.
- Nature. "When you were living in them" points to what they were. "You too once walked" points to what they did. We do what we do because we are what we are.
- Wrath. That old nature and practice left them where verse 6 puts the disobedient: under the wrath of God. Christ's salvation changed that.
- Once. Every verb is past. They had walked in these things like other Gentiles. Now that they are in Christ, they are not supposed to be in them.
- Consistency. The old walk matched the old life exactly. Now the walk must match the new life.
- Grace. Remembering what we were humbles us and makes us patient with people still there. And God, who gives the command, also gives the power to obey.