What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds
And you presume to take what James was teaching as a way for fellow believers to discern the spiritual status of an one, and then apply it speciously to believe it supports working your way to eternal life. How quaint.
Fine.
Our faith is demonstrated by our works.
It’s still the faith that saves.
Indeed, deeds demonstrate faith. They don’t play a role in regeneration. As it says in Ephesians 2, we are saved “unto good works.”