As You Received, So Walk
6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
The rule for going on is the manner of beginning — and four participles describe growth without a single new requirement.
As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The whole answer to the Colossian teaching is in that sentence. What they received was a person, received by faith; the instruction is to continue by the same means rather than to graduate to another.
The verb received is the one used of a tradition handed over intact, and what was handed over is named as Christ Jesus the Lord — a person, not a system.
Then four participles, and they are worth reading as a set. Rooted — a completed image, the plant already in its soil, and the tense is perfect. Built up — an ongoing construction. Established in the faith — made firm, the same idea as the steadfastness of verse 5. Abounding in thanksgiving.
The mixture is deliberate: one thing settled and finished, two things continuing, and gratitude running through. Growth is described without a single addition to what was first received, which is exactly the point at issue in the town.
And the last of the four is the least expected. Thanksgiving is the mark of a person who knows they were given something, and it is the natural enemy of a religion of attainment.
settled What this mark means