8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
The saved in Christ “were darkness” (past tense) – it was our state of being, independent of any other influence, to be darkness (not merely in darkness, and certainly not because "the devil made me do it"). But, in contrast, “now ye are light” (II Corinthians 6:14, Philippians 2:15, I Thessalonians 5:5) because we are in the Lord; we did not make ourselves that way (see 2:8-9 again) but are that way entirely dependent on Him. The colons are important because they thrust us forward, showing the relationship between what we are in Christ, and what we should therefore do. Walking as children of light – characterized by goodness, righteousness, and truth – will produce the fruit of the spirit. The semicolon shows the relationship between all that came before – our eternal standing and a walk that causes the temporal state to match – with being acceptable to the Lord.
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