There is a popular Roman Catholic YouTuber names “How to be Christian” that is being popularized by former Protestants such as Sam Shamoun. He recently did a video on the issue of Sola Fide in Romans 4:1-12.

Here is the passage:

4 What, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor? ² For if Abraham was justified by actions [works], he would have had something to boast about—though not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴ Now to someone who works, wages are not considered a gift but an obligation. ⁵ However, to someone who does not work, but simply believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. ⁶ Likewise, David also speaks of the blessedness of the person whom God regards as righteous apart from actions:

⁹ Now does this blessedness come to the circumcised alone, or also to the uncircumcised? For we say, “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.” ¹⁰ Under what circumstances was it credited? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised? He had not yet been circumcised, but was uncircumcised. ¹¹ Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them. ¹² He is also the ancestor of the circumcised—those who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Essentially, his argument is that this is just referring only to the Mosaic Law. This is a common argument that Catholics use for this passage and I maintain that it has apparent flaws. Namely, the example Paul starts with is Abraham. Abraham was prior to the Mosaic Law. The general usage of works is probably utilized by Paul to recognize that fact. The issue of circumcision is prior to the Law of Moses as well. Circumcision was required since the Abrahamic covenant. Hence his argument about when Abraham was circumcised. Furthermore, Paul attaches this notion to our everyday life of working for a wage. The point being that no deeds that normal humans can do can merit God’s mercy. This leaves them with no ability to boast. This is why even Catholic NT Scholars have interpretations closer to Protestants rather than Catholic apologists:

For Paul the OT text, which makes no mention of any deeds, reveals that Abraham was justified, i.e., was put in a right relationship with God, apart from any deeds; so he could have no reason to boast before God.

Fitzmyer, J. A., S. J. (2008). Romans: a new translation with introduction and commentary (Vol. 33, p. 373). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.

Furthermore, unlike Roman Catholicism, God justifies the ungodly. This where he moves from his example of Abraham to the other example being David and probably referring to when he commits murder and adultery. God justified David apart from his deeds/prior to his deeds and this picture is much different from the Catholic perspective. The Catholic would maintain that justification is a lifelong process of the complete “renewal” of a person from baptism to the grave. This is different from what Paul writes because they are justified apart from works and of course prior to their works. If Abraham or David are justified in some sense after their deeds then Paul’s argument fails because his argument is they were justified before and apart from their good deeds. If I were to explain the forensic language in the chapter the Catholic would usually be predisposed to state that this is a legal fiction:

http://spirited-tech.com/2021/01/20/sola-fide-matt-salih-vs-jeremiah-nortier/

http://spirited-tech.com/2021/01/26/justification-before-the-judge/

http://spirited-tech.com/2021/01/12/justification-is-by-faith-alone-issues-and-evidence-2/

http://spirited-tech.com/2021/01/12/jesus-imputed-righteousness-an-exegetical-case/

We should also recognize that the specific way to be justified was by faith. There is no mention of any other things to justify someone. That is an odd silence if they are Roman Catholics. There is also an issue of what I have called “The Abrahamic Dilemma” that the video doesn’t speak about. I think that no one should be compelled by the argumentation provided by “how to be Christian”.

http://spirited-tech.com/2021/01/05/the-abrahamic-dilemma-father-of-the-faithful/