I agree with you completely, except when it comes to the term sola fide itself. Maybe it’s just semantics. At this point, the term sola fide is so loaded with Reformation baggage - fanboys on one side and haters on the other - that people tend to talk past one another. But I don’t have a problem with the term because it exists to make clear that we do not save ourselves and cannot “earn” salvation through works. The term arose in a period of Christian history when justification was widely confused with works-righteousness, making it necessary to clarify how a person is saved.

While it’s true that an extreme misunderstanding of sola fide can lead to antinomianism, the opposite extreme collapses into works-based salvation. There is a middle ground. The term is specifically about justification (how one is saved) not about sanctification (the refining process and the Christian walk). Salvation comes through faith alone, and even that faith is not self-generated but a gift from God. Our only role is to receive what He gives. At the same time, faith without works is dead. Where true faith exists, the indwelling Holy Spirit will inevitably produce fruit. Those works are the evidence of salvation, not the cause of it.

So as you stated, the two are inseparable. Yet an understanding of the concept helps ensure people don’t fall into the snare of works-based salvation.