Poll on faith without works

All this means, is that Abraham's good works did not earn his favor/justification before God.

4Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
No good works that we do can make it so God OWES US justification.

5But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness
We cannot earn justification. We are justified by faith!

6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
8Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
And what did God say to David after he repented of his sin?

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you

It's almost like God expects David to walk with him, and let him guide him, and not walk away like a stubborn animal.

Chapter 5
1Therefore, having been justified by faith, [a]we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Having been justified, We have access to grace!

19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 20Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
"made righteous"? That's just in a legal sense right? He doesn't actually transform our lives, right? Wrong.

Ch.6
1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Ch. 7
4Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God

Ch.8
1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

13For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

IF YOU ARE SAVED BY FAITH, YOU ARE PREDESTINATED TO GOOD WORKS. THAT IS WHY JAMES SAYS IF YOU HAVE NO GOOD WORKS THEN THE FAITH YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE IS DEAD!

All the apostles taught the same thing.

Works can be hard to define sometimes.

If we assume that works are required for salvation, was the act of the thief's declaration of belief a work? The declaration was performed in earshot of Luke, and it became canonized in scripture and became the heart of many discussions.

Was the act of changing sounds in the air with vocal cords a work? If not, what is the minimum physicality of a work? If yes, at what point is a physicality not a work? The way that one aligns their mind is traceability within the physical world at least in some way. If a butterfly flapping its wings can change the course of a hurricane and save or destroy lives, at what point do we not call a cause-and-effect relationship a work?

And is there a difference between a conscious work and an unconscious work? And if someone does something while sleepwalking that would normally be a work, is that counted as a work?

If the act of vocalizing belief is a physical work, is that why Romans 10:9-10 states that if you vocalize "Jesus is Lord" that you will be saved?

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." - Rom 10:9-10 KJV

It's an interesting topic, and I think you zeroed into a very interesting aspect of that topic. Kudos.