The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. ² I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will make your descendants very numerous.”

³ Abram fell on his face. God spoke with him. He said, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will not be Abram anymore, but your name will be Abraham,^[a] for I have made you the father of a large group of nations. ⁶ I will make you extremely fruitful, and I will produce nations from you. Kings will come out of you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you as an everlasting covenant throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

What the Father Did Through Christ

¹³ The Father rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption,^[a] the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, ¹⁶ for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and all things hold together in him.

¹⁸ He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in all things he might have the highest rank. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile all things to himself (whether things on earth or in heaven) by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Christ, the Word, Becomes Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him everything was made, and without him not one thing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was^[a] life, and the life was the light of mankind.