If you have to argue against the false dichotomy of Salvation by works alone, then you must not have much of an argument.
There are other verses that belie Sola Fide; for example, just try reading *all* that Paul teaches about salvation, eternal life, judgement etc., (like the one I posted earlier) not just your one Pauline verse that still does not say "you are saved by faith alone."
The only place in scripture that has the words "faith alone" says "not by faith alone." Your doctrine is just not there unless you "interpret" it in or you follow a tradition that does.
"Twisted and contorted" regarding James would describe getting Sola Fide from this:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?i If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called “the friend of God.”
See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route?m
For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
You’re the one that battles the strawmen.
There is no salvation by works period. None, zip, nada. Works have no measure in our salvation; it is entirely by grace through faith with no other man made angles.
Works are to be a product of salvation, not a source. Christ paid 100% of the price.