Colossians 3:14

above all thesethings] Or, "uponall these things." Perhaps the words convey both the supreme importanceof love, and its relation to other graces as their embracing bond;see just below. "Love is the outer garment" (rather, the girdle?) "which holds the others in their places" (Lightfoot).

put on] The words are supplied from Colossians 3:12.

charity Or, love. See on ch. Colossians 1:4. Love, says Leibnitz, is that which seeks its joy in the good of another. "Hypocrisy can do Christian actions; charity alone does them christianly" (Quesnel).

which is The Greek implies that "love" must be thus "put on" becauseit is, &c.

the bond of perfectness I.e., the bond, or tie, which makes and secures the "perfectness," wholeness, fulness, harmony, of the Christian character, both in the individual and in society. Chrysostom, quoted by Lightfoot, says (on this place), "If love is lacking, all other good is nothing; it dissolves." The man without love is, in effect, the man whose very virtues are selfish; "unto himself."

" Perfectness:" see note on ch. Colossians 1:28.