Claiming that these verses only have to do with keeping the law of Moses just doesn't hold water when the actual list of sins include (from Romans chapter 3:11-19):
1) Not understanding nor even bothering to seek God.
2) Being deceptive and venomous with our speech.
3) Having a mouth full of cursing and bitterness.
4) Being destructive and the cause of misery.
5) Having no fear of God.
After going through this the Apostle denies the possibility of salvation by works, affirms the universality of guilt (which, at the beginning of the chapter, includes both Jews and Gentiles, the latter of which was never under the law of Moses), and affirms salvation by the righteousness of faith:
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Rom 3:19-23)
The claim, therefore, that Paul is merely referring to not having to keep Jewish ritual laws, and not rather that Paul finds both Jews and Gentiles universally guilty under the moral law, is thoroughly refuted with this.
To emphasize the point, again, read the beginning of the chapter. It reads "both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." If Paul speaks only of the law of Moses, then the Gentiles cannot be condemned by the law in verse 19-23. The law meant, therefore, is the universal moral law, and not the law of Moses only.
St. Paul had already made very clear in Romans 2:6-7 that good works are necessary for eternal life, at least in one sense: For [God] will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life...
First, it is necessary to point out that both chapters 1 and 2 are actually used by Paul not to prove that anyone can be saved by works, but to prove the universality of guilt:
"What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" (Rom 3:9-10)
Note that he says that it was "before proved" that all are under sin. Where? In Romans 1 and 2. The first chapter showing the guilt of the Gentiles, and the second being a rebuke against the Jews. The verses this website of yours cite are an argument spurning the Jews sense of specialness, for many of them believed that the Gentiles were something like animals, and that they had no hope. Paul proves here that God is no respecter of persons, that He will reward everyone justly, regardless of who they are, and that is how Paul concludes that section:
"For there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;" (Rom 2:11-12)
While it is absolutely true that God would reward good works and punish bad ones, it is evident from the rest of the chapter that both Jews and Gentiles are guilty under the law, the Jews by the law of Moses, and the Gentiles by the law written on their hearts. Since God does not ignore your sins if you do good works, but takes account of your sins and consequently judges you for them.
We are bound to follow “the law of Christ” as St. Paul said in I Cor. 9:21, but we must understand that we are saved by grace through the instruments of faith and obedience. That obedience includes keeping the Ten Commandments, but the keeping of the commandments is an instrument—a necessary instrument—through which the grace of God flows and keeps us in Christ, the principle of reward for us. Thus, we have to keep the commandments to be saved, but we understand it is only through grace that we can do so.
This is a great deal of sophistry, because the Papist here understands and feels that the scripture clearly teaches that we cannot be saved by our merits, but by grace only. However, he also wants to assert that we are saved by merits. So how do they overcome this? By saying that we are saved by grace, because grace grants us the merits enough to be saved. IOW, I am saved by my works, but my works were given to me by grace. But this is revealed to be deception if you consider this one question in light of all the other things Romanists teach:
Supposing you have two people who both receive the same grace to be saved, but one goes to heaven and the other hell, what is it that makes the one person going to heaven differ from the one going to hell?
Keep in mind that Papists believe 1) Grace is universal. 2) Grace can be lost.
Clearly, in such a case, Grace does not save anyone, but rather one person's obedience, or faith, or submission, or some qualitative difference, that causes the person going to heaven to be accepted and the one going to hell to not be.
Thus the Papist cannot really believe that he is saved by grace, because he does not believe that salvation really depends entirely on grace. His salvation depends on him meeting God's mercy part way. But this is a palpable contradiction of many scriptures.
I will also add another matter, the fact that Paul directly speaks on this matter, and places justification-- that is, righteousness in the sight of God, being accepted by Him-- prior to good works:
"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:" (Rom 4:4-11)
Note how Paul makes circumcision-- which was an obedience to the law-- a seal of that righteousness of faith that Abraham "had yet" in uncircumcision. Further, note that it is explicitly said, that we are justified by the righteousness of faith, the imputed righteousness of Christ, "without works." But according to the Papist conception, we are not justified until works complete faith. In these verses, however, we can only conclude that good works are the demonstration of a living faith.
The works that justify us (as we saw in Romans 2:6-7) are works done in Christ.
Another problem to point out here is that: the works that the Jews did were, by definition, "works done in Christ," or rather, works done in the hope of a promised Messiah. When Paul speaks of the Jews, he does not speak of Jews who obey the law apart from faith. Their faith and works are also bound all at once. To speak in this way implies that the Jews were atheists who only believed in good works.
The problem was, these Jews were rejecting Christ, and, furthermore, believed that their acceptance with God depended on their good works towards Him, and not rather by the mercy of God. But Christ and all the New Testament make clear that salvation has no part with works (though works are commanded and expected), but with mercy only:
"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luk 18:11-14)
Now the Papist would expect you to believe that as long as the Papist feels himself humble, he can yet perform good works and earn his salvation. But to be humble requires an admission that we cannot be saved by our works. "Be merciful to me a sinner." It is a contradiction to think that a man may be saved by his works joining to his faith, but provided he doesn't brag about it, he can still get to heaven! That is clearly not the case. The publican goes to heaven because he feels that his sin is weightier than any of his good works, and thus cannot be saved except by mercy. But if it is by mercy, it is not by merit or debt that God might owe you of any kind for anything you do:
Rom_9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
In Romans 6:16, St. Paul goes on to tell us that after baptism (cf. Romans 6:3-4) obedience to Christ (that means good works!) leads us to justification while sin (that means bad works!) will lead us to death:
First, those particular verses say no such thing. Secondly, after the reader kindly looks up the verses, we have to complete the argument with its ultimate conclusion in Romans 7. Paul speaks of us as having newness in life after conversion. Indeed, we are born again, given a new heart of flesh, and God places His law into our hearts, and causes us to walk in them. This is sanctification, and it follows justification. However, this does not mean: 1) That we are then re-justified by our works. 2) This does not mean that we can be righteous enough afterwards to be justified by our works if that is indeed the case.
And this is provable by this simple conclusion by St. Paul himself, a man who is certainly more righteous (as regards obedience) than any of us, but yet has this to say of himself, when discussing the newness of his heart fighting with the sin that is yet in his flesh:
"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Rom 7:21-25)
Note the very key phrase: "O wretched man that I am!"
Now, quite clearly, no wretched man can ever merit heaven. It is clear, with these words, that Paul does not consider himself worthy of heaven based on his own merits, but sees himself as wicked under the law. Thus, none of us can hope to be saved by our own righteousness, but only by the righteousness of faith, and that also is the gift of God.
I'm getting tired so I'll cut it from there.
God’s Will Is Our Work
In his article (“Justification Sola Fide: Catholic After All?,” September-October 2009) Christopher Malloy unduly restricts the meaning of the word “work” when he says: “But I might not have opportunity to perform a work, to ‘realize’ this living faith.” Every justified person has the opportunity and the obligation to do good work.
Healed and empowered by God through the sacraments, we do good work when we do what God would have us do. Good work is nothing other than obedience to the will of God. Put another way, if God would not have us do anything other than what we are doing in a particular circumstance, then we are doing good work. In fact, we know from Scripture that good work can be something as simple as peaceful sleep. Jesus said, “My Father is working still, and I am working” (Jn 5:17). That is, every moment of his life, Jesus was doing good work. But Jesus was fully human. He slept. If Jesus was always doing good work, even while he slept, we must conclude that sleep can be good work, if that is God’s will for us at the time. And this is obvious when we recall the story of Jesus and his disciples in the storm (Mt 8, Mk 4, Lk 8). As the storm raged, Jesus slept peacefully in the boat, which enabled his disciples to learn a tough lesson about God’s faithfulness and omnipotence. Jesus was clearly doing good work by sleeping.
Let us consider a baby girl who dies just after baptism. Given her circumstance, God would not have her do anything other that what she actually does, and so she does good work, even as she dies. This is why the Church honors the holy innocents who were slaughtered for their association with Jesus (Mt 2:16). These babies did good work—God expected nothing more from them.
Why does this matter? Most Protestants object to this statement: “Good work is necessary for salvation.” But many Protestants agree with this statement: “Obedience to God’s will is necessary for salvation.” For Protestants who agree with the second statement, objections on the issue of justification are rooted in their misunderstanding of the term “good work.” For example, a Protestant might say, “The good thief was saved, yet he did no good work.” They say this because they think that “good work” necessarily means something akin to “serving meals at a homeless shelter.” But in reality, the good thief probably did only good work from the moment of his conversion to his death. This would be so, if he did all that God wanted him to do. As Bl. Teresa of Calcutta says, “Don’t think that sitting, standing, coming and going, and all that you do is not important to God.”
So, Pope Benedict XVI does not err when he says that sola fide is true, if faith is not opposed to charity, because in fact, we do good work whenever we are not opposed to charity. This is no different than saying, “sola fide is true, so long as faith incorporates obedience.” And this is what the Catholic Church has taught since her conception.
http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/god%E2%80%99s-will-is-our-work
Concur.