So how much "obeying" does it take before believing saves? It would appear that you teach we are saved "by" believing + obedience/works.
That is not what we read in John 5:24 or in John 3:15,16,18; 6:40,47; 11:25,26; Acts 10:43; 13:39; 16:31; Romans 1:16; 3:24-28 etc..). Salvation by belief/faith + works is not what scripture teaches (Romans 4:2-6; Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5 2 Timothy 1:9 etc..).
"Faith without works is dead" does not mean that faith is dead until it produces works and then it becomes a living faith (which would be like saying that a tree is dead until it produces fruit and then it becomes a living tree) or that works are the source of life in faith or that we are saved by works. James is simply saying
faith that is not accompanied by evidential works is dead. If someone merely
says-claims they have faith (James 2:14) but
lack resulting evidential works, then they have an
empty profession of faith/dead faith and not authentic faith.
In James 2:19, we see that the demons believe "mental assent" that "there is one God," but they
do not believe/have faith in/trust in/reliance in Jesus Christ for salvation. In other words, they
do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31)
and are not saved. Their trust and reliance is in Satan, as demonstrated by their rebellion in heaven and continuous evil works.
Works-salvationists tend to confuse "descriptive" passages of scripture with "prescriptive" passages of scripture and the end result is salvation by faith + works.
So how many works does it take? In James 2:21, notice closely that James does not say that Abraham's work of offering up Isaac resulted in God's accounting Abraham as righteous. The accounting of Abraham's faith as righteousness was made in Genesis 15:6,
many years before his work of offering up Isaac recorded in Genesis 22. The work of Abraham did not have some kind of intrinsic merit account him as righteous, but it
showed or manifested the genuineness of his faith. This is the "sense" in which Abraham was "justified by works." He was
shown to be righteous.
In James 2:22, faith made complete by works means bring to maturity, carry to the end, to complete like love in 1 John 4:18. It doesn't mean that Abraham was finally saved based on the merits of his works after he offered up Isaac on the altar in Genesis 22. When Abraham performed the good work in Genesis 22; he
fulfilled the expectations created by the pronouncement of his faith in Genesis 15:6.
James is discussing the
evidence of faith (
says-claims to have faith but has no works/I will show you my faith by my works - James 2:14-18) and
not the initial act of being accounted as righteous with God (Romans 4:2-3).
It is through faith "in Christ alone" (and not based on the merits of our works) that we are justified on account of Christ (Romans 3:24; 5:1; 5:9); yet the faith that justifies is never alone (solitary, unfruitful, barren) if it is genuine (James 2:14-24). *Perfect Harmony*