It is only "difficult" because you need to spin it to say the diametrical opposite of what it says. We are saved by faith and works, which are both the gift that comes with the grace. Not by faith alone. Understand that, and no single passage in the Bible needs to be so shamefully spinned.
Rom 3:20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law
Correct.. The works that contribute to salvation are indeed not the works done in obedience to any law. The Protestant error is to think that because there are many passages in the Gospel where it is said that we are not saved by works of the law, or works for which there is a temporal reward, then -- that is the error -- we are not saved by ANY works. Once you make this logical error, you need to spin away 80% of the gospel, that calls for good works as a condition of salvation. You need to spin, for example, St. Paul just in the previous chapter of Romans (Rm 2:6-10), the second half of Matthew 25, the Parable of the Talents, Titus 3:1-8, and just anywhere were people are called to charity.
But having spun all these you still cannot overturn the simlpe scriptural fact: not a single verse says that we are saved by faith alone; and James 2:17ff says plainly that we are not saved by faith alone. You do not have faith in the scripture, through whcih Christ is speaking to you. You instead have faith in the Protestant traditions of bamboozling the ignorant about what the Gospel really says.
How do you read the following ?
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Isaiah 64:6
filthy HSN-5708
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
We are saved by faith and works, which are both the gift that comes with the grace. Not by faith alone.
When you say "faith and works", what do you mean by faith? What does that word, faith, mean a RC?
Interesting word you choose: bamboozling: 1. to deceive or get the better of (someone) by trickery, flattery, or the like; humbug; hoodwink (often fol. by into ): They bamboozled us into joining the club.
2. to perplex; mystify.
3. to practice trickery, deception, cozenage, or the like.
Tell me, what would be the motive for us "Protestants" to trick people from what the Gospel says? Who benefits from preaching the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone (which IS the good news, BTW)? Who benefits from preaching salvation can only come as a result of exclusive attendance, adherence and obedience to only one organization and condemnation for anyone who does not? Interesting choice of words indeed!
Tell you what, I'll stick with what Scripture - God's own revealed words - tells me is the truth and you can choose to follow what fallible men think it is. But answer this one question: Who is glorified when salvation is based upon man's good deeds?