Colossians 3:14

And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.

Above all these things ... Barry characterized this verse as "remarkable," saying that it was apparently "suggested by the Gnostic teachers."[36] While it may be true that Gnosticism offered a so-called perfection by some device or another, it seems more logical to refer this reference to "the bond of perfectness" to what Paul had already declared in Colossians 1:28. See notes there.

Above all ... The thought here appears to be not that of adding love as an additional Christian grace, but rather that of making love the cement that holds everything else in place, or as Nielson put it:

(The love) is viewed as the bond of perfectness, or girdle that bonds together the "clothing" that has just been put on. Both the graces and the Christian persons are bound together by love ([Greek: agape], divine love).[37]

[36] Alfred Barry, op. cit., p. 114.

[37] John B. Nielson, op. cit., p. 416.