Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Colossians 3:14

"and above all these things [put on] love, which is the bond of perfectness." — Colossians 3:14 (ASV)

The final article in this description of Christian attire is “love” (agape, the distinctive Christian term for caring love; cf. 1 Corinthians 13; GK 27). All the virtues listed in vv.12–13 are, on the highest level, manifestations of love; but love is larger than any one of them, indeed, larger than all of them combined. The mention of love as a separate “article of clothing” is therefore not superfluous.