This was also something that surprised me. Perhaps the assigned reading for the course isn’t universal but I’ll trust that it certainly represents a large swath of rabbinic thought: The idea that man is made in the image of God and can nearly attain such intimate kinship with him through successful adherence to the Law’s commands was quite unexpected. I could not stop thinking about the Tower of Babel as I read the article, the idea that strong performance makes one like God because we were made from God was not what I expected. I also could not stop myself from wanting to ask the author, as he talked about the ease of such a pristine lifestyle…”How are you doing on that front?” We teach in the church, as is taught in the NT, that the Law served to condemn: to highlight how short of the mark we fall and why we need a Jesus. He seemed incredibly confident, to say the least, of his ability to uphold the Law perfectly.
