Welcome to Digging in Deeper!  Here I will share some thoughts and comments from my own study of the Scriptures that go just a bit more in depth than not.  I am convinced that reading the Scriptures on a regular basis both for breadth and for depth is one of the most important things a follower of Jesus can do.  With this in mind, I make as my aim spending some time each morning reading.  In particular, I make use of the YouVersion Bible App.  I have found this to be an excellent tool in my own spiritual growth and I heartily recommend it to you.  Click here to learn more about it.  One of the best tools the app offers is a host of Bible reading plans.  I am currently using the plan “Bible in One Year 2017” from Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, the creators of the Alpha discipleship course.  It guides readers daily through passages from the wisdom literature, the New Testament, and the historical books and prophets until, by the end of the year, you have read through the entire Bible.

As far as the format for this section, each day that something I read strikes me enough to jot down some reflections on it, I will share first the verse or passage in total followed by my comments.  Sometimes they’ll be shorter, sometimes they’ll be longer, and you are always encouraged to read the context of the verse or passage to better understand what’ the author is saying.  You are also welcome to offer your own comments and together we can sustain a conversation that will hopefully lead to greater understanding and growth for all of us.

This first quick take comes from Romans 9:8

“This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.” (ESV)

What Paul is doing in this chapter is broadening the definition of what it means to be a part of the people of Israel, a part of the people of God.  His brethren had for centuries understood such a distinction in a single set of terms: biological.  They were God’s people because they were descendants of Abraham.  Paul points out, however, that Abraham had more than one child and yet the promise the people of Israel claimed as their own was only applied to one of them: the children of Isaac.  What’s more, Isaac had two children and the promise was only applied to one of them: Jacob.

What this means, Paul explains here, is that Israel was always intended to be more of a spiritual, symbolic designation than a physical, biological one.  The title “the people of God” was always intended to be applied to the people who were part of His promise to bless the world through the people willing to place their faith in Him and follow His lead.

In the beginning this promise was primarily offered to the genetic descendants of Abraham.  Along the way, though, God dropped lots of hints that his intention was to include more people than that…a lot more.  Jesus’ death and resurrection finally blew open the doors of that promise to include everybody; anybody willing to place their trust in Him and receive Him as Lord.

For all of those folks, they can become a part of the people of God and receive all the benefits such a distinction entails.  This was a big pill for the original group to swallow, but it was always His plan from the beginning.  He was always in the business of loving everybody.  Jesus made it possible for that to happen in full force.