While David C. McCasland used the term "restored" in today's ODB, I prefer the word used in verse 10 in nearly all the English versions I checked: "renewed." This passage is about one concept that the Holy Spirit is continuing to work on me: to reckon myself dead - "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Shed the dead; thrive in the alive.But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
(Colossians 3:14)
Of all the things we are to "put off" (vv 8-9) and replace with the traits we are to "put on" (vv 12-13), love is left for last and "above all" for a reason. It can act as almost a sealant that not only protects from a resurgence of all that has been "put off" while binding these traits that have been "put on" into a cohesive whole, it does so with a brilliant "mother of pearl" sheen that is to be the most recognizable feature of our fellowship:
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)(Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
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