And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
All Commentaries on Colossians 3:14 Go To Colossians 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Do you see that he says this? For since it is possible for one who forgives, not to love; yea, he says, you must love him too, and he points out a way whereby it becomes possible to forgive. For it is possible for one to be kind, and meek, and humbleminded, and longsuffering, and yet not affectionate. And therefore, he said at the first, A heart of compassion, both love and pity. And above all these things, love, which is the bond of perfectness. Now what he wishes to say is this; that there is no profit in those things, for all those things fall asunder, except they be done with love; this it is which clenches them all together; whatsoever good thing it be you mention, if love be away, it is nothing, it melts away. And it is as in a ship, even though her rigging be large, yet if there be no girding ropes, it is of no service; and in an house, if there be no tie beams, it is the same; and in a body, though the bones be large, if there be no ligaments, they are of no service. For whatsoever good deeds any may have, all do vanish away, if love be not there. He said not that it is the summit, but what is greater, the bond; this is more necessary than the other. For summit indeed is an intensity of perfectness, but bond is the holding fast together of those things which produce the perfectness; it is, as it were, the root.
