Theological Comparison of the New Covenant of Grace and the Old Covenant of the Law: A Detailed Study Rooted in Ephesians 2:11–22
Introduction
The theme of covenant is central to the biblical narrative, shaping God’s relationship with humanity from creation through redemption. The new covenant is called by Paul a ministry of reconciliation, righteousness, and of the Spirit. The shift from the old Mosaic covenant—rooted in the Law given to Israel at Sinai—to the new covenant of grace established in Christ, fundamentally redefines how people approach God, community, and salvation. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, particularly 2:11–22, provides a remarkably clear and rich theological exposition of this transition, addressing not only the spiritual implications for Jews and Gentiles but also the very nature of the church as God’s new creation.
This report develops an in-depth, paragraph-driven theological comparison between the old and new covenants, structured around nine key themes derived from the core of Ephesians 2:11–22. Each section integrates detailed exegetical insights, supporting scriptures, Greek word studies from the MOUNCE interlinear, and current scholarly commentary, supplemented by quotations from lovefullied.org and topical sources on covenant theology.
1. The Gentiles Were Never Under the Law but Were Excluded from Israel by a Hostile Dividing Wall
Ephesians 2:11–12 emphatically recalls the former state of Gentiles as outsiders to Israel’s covenants and promises:
"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called 'the uncircumcision' by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world".
The Greek term for “strangers” here, ξένοι (xenoi), underscores their excluded status—an absence from the sphere of covenantal fellowship, hope, and God Himself. MOUNCE’s interlinear further clarifies the language: those “named the uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands” (ἐν σαρκὶ χειροποιήτου, en sarki cheiropoiētou). The contrast is physical and genealogical, not merely spiritual.
Scholars note that Gentiles were never directly under the Mosaic Law; they were distinct precisely because the Law was not given to them. Their plight was covenantal, not in terms of direct obligation to the Law but in their separation from the promises and privileges mediated through Israel’s covenants. As Greever observes, “The covenants the Gentiles were estranged from consisted of all the covenants properly associated with Israel: the Abrahamic, Sinai, Davidic, and the new covenant”. The Law, particularly in its ceremonial and national applications (e.g., circumcision, dietary restrictions, festivals), temple service, served as a social and spiritual boundary—a "dividing wall" (μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ, mesotoichon tou phragmou), creating enmity and exclusion.
This foundational truth is also recognized in ancient and modern commentary: “The gentiles however were never ‘under’ (beholden to) the law so they didn’t need to die to the law. So now the law is not a barrier in the new regime”, and “The Old Covenant represented God as a consuming fire... for the Sinai Covenant was made with them, not with unbelievers of the Gentiles”. Thus, the old covenant’s real function regarding Gentiles was to reinforce their exclusion—an external, structural estrangement, not an internalized legal condemnation. The Gentiles were excluded,
"alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world..."
Yet, now a better covenant is introduced, a better hope, so that even in their distance, Gentiles are now in Christ “brought near by the blood of Christ” (ἐγενήθητε ἐγγὺς ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, egenēthēte engys en tō haimati tou Christou, Ephesians 2:13). The dividing wall, entirely constructed by the Law in its “ordinances” (δόγμασιν, dogmasin), is thus not merely a set of rules, but a system sustaining separateness and hostility.
2. The Law Was Hostile to the Jews as Well, Bringing a Curse; Jesus Nailed This Hostility to the Cross
The Law was not merely a dividing wall of exclusion for Gentiles; it was a burden and source of hostility for the Jews themselves. In Ephesians 2:15, Paul writes that Christ “abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances,” (τὸν νόμον τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐν δόγμασιν, ton nomon tōn entolōn en dogmasin, καταργήσας ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, katargēsas en tē sarki autou). The Greek verb καταργέω (katargeō) here, as scholars note, denotes “to render inoperative, to annul, to make void”—not to destroy God’s spiritual laws and holiness as a moral standard, but to remove its role as a system of condemnation and exclusion.
For Jews, the Law was simultaneously a privilege and a curse. It revealed God’s righteous will and set Israel apart, but human inability to fulfill it brought condemnation and wrath, not life (Romans 7:10–11; Galatians 3:10–13).
The “curse” of the Law, summarized in Deuteronomy 27:26 and cited regularly by Paul (Galatians 3:10), is that all who fail in even one point are subject to its penalty. The Law’s function in the old covenant was “a ministration of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:7; cf. Romans 3:19–20). Jesus “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13), a point that Ephesians 2 visualizes in Him nailing the enmity, hostility, and condemnation to the cross (Colossians 2:14).
The Greek in MOUNCE interlinear corroborates this through the phrase “in his flesh” (ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ αὐτοῦ, en tē sarki autou), pointing directly to the incarnate suffering and real atoning death of Christ as the means of neutralizing both the curse and the relational hostility the Law produced.
3. Jew and Gentile Are Now One in Christ, with No Distinction
The True Jew is Defined by Circumcision of the Heart by the Spirit; Children of the Promise and of Abraham’s Faith
The new covenant inaugurates a dramatic redefinition of God’s people—not in terms of ethnicity or ritual, but in spiritual transformation and faith, in fulfillment of earlier prophetic hopes (e.g., Jeremiah 31:33–34; Ezekiel 36:26–27). Paul writes that “He might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace” (εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον, eis hena kainon anthrōpon, Ephesians 2:15). Here, the Greek word καινός (kainos) emphasizes newness of kind—a new humanity, not a mere reformed old one, but a "new creation" of which is entirely in Christ, the creator of all things (John 1:3).
The emblem of genuine covenant membership is now “circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not fleshly, not by the written code” (Romans 2:28–29). Paul is explicit: “No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from people, but from God.” Here, MOUNCE’s interlinear highlights the Greek καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι οὐ γράμματι (kardias en pneumati ou grammati), strongly denying any saving efficacy to ethnic or ritual markers.
This “radicalizing of the concept Jew,” as Bill Mounce observes, signals a theological transition: the people of God are defined solely by the Spirit’s regenerating work (cf. Colossians 2:11–12; Philippians 3:3), not by adherence to the Law or physical markers.
This spiritual definition echoes the language of “children of the promise”—those who, like Abraham, are justified by faith (Romans 4:3, 16; Galatians 3:7–9), and are incorporated into the one people of God, irrespective of natural descent. “If you belong to Messiah,” Paul writes, “then you are Abraham’s seed—heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).
"I am saying this, the law which came four hundred and sixty years later, doe snot anul a covenant established under God, to the extent make the promise void" (Galatians 3:17)
Paul establishes that the gospel is based on the promise, it was preached to Abraham beforehand, and the promise as it says here is a covenant by God. The writer of Hebrews tells us there is an establishment of a will (testament, covenant) on a greater oath, the word of God (Hebrews 6:13-18; Hebrews 9:16-17).4. Ephesians 2:14–16: Jesus as Our Peace, Removing the Dividing Wall and Commandments That Had No Power over the Flesh—A New Man Created in Christ, Born of the Spirit
The heart of Paul’s argument in Ephesians 2 is that Jesus Himself is our peace (αὐτὸς ... ἐστιν ἡ εἰρήνη ἡμῶν, autos ... estin hē eirēnē hēmōn, 2:14). In Him, the ancient enmity—the “dividing wall of hostility”—is “broken down” (τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας, to mesotoichon tou phragmou lysas), a phrase evoking both the actual wall in the temple (the soreg) and its greater spiritual parallel. Greek word studies confirm that the wall (μεσότοιχον, mesotoichon) and hostility (ἔχθρα, echthra) are not abstract, but real barriers of access, community, and worship.
“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances” deploys two significant terms: νομος (nomos—law) and δόγμασιν (dogmasin—decrees, statutes). MOUNCE’s interlinear and New Testament usage clarify that dogma refers specifically to “statute, decree, ordinance”—imposed law distinct from moral or natural law. This Law—given at Sinai—was incapable of enabling the heart or conquering sin; it worked only externally, “having no power over the flesh” (cf. Romans 8:3 “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son...”).
From this abolition, Jesus “created in himself one new man ... so making peace.” This creation (κτίσῃ, ktisē) is a new act of God, paralleling the new creation of 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15. Born not of lineage but of the Spirit, this new community walks “in newness of life” (Romans 6:4; 7:6; John 1:12–13)—the “living way” prophesied by the prophets and inaugurated in Christ.
5. Jesus Reconciles Both to God Through the Cross: The New Covenant as Ministry of Reconciliation—Restoring Relationship Through Mercy and Love, Not Hostility
The climactic purpose of the new covenant is not only horizontal peace (Jew/Gentile) but vertical reconciliation with God: “...that he might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Ephesians 2:16, ἵνα ἀποκαταλλάξῃ τοὺς ἀμφοτέρους ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ). The Greek verb ἀποκαταλλάσσω (apokatallassō) means to fully restore an estranged relationship—a stronger form than the more common usage, indicating the total and mutual restoration of peace.
At the cross, Jesus did not merely remove ritual boundaries; He resolved the deeper spiritual problem—the enmity stemming from sin and the Law’s verdict. Thus, the cross is both a demonstration of God’s love (“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”—Romans 5:8) and the site of legal propitiation (“by his blood, to be received by faith”—Romans 3:25). As lovefullied.org underscores the scriptures: “We are saved not just from wrath but through his life,
"For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:10)
This ministry of reconciliation defines the new covenant: “God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18–19).
The old covenant’s mode counted sin against, carried a cursed, and hostility causing separation; the new “restores relationship through mercy and love, not hostility” demonstrating God's loving-kindness from the riches of his grace and glory (Ephesians 2:7).
6. Jesus Preached Peace to Both Jew and Gentile: Access to the Father Through the Spirit; Membership in God’s Family; the Spirit and Blood Testify That We Are Children of God
Paul further unfolds the practical outworking of this new relationship: “And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:17–18). The Greek verb εὐηγγελίσατο (euēngelizato, “preached the good news”) and the noun eirēnē (peace) echo Isaiah’s prophecies (Isaiah 57:19) of peace to those far (Gentiles) and near (Jews).
This is more than a temporary truce; it is full, mutual access (προσαγωγή, prosagōgē) “by one Spirit to the Father.” This word, according to Greek lexicons, denotes “the right of access or approach, in the company of a mediator.” No longer are Gentiles kept at a distance; the Spirit grants both groups free familial access (cf. Romans 5:2; Hebrews 10:19–22; John 14:6). Jesus came to give, to those who received him, this right to be born of God, to enter into a new living way into his kingdom (John 1:12).
The immediate effect is inclusion in God’s household (Ephesians 2:19)—not only union with Christ but adoption as children (Romans 8:14–17). “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”, testifying to our new identity and inheritance. As lovefullied.org states, “The Spirit and blood testify that we are children of God”—The Spirit is both the sign and agent of this adopted status.
Both are made one through the Spirit which profoundly redefines the children and household of God.
7. This One New Man is Part of a Spiritual House, Not an Earthly People with Animal Sacrifices—Jesus being the Foundation Stone
The people of the new covenant are reimagined as a “spiritual house” or “temple,” rather than a nation defined by geography or ancestral rites (Ephesians 2:19–22). Paul utilizes architectural imagery: “...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (ἐποικοδομηθέντες ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν, ὄντος ἀκρογωνιαίου αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Ephesians 2:20; see also 1 Peter 2:5–7).
The Greek word for “cornerstone,” ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogōniaios), refers to the foundational stone which determines the alignment of the entire structure. Jesus is thus “the plumb line for truth,” the measure by which all (apostolic and prophetic) teaching and every member must be aligned. All scripture inspired by God is for teaching, "... that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
It is wrong to use this verse to apply to the Mosaic Law in regards to maturity. We know the Law did not perfect or mature, it was a shadow of the reality that comes in Christ. What this is saying is scripture inspired by God edifies the church and has the gospel to build it up into maturity in Christ. This is the new covenant reality of the living word who became flesh, who offer food that endures unto life.
So the Mosaic Law was not a teacher or tutor in the sense that it matures men into God's image and righteousness. Thus such a statement in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 by Paul is contextual, drawing it boundaries to what builds up the church, the word of God who exists Christ, the word of God that became flesh, in whose unveiled face shines the glory of God that perfects men.
Crucially, the sacrificial system of the old covenant—the “shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1)—has been fulfilled and replaced by Christ’s perfect offering. Animal sacrifices, the temple being a central institution of old covenant worship, gave only provisional, ceremonial access; now, as Hebrews and Ephesians both claim, we approach God “through the veil, that is to say, His flesh” (Hebrews 10:19–20). The entire spiritual house is “being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord … a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21–22).
8. Purpose of the Church (Ephesians 2:20–22 and 4:1–24): Growth in Unity, Truth, and Maturity into a Holy Temple and Dwelling Place of God
The shift from old to new covenant also reframes the purpose and goal of God’s people. Under the old covenant, Israel’s identity was primarily national and ritual, it was to be a light to the world, a city on a hill. Under the new, the church’s calling is to grow together in spiritual unity, maturity, and holiness as God’s true dwelling place thus the light is the life of Jesus reflected through it.
Ephesians 4:1–24 makes this explicit: believers are called to one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism—reflecting an inseparable unity (Ephesians 4:4–6). The “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24), is the fruit of a corporate process of growth: “attaining unity of faith in knowledge of him, to mature adulthood, to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).
The structure and life of the church are therefore built on gifts—apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers (Ephesians 4:11–12)—for “equipping of the saints for the work of ministry” and building up “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God… mature, attaining to the whole measure” of Christ’s fullness. The ultimate result envisioned is a unified “holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:21), a heavenly, Spirit-filled house.
Lovefullied.org and commentators stress that this trajectory—unity, maturity, truth, love, and service—contrasts sharply with the old covenant’s externalism. The church is “an organism not just an organization,” called to embody Christ’s indwelling presence on earth.
The building up of the house into maturity is not singular in gift or purpose. The house is made up of many members with a diversity of gifts that build it up to the glory of God, working out his good according to what God purposed in Christ, so to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:28-29).9. Bound to Christ in a New Covenant of His Blood, Living by the Spirit, Not the Written Code
The summit of Paul’s theological exposition is that believers are bound in a new covenant inaugurated by Jesus’ blood—the law replaced by the indwelling, life-giving Spirit (see Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:6, 13). No longer are God’s people to “serve in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6; 2 Corinthians 3:6). The “law of commandments contained in ordinances” is “abolished” (καταργήσας, katargēsas)—rendered totally inoperative as a covenantal pathway to God—but the substance of the Law (love for God and neighbor, Micah 6:8; Matthew 22:37–40) is fulfilled and empowered by the Spirit.
The language of Jeremiah 31:31–34 is crucial: “I will put my law with them, on their minds, and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they shall be my people” and Ezekiel 36:26 "And I will give you a new heart and a new Spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone..." In Hebrews 8:10, the writes quotes Ezekiel 36:26 and equates this prophecy to the new covenant.
The difference is not the disappearance of the law’s moral vision but its internalization (Hebrews 8; Ezekiel 36:27). By the Spirit, believers can walk in real obedience and freedom; “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
In this new living way of the Spirit is that the laws of God are within. Very important, is our part; that the laws of God are served with the mind, Romans 7:25. As the Spirit writes them there, guiding us into the truth. Do you see the difference between living to written code and the new living way of the Spirit?
This spiritual dynamism stands in complete contrast to the impotence of the Law as an external code. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). The Spirit, not the “written code,” defines the newness, maturity, and future of God’s people.
As lovefullied.org eloquently puts it, “It’s not written on stone anymore, but Spirit on hearts that makes us covenant-keepers under Christ’s everlasting, indestructible blood.” The church walks as “ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Table: Old Covenant (Law) vs New Covenant (Grace) in Light of Ephesians 2:11–22
| Aspect | Old Covenant (Law) | New Covenant (Grace) |
|---|---|---|
| Recipients | Israel (nation, by birth/circumcision) | Jew & Gentile; both one “in Christ” by faith |
| Basis | Law of Moses: external commands | Christ’s blood, internal transformation |
| Access to God | Mediated via priest, temple, sacrifices | Direct access by Spirit; Jesus as High Priest |
| Sign of covenant | Circumcision, ritual observance | Circumcision of heart by the Spirit, baptism |
| Relationship with God | Conditional, often external | Unconditional, intimate, internal (adoption) |
| Power for obedience | Fear of punishment from the Law written on stone, external rules | Spirit within empowering obedience, laws written on the mind and heart |
| Status of Gentiles | Excluded, separated by the Law | Brought near, full members, heirs with Israel, no longer fleshly define but spiritually |
| Sacrifice | Animal blood, repeated offerings | Once-for-all: Jesus’ sacrifice, perfect and complete |
| Nature of the People | Nation, earthly, ethnic, ritual | Spiritual house, holy temple, one new man, people of all nations |
| End Goal | Temporal blessing, national holiness | Universal unity, maturity, likeness to Christ |
Each cell in the table above highlights the essential changes between the two covenants as developed through Ephesians 2:11–22 and further illuminated by additional scriptural and theological testimony. In each line, the “new” is not just a better method but a wholly realized new creation enabled by Christ and actualized by the Spirit.
Greek Word Studies in Ephesians 2:11–22 (MOUNCE and Major Theological Nuances)
- Διαθήκη (diathēkē, "covenant"): Used in Ephesians 2:12; pivotal in distinguishing both “covenants of the promise” (old, plural) and the singular “new covenant” as fulfillment. In the Septuagint and NT, διαθήκη most often refers to God’s binding arrangement—His initiative and promise.
- Μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ (mesotoichon tou phragmou, “dividing wall of hostility”): Connotes not just separation but actively enforced exclusion, both literal (temple wall) and metaphorical.
- Ἔχθρα (echthra, “hostility, enmity”): Not mere animosity, but God’s judicial and relational wrath under the Law, abolished in Christ’s body on the cross.
- Καταργήσας (katargēsas, “having abolished”): To render inoperative, make ineffective—a legal term for nullification. Used here for the Law’s function in dividing and condemning.
- Δόγμασιν (dogmasin, “decrees, ordinances”): Refers to the ceremonial statutes and judgments (not the eternal moral law), thereby indicating what aspect of the Law Paul means to say has been abolished.
- Καινὸν ἄνθρωπον (kainon anthrōpon, "new man"): A newly created kind of humanity, a category transcending Jew/Gentile, not merely the “improved old”.
- Αποκαταλλάξῃ (apokatallaxē, "reconcile"): To bring back together, especially from a state of hostility or separation. Carries strong connotations of complete, effective peacemaking, not just cessation of hostility.
- Προσαγωγή (prosagōgē, “access”): The privilege of introduction by a mediator into the presence of royalty; here, spiritualized as our mediated, constant access to the Father by the Spirit.
- Ακρογωνιαίου (akrogōniaiou, “cornerstone”): The first and most important stone, fixing the structure’s orientation and unity; a clear Christological statement about Jesus’ role in the church.
Key Quotations from lovefullied.org and Scholarly Summaries
- “The true Jew is defined by circumcision of the heart by the Spirit ... The mark of membership in this new covenant would not be defined along the same genealogical and ethnic lines as defined within the old covenant, but along the lines of new birth of the Spirit, changed hearts that trust and hope in the Lord.”
- “The new covenant is a ministry of reconciliation, restoring relationship through mercy and love, not hostility.”
- “The law of sin and death the law of Moses we do not follow any more. We now follow after a new laws, the 'Law of faith" and ‘The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’ Which will make a man free from sin and death.”
Synthesis: The Purpose and Hope of the New Covenant
The cumulative effect of Ephesians 2:11–22, illuminated by both Greek study and modern theological interpretation, is that the new covenant is not a mere correction or revision of the old, but its fulfillment and transcendence (cf. Jeremiah 31:31–34; Hebrews 8:6–13). Wall and curse—the Law’s dual function—are neutralized at the cross. The “one new man,” the corporate church, becomes “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10), a united, holy, Spirit-filled temple shaped and held together by Jesus, the true cornerstone.
Gentiles, once strangers, are now not merely guests but citizens and family, co-heirs and full participants in all the covenants’ promises. Jews, once under the Law’s curse, now find their inheritance fulfilled not by their own works but by Christ’s perfect obedience and Spirit-wrought faith. Together, they are invited to walk not in “the oldness of the letter, but in newness of the Spirit” (Romans 7:6).
Most deeply of all, the new covenant points forward—the church is the prototype and advance sign of God’s new creation. The unity, peace, holiness, and love for which the covenants and Law longed find their full flowering in a community bound to Christ and empowered by His Spirit. And “in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). This is true unity and fellowship of Spirit and truth.
Conclusion
Ephesians 2:11–22 offers a compelling, Spirit-inspired summary of the entire arc of redemptive history—tracing the story from exclusion and legal condemnation to Spirit-freed, grace-empowered participation in God’s eternal life. Every dividing wall has been toppled at the cross; every hint of curse is dissolved in Christ’s blood. The old written code, though good and holy, yielded to the age of the Spirit—an inner law and life making a new humanity, a temple, a family, and a kingdom.
Jew and Gentile alike are summoned to this new covenant—not by family, nation, or ritual, but by faith according to grace and the Spirit’s transforming indwelling. Scriptures affirm, the new covenant is a ministry of reconciliation, righteousness, and of the Spirit. Founded on faith, sustained by love, and destined for the harmony and maturity of God’s people as His holy dwelling forever. In Christ, the long-awaited hope of all the covenants, the promise is fully Yes and Amen.
Prayer and Praise
Glory, praise and honor be to God for his precious insight, into the living word. Who came in the form of and from God, who became flesh and dwelt among men, in whose face shines the unveiled glory of God. May your glorious purpose stand in him for all to see;
- The church as a light unto the world. For sinners; the hurting and needy, the lost and forsaken, those without hope and without God.
- The church built up as a holy temple unto you. Founded on the foundation stone, built up a spiritual people in the fullness of your glory, the measurement of that being the image of your Son.
May your people, your Israel of promise bring praise and honor and glory to you. So be it God.