τοῦ Θεοῦ· ^7ἐν οἷς καὶ ὑμεῖς περιεπατήσατέ ποτε, ὅτε ἐζῆτε ἐν τούτοις·
^8νυνὶ δὲ ἀπόθεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ πάντα,
ἐν οἷς κ.τ.λ.] The clause ἐπὶ τοὺς ὑιοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας having been
struck out, ἐν οἷς must necessarily be neuter and refer to the same as
δι’ ἅ. Independently of the rejection of the clause, this neuter seems
more probable in itself than the masculine: for (1) The expression
περιπατεῖν ἐν is most commonly used of things, not of persons,
especially in this and the companion epistle; iv. 5, Ephes. ii. 2, 10,
iv. 17, v. 2; (2) The Apostle would hardly denounce it as a sin in his
Colossian converts that they ‘walked _among_ the sons of disobedience’;
for the Christian, though not of the world, is necessarily in the world:
comp. 1 Cor. v. 10. The apparent parallel, Ephes. ii. 3 ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς
πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν (where οἷς
seems to be masculine), does not hold, because the addition ἐν ταῖς
ἐπιθυμίαις κ.τ.λ. makes all the difference. Thus the rejection of the
clause, which was decided by textual considerations, is confirmed by
exegetical reasons.
7. καὶ ὑμεῖς] ‘_ye_, like the other heathen’ (i. 6 καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν), but in
the next verse καὶ ὑμεῖς is rather ‘ye yourselves’, ‘ye notwithstanding
your former lives’.
ὅτε ἐζῆτε κ.τ.λ.] ‘When _ye_ lived in this atmosphere of sin, when ye
had not yet died to the world’.
ἐν τούτοις] ‘_in these things_.’ We should have expected αὐτοῖς, but
τούτοις is substituted as more emphatic and condemnatory: comp. Ephes.
v. 6 διὰ ταῦτα γὰρ ἐρχεται κ.τ.λ. The two expressions ζῆν ἐν and
περιπατεῖν ἐν involve two distinct ideas, denoting the condition of
their life and the character of their practice respectively. Their
conduct was conformable to their circumstances. Comp. Gal. v. 25 εἰ
ζῶμεν πνεύματι, πνεύματι καὶ στοιχῶμεν.
8. The errors of the past suggest the obligations of the present. Thus
the Apostle returns to the topic with which the sentence commenced. But
the violence of the contrast has broken up the grammar of the sentence:
see the note on ver. 5.
τὰ πάντα] ‘not only those vices which have been specially named before
(ver. 5), but _all_ of whatever kind.’ The Apostle accordingly goes on
to specify sins of a wholly different type from those already mentioned,
sins of uncharitableness, such as anger, detraction, malice, and the
like.
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