The truth is that works ARE the faith, not some byproduct of faith.
Say what? Works are NOT faith. There are plenty of folks who do good works and have faith only in those works. They put their faith in those works. That’s not the faith that saves.
It’s the faith in Jesus that saves. The works are a result of faith.
Here’s a perfect example of someone who did good works who did not have faith in Jesus alone for salvation.
"If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are. ... What God is in your mind you must accept" (from Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work , by Desmond Doig, p. 156, as quoted by Dave Hunt, Global Peace and the Rise of Antichrist , p. 149).
She did many wonderful works but it is evidenced by what she said that she did not believe Jesus to be the only way to salvation.