Walk is a much-used metaphor in Scripture. Its meaning is clear: walking stands for how we live life; our walk is our lifestyle. Paul uses the metaphor extensively in Colossians and Ephesians. One could say it is the subject of the entire second half of Ephesians: Walk worthy of your calling (Eph. 4:1), with Paul explaining what that looks like. I spent some time during our vacation this year meditating on this concept in Paul’s two letters.
You can also watch this content as a VIDEO PODCAST
The Meaning of Metaphor
But first, what is a metaphor? At its simplest, it is a picture word. And it makes a comparison. You are a pig! In some ways, the person making the statement recognizes a similarity between the animal we call pig and the person so addressed.
But only in some ways. We can take it too far (that person probably isn’t literally slouching in mud). The thing referred to by metaphor is not in every way similar to the illustrative word that is used. The similarity tends to be limited to one or a few points.
However, because of the power of metaphor, there is often much more we can say, also because the metaphor is flexible. It can generate new meanings or insights in new contexts. As Eugene Peterson put it in a sermon on Jesus as the way (another metaphor):
But eventually we catch on: a metaphor both is and is not what it says … A metaphor does something that the precision of a definition or an explanation doesn’t do: it insists we join the speaker and participate in the creation of a fresh meaning. Metaphor activates our imagination. We begin making connections, joining what we see to something that we don’t see right before us, connecting the visible to the invisible. (Peterson 2017: 340f)
“Walk in Him”
So what does Paul tell us about walking? My point of departure was Colossians 2:6f:
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
There are (at least) two big surprises here. I already provided a simple definition of the metaphor walk: how we live life. But what does it mean to walk in him? The phrase is not found elsewhere in the Bible; it is unique to Colossians.
Is it about location or space, the most common use of “in”?
Does it signify union with Christ, like in Romans 6?
Does it characterize the way we are to walk (so that we could paraphrase: walk in a Christ-like way)? This is how “walk in love” works (Eph. 5:1). There, love characterizes the walking. There are more examples with “walk in …” that seem to function this way: walk in wisdom (Col. 4:5), you walked in immorality etc. (past tense; Col. 3:5-7), you walked in trespasses and sins (also past tense; Eph. 2:1f), and walk in good works (Eph. 2:10).
Some of these examples may also be understood as defining what makes up the path that is being walked and therefore the lifestyle being lived: it consists of either positives like good works or negatives like trespasses.
But none of the examples just given is located in close proximity to “walk in him”, and it is not at all clear that any of them is synonymous with “walk in him” (or is its direct opposite).
Therefore, a different interpretation is more likely. The repetition of “in him” in connection with “rooted” in Colossians 2:7 suggests that we are to think of a sphere we are not to leave as we are moving, that is, as we live: walk in him while rooted in him. It makes “walk in him” a partial parallel to “abide in me” (John 15:7). The latter is the necessary condition for walking – or living – rightly.
The second surprise in Colossians 2:6f is a paradox. Walk, “rooted and built up in him”, we are told. Two more metaphors, but whereas walk implies movement, roots and building suggest immobility, stability, steadfastness.
By mixing his metaphors, Paul has invented a strange way of walking: walking while being firmly rooted in Christ!
Walking
Paul uses the concept of walking repeatedly in the practical sections of Colossians and Ephesians, but without that qualification “in him”. These uses are much easier to understand.
But remember the power of metaphor. By switching to an image, the text gives us more, not less, than by using plain and literal speech. Here are a few insights I came up with meditating on the idea of walking as such:
1. Walking is linear. It may not be a straight line (it usually isn’t), but it is a line. For this reason, it makes such a good metaphor for life, which is based on time – which is likewise linear: the arrow of time consistently and relentlessly moves forward.
2. Walking implies direction and often aim. When on the road, we usually know where we are heading. And in life?
3. Walking often takes place on a road or path of some kind. It is possible to walk cross-country, but it is harder, and we may end up running into a barrier that we cannot cross, such as water or impenetrable thornbushes. In the mountains, it can be dangerous to leave the track behind.
4. Walking is something you do one step at a time. It is not possible to take more than one step simultaneously. No matter how long or how far the walk, at any one moment, we are taking only one step. Life is a bit more complex than this, but it does consist of many small “steps” that have to be absolved, for the most part, one after the other, in a reasonable order.
5. While walking, it is possible to lose your way. A map can be helpful. For the Christian life, this is precisely what Paul aims to provide in these two letters. In his opening prayer in Colossians, he states his objective, both in praying for them and in writing this letter: “… asking that you may be filled … so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:9f; cf. Eph. 4:1).
This should be our aim, and both letters paint a picture of what that includes (and excludes!).
Walking is one of the Bible’s vivid metaphors for how godly people should live, both positively in terms of what to follow and negatively in warnings about what to avoid. Unfortunately, some recent translations tend to replace the concrete vigor of the original with prosaic words like live, conduct or behave. The result is to diminish a reader’s capacity to allow concrete, everyday activities to become windows on divine realities.
(Ryken et al. 2000: 923)
References
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this text are ‘affiliate links’. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. If you purchase anything through such a link, you help me cover the cost of Create a Learning Site.
Unless indicated differently, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Peterson, Eugene H. 2017. As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God (London: Hodder & Stoughton) Kindle Edition
Ryken, Leland, Jim Wilhoit, Tremper Longman, Colin Duriez, Douglas Penney, and others (eds.). 2000. Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press)