Love, the “Perfect Bond of Union”

“But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.”​—COLOSSIANS 3:14.

1. Why is the command at Colossians 3:14 a challenging one today?

IN THE midst of a hate-filled, disunited world the command that comes to Jehovah’s Witnesses today from God’s written Word at Colossians 3:14 is indeed a challenging one. It seems almost an impossible one, for it commands them: “Besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” Just the same, that inspired command is being carried out, to his glory.

4. To whom does Paul’s command at Colossians 3:14 apply, and who is the common spiritual Father of such ones?

⁴ From the opening words of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Jehovah’s Witnesses of today know that his command applies directly to them: “Clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” We read: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy our brother to the holy ones and faithful brothers in union with Christ at Colossae: May you have undeserved kindness and peace from God our Father.” (Colossians 1:1, 2) Well, now, who was the common heavenly Father of those first-century Christians in the city of Colossae, Asia Minor? It was the Father of their spiritual Leader, Jesus Christ, and his Father is the God who is “the Most High over all the earth” and “whose name is Jehovah.”​—Psalm 83:18.

The diametrical opposite of hate is love, love of Jehovah and of his Christ and of our Christian brothers and sisters. The personality that exhibits this quality is the personality that the inspired apostle Paul tells us to put on as disciples of Jesus Christ. If we do this we shall be recommending ourselves to others as God’s ministers by a “love free from hypocrisy.” (2 Corinthians 6:4-10) This love originates with God, and our possessing it means that we have come into relationship with him through our turning our backs upon the world as far as being heart and soul in tune with it is concerned. God views the world as dead and those who are part of it as also dead; certainly they are not alive to him. In God’s view we dedicated, baptized disciples of Jesus Christ live; yes, we live as a part of His organization, in which love obtains. It is therefore no exaggerated statement that 1 John 3:14 makes when it tells us: “We know we have passed over from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love remains in death.”

11. Into what brotherhood does love admit us?

¹¹ We thus see that love admits us into a brotherhood in which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our older brother. This Christian quality is a vesture, or clothing, by means of which we should indicate or display just what we are, without hypocrisy. It is the crowning feature that God’s Word says we must cultivate and practice.

12. What steps must be taken to attain to that love, and must the things that comprise those steps thereafter be dropped?

¹² Understandably there are certain steps that an obedient disciple needs to take in order to attain to the genuine kind of love. To those who have set before them the glorious prize of the divine nature in heaven, 2 Peter 1:5-8 says: “Yes, for this very reason, by your contributing in response all earnest effort, supply to your faith virtue, to your virtue knowledge, to your knowledge self-control, to your self-control endurance, to your endurance godly devotion, to your godly devotion brotherly affection, to your brotherly affection love. For if these things exist in you and overflow, they will prevent you from being either inactive or unfruitful regarding the accurate knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The several things that are added must not be dropped after the crowning quality of love has been attained. No, but faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godly devotion and brotherly affection must remain as integral parts of our fully rounded out personality. They must abound along with love. In that case those who have such permanent personality traits will receive the prize at God’s hands in his due time.

13. How does Paul enlarge upon those preliminary steps at Colossians 3:12-14?

¹³ As an enlargement on the things that we need to do to ourselves in order to gain an appropriate reward, there may fittingly be mentioned here the qualities that the apostle Paul says we must wear as an expression of our personality. Before he points out what is the perfect bond of union, Paul says: “Accordingly, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another. Even as Jehovah freely forgave you, so do you also. But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.”​—Colossians 3:12-14.

A Contrast With Those Not United

14. What sort of persons were the members of the Christian congregation before their acting on the instructions of the apostles?

¹⁴ Those instructions of the apostles indicate the kind of persons that the members of the Christian congregation should be. Formerly they were part of the unlovable godless world with all its devilish qualities. So what sort of personalities were they then? At 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 the apostle Paul points this out, saying: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves . . . will inherit God’s kingdom. And yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.”

15. Why do worldly persons not have the “bond of union” that persists?

¹⁵ It would be hard for worldly persons of the above description to have something of an unselfish, pure kind to serve as an unbreakable, perfect binder for them. Indeed, they have no “perfect bond of union.” Hence, human society outside in the old world is not holding together. For a while things of common self-interest may hold them together. But in course of time, when these things of common self-concern are taken away, worldlings lose interest in one another. Binding ties are dissolved. So, finally, they merely endure one another as unavoidable fellow humans in a community.

17. God’s Kingdom calls for what on the part of those who are seeking it first, and what is it that helps them in this behalf?

¹⁷ God’s Kingdom has no partnership with this world and its devotees. In the face of the colossal failure of the world under Satan to unify its adherents, God’s Kingdom under Christ calls for unified action and service on the part of those dedicated, baptized Christians who are seeking it first. This Kingdom is the product of God’s love. The very spirit of that celestial government is love, above all a love for God and a hatred for his chief enemy, Satan, and the world of which he is “the god.” Despite all the disruptive efforts on the part of Satan, this love that emanates from Jehovah God, the heavenly Father, continues to function as the “perfect bond of union” for all those who adhere to his visible earthly organization, yes, for all the family of God both in heaven and on earth.

Love as a “Bond of Union” Proves to Be “Perfect”

1. In what way can Jehovah be compared to a forger, and in what way does every family owe its name to him?

THE greatest Forger in the universe, Jehovah God the Almighty, can forge a “bond of union” that will hold firm forever.