I think we all ought to zoom out for a moment and stop looking at individual versus and books under a microscope. Arguing over archaic Greek cognates and idioms accomplishes nothing and when it leads to rancor it is worse than nothing.
Faith is the starting point. God calls us to seek him, to know him, to love him with all our strength. The Catechism teaches that faith is our response to God's call. God gives more than enough Grace for all to he saved. Faith is our cooperation with this Grace. Responding in faith requires we trust in the authority of God as the cause of our belief. As Blessed John Henry Newman said; “Faith is not a conclusion from premises, but an act of the will following on the conviction that to believe is a duty”. Neither is it an upwelling of emotion. Intellect, education, and reason can assist, but they cannot substitute for faith. We ultimately must choose to believe.
Works, not the observance of the Old Testament Laws, but Spiritual and Corporeal Works of Mercy are but evidence of our faith and more importantly the evidence of our our love. Love is the greatest commandment. If we do not love God above all and do not love our neighbor as ourselves we will not be saved. It is love that unites us with God who is love.
All you need is love.
No matter the semantics that Catholics play with "works" being obeying the Mosaic Law or Spiritual and Corporeal Works of Mercy, the Scripture is clear - we are saved NOT by righteous deeds, NOR works of the law, NOR any of our own righteousnesses BUT by the grace of God through faith. Anytime anyone starts adding what "we" must do to merit being saved - OR staying saved - it stops being the Gospel and becomes an accursed message.
It is when we have been saved that the outward evidence of saving faith is shown. But, here's a BIG clue: we can't love God above all else nor can we love our neighbor as Christ loves them - it is HUMANLY impossible. If anything we do has to be added to the sacrifice Christ made on our behalf in order to save us - IT STOPS BEING BY GRACE!
Does God want us to live holy lives? YES. Does God want us to love each other as Christ loves them? YES. But thinking either we must do these things in order to earn salvation OR that accomplishing such things in the carnal, old nature is at all possible is foolishness and will lead to condemnation NOT redemption. We come to God as sinners incapable of saving ourselves and we, by faith, receive His gift of grace. Anything else added to that equation STOPS being grace. There is a mental block that prevents some people from recognizing just how destitute we are - that there is not one thing we do that can possibly make us worthy of eternal life - and that the ONLY way we can be saved is by receiving the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ. That block is the product of man-made religion that wants to pile on the praise of others, that NEEDS to believe we are really good and pious people. It is a sham and a lie that comes from the enemy of all men's souls - the devil.
Only the Holy Spirit of God can remove those fabricated blocks, take away the scales over our eyes unstop our ears and give us a heart of flesh in place of the one of stone. He has and HE will continue to do it, to the glory of God!
Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His nercy He saved us. (Titus 3:5)