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The Mosaic Law was never actually able to bring about holiness - not because the law was bad, but because man was bad, thus incapable of fulfilling it. However, after centuries of Jewish culture grounded in God's old covenant law, Judaism's moralistic works of holiness were difficult to let go of for many people. Jesus was, as the Scriptures said, "The stone that made men stumble and the rock that made them fall." Many could not understand the truth that Jesus had died "once and for all." Many continued in their works of moral goodness, which is why Paul labored so meticulously with them in explaining to them that the Scriptures they read as a list of rules to become holy were actually full of prophetic anticipation of the Messiah - the One who would wipe away every tear from their eye that the people cried because they could not keep the law, and take on all their sins from all their law-breaking. Many people could not understand these things, so they continued - by the providence of God - in their works, only to die un-redeemed at the end of their miserable struggle to do enough good.