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Of course the law was a means of holiness. It was in fact a grace to the Israelites. Are you saying that what was mandated by God was in fact an instrument of deception by the devil? Of course the intention was to drive them to their knees. What was wrong was that they did not interpret the Law rightly, that they failed to recognize the Messiah when he came. To the extent they continued to keep the law, it did keep them together as a community, to remain faithful to their mission. Paul never stopped acting like a Jew. Neither did the Apostles, although they they had a very different view about it. Stephen pointed out the vanity of it all, but Paul promises that all the Jews would be saved, in the end.

And to the rest, it is ironic that Protestantism has reverted to the forms of the synagogues, with the Gospel now occupying the place of the Torah, and teachers like Luther in place of the rabbis--the successors of the Pharisees (all laymen).

Of course the law was a means of holiness. It was in fact a grace to the Israelites. Are you saying that what was mandated by God was in fact an instrument of deception by the devil?

Every single law, every single command ever utter by God to us was for our instruction, benefit and well-being. The fact that we rebel against God's laws and commands shows to us that while God has our best intention at heart, WE don't. Otherwise we would simply follow God's commands. When God calls us "evil", "wicked", or "perverse", He is merely stating what should be obvious to all of us; that we are in constant rebellion to everything that would lead to our happiness. It is God's great grace through our Lord Jesus that helps us somewhat of our mess.

To believe one can keep parts of the law and ignore other parts fails to show an understanding of the real intent of the Law. There was, after all, a real purpose of God for having people slice the throats of animals and letting the blood flow around the altar. Without the high cost of the sacrifice and the stench and mess it made, one could not truly understand how much just ONE sin appears to God.

The law was never a means of holiness. Nor was it God's way of putting in front of us an impossible task. It was simply to show that while God wants the very best for us, we do not. And anything that God doesn't want is sin, rebellion and evil (I know that's redundant but it's to make a point).

The extreme limit on my time compells me to answer briefly. First,

"Are you saying that what was mandated by God was in fact an instrument of deception by the devil?"

No, what was mandated by God was not an instrument of deception by the devil. It was exactly what Paul said, a tutor to lead the Jew to Jesus, who was the only One who could do the Law and was the only One who could justify. Rom.3:28,"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." Even the men of old were justified by trust that God would solve their problem...not the Law.

And, yes, the Law is gone. Rom.7:6, "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."

Serious misunderstandings of theology did, however, occur and are occurring in the world, all of which is guided by God. And, yes, of course, God is using Satan in those misunderstandings. Recall the "deluding influence" God will send. IIThess2:11 Further, you must admit one of us is seriously mistaken in this argument. Perhaps you believe truly sincere people will always find truth (your side), and thus you might question our sincerity. It does not feel to me as though either side is insincere. But, one of us, or perhaps both of us, are wrong. Is God doing the "deceiving" in one of us now? Well, evidently, yes. And, billions of other folks are wrong as well (Buddhists, Muslims, pagans, Zoroastrians, etc.).

This is, however, His perogative to guide His world the way He pre-planned to bring the most glory to Himself. It is not ego-maniacism, which is someone undeserving acting pompously. He really is the All in All. And, He is the Potter, we are the clay. Rom. 9. Some have been made for destruction, some for honor. Paul did not seem to think we deserved to have a gripe over this fact.

Thus, the Law of course could have been a means of holiness had any Jew been able to do it. Their broken natures (a picture of all humanity) mitigated against this possibility. None could, none would, none wanted to...at least that is what Paul noted their own Scriptures taught. Rom. 3.

Paul indeed stopped acting like a Jew. Rom. 10:4, "For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes." And, yes, he absolutely wrongly fell back into doing Law-bound actions (Acts 21). But, he said the Law was gone and was only suitable for teaching evil men how evil they were. ITim 1:9

Finally, I agree that Protestantism has reverted to some forms of the Law. They do, in fact, call certain buildings "sanctuaries", and they often create a "clergy". But, these are errors. And, to me Luther was nothing more than someone who noticed a part of the errors of his organization. He carried on with some of them; he corrected some of them. But, if these are reversions to the Law, Rome has clearly done this in spades.