138 Cf. Gal. 5:14 (similarly quoting Lev. 19:18).
137Cf. Eph. 4:3, σύνδεσμος τῆς εἰϱήνης. Simplicius (Epictetus 208a) says that the Pythagoreans regarded friendship (φɩλία) as the σύνδεσμος πασѽν τѽν ἀϱετѽν, “the bond of all the virtues.” Philo, with a different emphasis, says that “to honor the one God is the most effectual love-charm (φίλτϱον), the indissoluble bond (δεσμός) of unifying good will” (Special Laws 1.52).
138Cf. Gal. 5:14 (similarly quoting Lev. 19:18).
139“Love . . . holds Christians together in fellowship under the strain of all common life. Love checks the selfish, hard tempers which keep people apart and thus militate against the maturing of good fellowship. Here τελεɩότης is the full expression of the divine life in the Community, devoid of bitter words and angry feelings, and freed from the ugly defects of immorality and dishonesty. The argument is a parallel to that of Matthew 5:43-48” (J. Moffatt, Love in the New Testament [London, 1929], p. 191).
140Gk. βϱαβεύω (here only in the NT) is the simple verb from which is derived the compound ϰαταβϱαβεύω, used in Col. 2:18 (see p. 117, n. 111).
141Gk. φϱουϱέω.