Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
Faith Does NOT Produce Works
(Please do not misunderstand the intention of this article. I am not saying that believers do not do good works. It is unquestionable that believers do good works. However, it is a dangerous error to say that faith produces works. This is a distortion of the doctrine of justification by faith and results in works-based salvation.)
A correct understanding of the Gospel should by implication result in a correct view of saving faith. If Christ really did it all, then there is nothing left for the sinner to do but to recognize the grace of God in Christ. By this, God is truly able to justify ungodly people who don't work (Rom. 4:5). To suggest that faith produces works is to suggest that works are inherent in faith, thereby requiring something more of the sinner than the finished work of Christ and nullifying the grace of God.
Faith isn't something that changes in meaning between justification and sanctification. What it means in the realm of justification is what it must mean in the realm of sanctification. If it bears no fruit and has no transformative power in the realm of justification, then it bears no fruit and has no transformative power in the realm of sanctification.
When describing faith, it is necessary to show two things: what it is and what it isn't. What faith is is described in Hebrews 11:1 (NASB, NIV) and 1 John 5:9-13. What faith isn't is described in Romans 3-4, Galatians 3, and James 2.
Faith is the noun form of the verb "believe". Faith is basically described as assurance or conviction in Hebrews 11:1, and explained in a similar manner by the Apostle John in 1 John 5:9-13. The verb "believe" is a stative verb, not an action verb. It cannot do anything. It is merely the persuasion that something is true.
What faith isn't is described by Paul in Romans 3-4 where he says, among other things, that faith is apart from works. Faith and works are antithetical in the same manner that grace and works are antithetical (Rom. 11:6 KJV). Moreover, Paul clearly tells us that [the works of] the law are not from faith (Gal. 3:12). If works are not from faith, then works are not inherent in faith and faith cannot be likened to a fruit tree that brings forth its fruits as evidence of salvation. In like manner, James says that faith apart from works is idle (literally "dead"), and thereby incapable of doing anything by itself. It is like a body without a spirit. Faith must be empowered by works, but by itself it is idle and cannot do anything. It cannot profit or save the poor man (the "him") in verse 14 or the needy brother or sister in verse 15-16.
It is this "idle faith" that justifies people, being that bare belief or persuasion of mind that receives the message of the Gospel as the truth. This "idle faith" is one of the implications of the Gospel. If we really believe that Christ did it all, then we must be "idle" (and thereby repudiate and despise all works) and just receive the good news as is. However, this "idle" faith is extremely offensive to people. As a result, people refuse to take James' words at face value. Instead, they assume that James was equivocating as to the meaning of the word "faith," sometimes meaning inauthentic faith (when speaking hypothetically about one of his letter's presumed recipients) and sometimes meaning authentic faith (when speaking of Abraham), and then wrongly interpret James as if he taught "authentic faith includes works" or "authentic faith produces works." However, the truth is that when James spoke of faith, he spoke of the only type of faith that exists, which by itself is idle and incapable of doing anything. He spoke of the same type of faith that Paul spoke of, and because of which, he was slandered as being an Antinomian in Romans 3:8, and in himself, knowing the implications of what he taught, was forced to preemptively deal with the real possibility of Antinomianism in Romans 6:1-2. Regrettably, the faith that was taught by James and Paul is repudiated by all the major Protestant confessions and creeds.
According to James 2 and Galatians 5:6, this "idle" faith can be empowered by works and love. In this case, faith and works are mutually exclusive, yet complementary and generally positively correlated. This is vastly different than saying that faith produces works and is evidenced by works. If such were true, then works would be inherent to faith and salvation would be by works.
Too much is at stake to be indifferent about this. This is not nitpicking or splitting hairs. If we get this wrong, then we get the doctrine of justification by faith wrong and are left looking at our works. So, let's not make the mistake of falling into a scheme of works salvation by thinking that faith produces works or is evidenced by works.